[lbo-talk] A Tradition of Protests

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Nathan says that US workers can't do the same as French workers,  
because many strikes that would be legal in France would be illegal  
here.  That is true, but US unions have come to seldom use even legal  
strikes and legal job actions, as stats that cover work stoppages  
over the post-war period (cf. <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/ 
lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20050509/009880.html>) shows.  Also, unions can  
still legally organize street protests that aren't strikes and job  
actions.  Immigrant workers in LA, Chicago, etc., as well as French  
workers, demonstrate the power of the streets.

<blockquote>Paris protests have become so pervasive and continuous  
that last year there were more than 1,700 demonstrations in the  
capital, more than six every working day, [Pierre] Mure [Director of  
Public Order of the Paris Police] says. That number is about the same  
as the year before, and the total is up by about 500 a year since the  
mid-1990s, according to police figures. More than 5,200 officers are  
assigned full time to demonstration control in Mure's department,  
which the city created two years ago to monitor the protests. Many  
days, even that show of force is not enough.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although there were nearly 5,300 marches, parades and demonstrations  
in Washington, D.C., in 2000, according to police and the U.S. Park  
Service, most were held on or around the central green area known as  
the National Mall. Only about 10% of protest activities in the U.S.  
capital result in street closings, authorities say.

In Paris, police figures show about 56 million people protested in  
the streets from 1993 through 1999 — the equivalent of France's total  
population. "What can we do?" Mure, 53, says with a Gallic shrug of  
the shoulders. "This is the tradition of our French culture."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"When we say things in a closed room, there is no impact at all,"  
says Jacques Girod, deputy secretary of the trade union Force  
Ouvriere, which represents about 800,000 public and private workers.  
The union's members attend hundreds of demonstrations a year. "The  
streets are the best way. We have to keep the demonstrations going in  
order to show the government we are serious."  (Vivienne Walt, "Every  
Day Is May Day for the Police of Paris," USA Today, 1 May 2001,  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001-05-01-paris-usat.htm>)  </ 
blockquote>

Yoshie Furuhashi
<http://montages.blogspot.com>
<http://monthlyreview.org>
<http://mrzine.org>