Dáil debates

Wednesday, 12 December 2018

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements

 

3:30 pm

Photo of Ruth CoppingerRuth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach and the representatives of the Government must take note of what is happening in France. This is one of the largest countries in Europe and a massive tide of protest is taking place. The yellow vest movement is an inspirational revolt by working people and the poor against the President of the rich, Emmanuel Macron, and his policies. The protests show that these policies can be challenged. Austerity has wreaked havoc in French society. The struggle to make ends meet is now an epidemic. The Socialist Party and our sister organisation, Gauche Révolutionnaire, support these movements against anti-working class policies.

I refer to some quotes from people taking part in the protests. A young restaurant worker on the minimum wage said, "I did not eat yesterday or at last night's dinner." Another said, "We yellow vests represent the poor of France, those with modest or low incomes who are being crushed." Another said, "I am here for all those people left crying by the 15th of each month because they have gone into the red." That is what has happened because of austerity policies in France and across the EU. The movements have seen blockades, militant occupations and weekly protests in every major town and city. There has been important industrial action as well. Protests involving young people, school students, university students have been met with vicious and brutal state repression, exemplified by the shocking images on social media of more than 140 young people forced to kneel in front of the police with their arms behind their backs, their only crime protesting outside their school. That is children and that is what is being done by Macron and his police force. This protest movement has also linked with environmental protests and movements against violence against women, which we witnessed the weekend before last. The policies of Macron's terror regime are being imposed across Europe and the globe. As has been mentioned, the sale of yellow vests has been banned in Egypt in case there is contagion. The mood that exists in France exists in many other countries in Europe, including Ireland.

When elected in May 2017, Macron was the shiny new face of neoliberalism. The Taoiseach went out of his way to emulate him and fell head over heels to bask in his radiance - Trudeau, Macron, Varadkar, etc. There is a warning here for the Taoiseach. Support for Macron has plummeted and he is now one of the most hated presidents in French history. This is a millionaire former banker who represents a system built on maintaining inequality and undermining living standards of working class people in the interests of profit. One yellow vest protestor correctly characterised the concessions Macron was forced to make, when he came out of hiding after a week, as putting plasters on a third-degree burn. They know much more can be won. The idea of tous ensemble, everyone together, has become the sentiment in French society and there is great willingness to fight and to get organised. We need action committees to be brought together from workplaces, schools and the yellow vest protests to discuss and to organise this struggle and campaign. As we saw in May 50 years ago, due to its economic power and its traditions, the organised working class and trade union movement in France has a crucial role to play. The day of action on 14 December called by the General Confederation of Labour, CGT, is a step forward. A 24-hour general strike is needed to put a stop to the Macron government and to force him to go much further. A system run for private profit means the further squeezing of living standards. It is essential that this movement unites all working class people of all colours, regardless of background. Any racist or anti-immigrant sentiment needs to be stood against. To make these demands a reality, a government of the working class that ends the rule of the CAC 40, major banks and industries that dominate the French economy, the parasites whom Macron represents, is needed. They should be taken out of the private ownership of profiteers and placed in public ownership under democratic control of working people in an economy planned for the needs of the majority, not run for economic elites. A struggle for a socialist France can open a struggle for a socialist Europe, uniting working class people in opposition to the rule of the bosses and the EU that represents them.

I want to take up the situation with regard to Brexit. We should remind ourselves that the 2016 referendum for withdrawal from Europe was another manifestation of the widespread alienation from political parties that have pushed neoliberal policies for three decades. The majority of those who voted for Brexit were angry at years of austerity that resulted in falling living standards and cuts in public services. They were fed up of being told that the pain must be shared when their pockets were being picked to bail out the banks. Now Theresa May has pulled back on a vote for the draft Brexit agreement at the eleventh hour and faces the sack herself. Solidarity-PBP and the Socialist Party understand and share the anger of ordinary people across Europe. France is in turmoil. The Brexit deal is stuck for related reasons. The system simply cannot deliver for working people and it cannot deliver democratic rights either. Anger and alienation are widespread and unexpected referendum results and burning barricades in Paris are simply a manifestation of this.

During the referendum campaign, the RMT rail workers union in Britain and the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance, NIPSA, the public sector union in the North, both took principled positions of opposition to the EU in favour of a left alternative. These unions have shown the way and if the trade unions were now to bring their combined weight behind a movement for a new Europe organised in the interests of the 99%, millions of people could be mobilised across these islands and across Europe. It is not just a question of the trade unions organising to protect jobs and terms and conditions of working people. The union movement in Ireland has a proud record of uniting working class people, Catholic and Protestant, and has a historic responsibility to act now with resolution in the interests of working people across the island. The unions must mobilise to counter any measures that result in an increase in sectarian division in the North and there must be no hardening of borders North, South, east or west.

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