As I walked through the main camp of the Nuit Debout protest movement in central Paris, I was taken back to the days of the Occupy movement in 2011.
The Place de la République was full of thousands of people, young and old, but mainly young. There were music and buskers and street stalls advertising workshops and discussions on every political topic you could think of.
A general assembly was taking place on one side of the square, and thousands of people were listening to students and young workers, one after the other, getting up and airing their grievances. The mood back in 2011 was, for a while, one of optimism and hope, and here too people are talking of a new political awakening and of a new generation who are fed up and ready to fight for a better society.
The Nuit Debout (“Arise at night”, or “Up all night”) grew out of the fight against the proposed labour law being touted as the “way forward” by Socialist Party president François Hollande. The legislation would in fact take workers’ rights in France back many decades.
Among other things, it would enable bosses to force employees to work more than the maximum 35-hour week, while cutting overtime rates, winding back unfair dismissal rights and slashing compensation payments for sacked workers.
Unions were slow to respond to the attack, but eventually called two general strike days for 9 and 31 March. The first strike drew around 400,000 workers to the streets of various cities. The second was much larger, with more than 1 million protesting across France. Out of this strike movement, unaligned left wing activists decided to organise a sit-in in Paris following the 31 March rally. Nuit Debout was born.
In this sense, the movement is fundamentally different from the Occupy or Indignados movements of 2011. Nuit Debout has its roots in the workers movement and has as its main goal the repealing of the proposed anti-worker legislation. It is rightfully seen by most as an extension and expansion of that movement.
As I walked around the crowd in the Place de République, I found many friendly and enthusiastic people to talk to. One phrase was constantly repeated: “We are fed up!”
Gaspar, a young kitchen hand who was waiting for his friend to join him, said, “I’m mainly here for the labour law, but really there are so many other issues. I think a lot of people here want to see a totally new and different society”. He pointed to the multitude of political banners around the square: from refugee rights, to public housing access, to improving pensions and welfare.
As I walked further through the crowd, I found Anaise, a university student who had just finished work and made her way to the camp. “Everything about this movement interests me”, she said. “We’re sick of austerity, we’re sick of unemployment and we’re sick of being tricked by politicians.”
The feeling of having been tricked or betrayed by Hollande is widespread. The Socialist Party was elected in 2012 on a wave of mass resentment at former conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy had used vile racism and far right rhetoric to try to rally public support behind his neoliberal agenda.
In 2010, his government successfully raised the pension age, but not without unleashing a mass strike wave that swept the country, terrifying the European elite and ultimately leading to his electoral downfall.
There was hope that Hollande would be better, but he has proven to be just as bad.
Ugo, a young socialist and member of the New Anticapitalist Party, said that Hollande is trying to push through changes that the capitalist class has always wanted, but that the conservatives have never had the courage to attempt. “Had Sarkozy tried to do even half of what Hollande is doing, we would already have seen continuous mass strikes, far beyond anything we are seeing now”, he told me.
Even though the various factions of the union movement claim to be independent of the political process, it is obvious that they are less willing to fight a social democratic government than a conservative one – perhaps because the question “whereto from here?” generates a more radical answer than simply changing government if a movement should deepen and radicalise.
A radical, prolonged and determined campaign of strikes can, and must, defeat this law. “It will be hard to beat the government if we can’t manage to get successive general strikes over many days. The ruling class wants these reforms too badly”, Ugo said.
The recent strike days, as well as the Nuit Debout occupations, have solidified opinion against the government’s proposals. More than 70 percent of the population oppose the attacks. And in a country where the far right National Front is fast becoming the most popular force in politics, having a movement like Nuit Debout that is directly tied to a popular cause, while simultaneously arguing for the rights of refugees and against racism, is important.
How the movement develops in the coming days and weeks is anyone’s guess, but there are more strikes planned. “There is huge potential for radicalisation in this movement”, Ugo said. “If anything should start to change the political situation in this country, it will be spurred on by the actions of the radical youth who are occupying squares right across France.”

