Jacques Cheminade delivered the following remarks to the Oct. 23 meeting of the International Peace Coalition:

What is happening in France today contains elements specific to our country. However, it is the expression of a global dynamic. In this sense, France is an epicenter of the European, and undoubtedly global, earthquake. A generation demanding to live lives worthy of human beings is confronting an oligarchy that wages war and steals our future, while claiming to defend democracy. This generation is supported by a majority of its teachers, by a resurgence of the Yellow Vest movement, by the majority of labor unions, and by all the victims of the dominant military-financial system. This is a potential catalyst for a mass strike ferment, in the sense that Rosa Luxemburg understood it. What you see in the images propagated by the media does not correspond at all to the dynamics of the movement but to the tactics used to discredit it.

These images reflect the consequences of the oligarchy’s policy of repression and infiltration. This allows them to create a climate of fear. President Trump declares “France is burning,” Emmanuel Macron tries to momentarily survive through police repression and the French Minister of Economics, Roland Lescure, gets his orders directly from the City and Wall Street. Insanity and no future prevail.

Let’s start at the beginning of the mobilization. It stemmed from the protests of high school and middle school students from disadvantaged suburbs who peacefully occupied their schools. They were simply demanding normal school conditions. Their demands were very concrete: the buildings should give protection from rain and temperature fluctuations, an end to the prevalence of rats in the bathrooms, and elimination of the university admissions platform, Parcousup, which dictated the social destiny of students using algorithms. A teacher at a prestigious high school told us that absent nurses, doctors, and teachers are only replaced after several weeks or even months.

The movement gradually spread to prestigious high schools in major cities, such as Paris and Marseille, where students expressed their solidarity with those in the Parisian suburbs. The Yellow Vests joined the movement at the same time. This led to the demonstrations of October 17th, which began in a joyful atmosphere of being together as activists.

A strategy of escalating tensions developed, aimed at discrediting the movement. The first step: accusing La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) of orchestrating the events. While the movement was actually attempting to take control, albeit non-violently, but tolerating the ACAB chants and graffiti. Second step: the entry of far-left activists and black blocs, who perpetrated violence against property “symbolizing power”: banks, town halls, police stations, and so on. Third step: “suburban” vandals and looters devastated shops, spectacularly burning garbage cans and cars. The result: over 3,000 shops looted and burned across France, including several hundred in Paris, the spectacular destruction of Limoges’ town hall by fire, and the occupation of Marseille’s town hall. The right and far-right reacted to this by conflating student protesters with looters, calling for more repression, and proclaiming that there are two Frances: one of order and one of chaos, one of those who “light candles and another one that burns property.” This was a clear implementation of divide and rule, creating the conditions for France to definitively shift into a two-pronged war: civil war at home and war against Russia abroad. Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen rose in the polls to 37%, aligning herself with the traditional right-wing line: no money for Ukraine, but only weapons, provided those weapons are French!

How could this chain of events enfold so rapidly?

First, the government deployed only about 10,000 police officers, six times less than during the Yellow Vest protests. These officers were mobilized to surround demonstrators (kettling) not to actually protect public spaces or shops. The Limoges town hall, which was burned down, was not protected, nor was the Marseille town hall! The most shocking scene was at the Place de la République in Paris: on one side, the first looters arriving and preparing without being seriously bothered; on the other, a classical “Orchestra of the New World,” inspired by Dvorak, peacefully preparing to play their instruments, was tear-gassed by the police.