Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Karl Marx once said that France was the country where the class struggle was most usually fought to a finish. It is early days but what held true in the 19th century may well turn out to be the case in this century too. Tomorrow will be the eighth national mobilisation in France against attacks on workers' pension rights by the Macron Government, which is trying to increase the pension age from 62 to 64. It did not put its pension proposal before the French Parliament for fear of losing the vote. Rather, last week it invoked the completely undemocratic Article 49.3 of the French constitution, which allows the French Government to pass a measure without a vote. It is government by decree. I express solidarity with the hundreds of protests that spontaneously took place on that day. Some of the protests involved tens of thousands of people in towns and cities. I support those taking strike action across the country, including those who are blockading seven oil refineries and the port of Le Havre. I condemn the use of violence by the French police against the protests. We should bring down Macron's pension proposal, President Macron and Prime Minister Borne. There should be full support for this struggle, its escalation and continuing strikes. The Macron Government should not be replaced with another right-wing government, however. Rather, it should be replaced by a government that is not based on the capitalist market and its diktats but is based democratically on this mass movement from below.

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