Eric LeRoy

‘We are fed up!’ French workers and youth fight back

If you’ve been following the news over the past year, you might have been led to believe that there are drugged-up sociopaths stalking you at every turn.
Headlines have screamed: “Ice epidemic could bring nation to its knees”, “The icy grip of creeping death”, “Tide of evil”, and my favourite from the Age, “Ice: facing up to Satan’s drug.”
But while the media and politicians are happy to stoke fear and confusion about this drug, it’s important to be clear about what is actually happening, and what actions should, and should not be taken.
“Ice” is crystal methamphetamine, a stimulant that works primarily by increasing the brain’s dopamine levels. Taking the drug can heighten feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, self-confidence, motivation and sexual desire. Abuse of the drug can make it harder and harder to experience these feelings over time.
Whilst methamphetamine use has been stable in Australia for the last 15 years, its use has increased markedly in rural and regional areas.
Taking a look at some simple facts can help to understand why this might be the case. A University of Arizona study found a consistent pattern of risk-factors which predisposed people to methamphetamine addiction. Among them were social isolation, difficulty coping with life, anxiety, boredom and depression.
The Australian Department of Health says that, for young methamphetamine users, “Boredom appeared to be the key factor.”
Although the vast majority of users are employed and use the drug sporadically, three-quarters of those who come to depend on it and require rehabilitation are unemployed.
So what is the government, and Tony Abbott’s newly-formed “Taskforce”, proposing to do about the problem? Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has announced that of the $45 million pledged to fighting “ice”, half of it will go to police resources.
Users and petty dealers will be targeted, with new laws allowing outrageous prison terms of up to 25 years for dealing. This is despite the overwhelming evidence from the US over the past 40 years, which shows that greater policing and harsher sentencing do absolutely nothing to lessen drug use.
Instead, they waste billions of dollars and create a “criminal” underclass of small-time users who become unable to find employment and housing.
There are proposals for rehabilitation and early-intervention funding. But like any promise to increase social spending, they’ll have to be seen to be believed.
The Abbott government, with its cuts to welfare, education and health is only contributing to the kind of society in which drug-addiction can flourish. 
The best way of fighting against drug “pandemics” is to fight the budget cuts that will only make life worse for the unemployed and low-wage workers.

Why ice hysteria leaves me cold

Abbott and Hockey’s proposed changes to Medicare have been slammed across the board. A $7 GP fee and the billions of dollars in healthcare cuts have been labelled “a nightmare” by the Australian Medical Association, and “the end of our health system as we know it” by the nurses’ union, the ANMF. They are not exaggerating.
The health system “as we know it” is far from perfect. It is chronically and deliberately underfunded. But bulk-billing clinics, which service 82 percent of the population, are free at the point of service and hospital emergency rooms and emergency treatment is free for all Australian residents and citizens.
This system makes the bosses of the private healthcare industry fume. The fact that the vast majority of people can access a GP without paying an upfront fee is of benefit to lower income earners, pensioners, disabled people and the working class more broadly. To the private health industry, it is nothing but lost profit.
In fact, the organisation that kick-started recent talk of a Medicare “co-payment” was industry lobby group the Australian Centre for Health Research (ACHR). Innocuous as it sounds, the ACHR is actually a think tank of bosses in the private health industry. Its board of directors is made up of several executives of Australia’s largest health insurance companies, including Bupa and Australian Unity, as well as executives from major private hospital networks such as Epworth and Cabrini Health.
Health insurance and private healthcare bosses are working together to create a US-style system. The Liberals are only too happy to help. The directors at ACHR look with envy at the mega-profits being raked in by health insurance companies in the US, and they want to join the party. It’s that simple. The public health system is nothing more than an obstacle to the growth of their share portfolios.
The $7 GP fee is the thin edge of a very large wedge. But it is breaking through the surface that would be the biggest victory of all for the ACHR. Once the idea of user-pays healthcare is introduced to every aspect of Medicare, full-scale privatisation and skyrocketing “co-payments” become that much easier to push through. A line must be drawn in the sand now.
The American Journal of Public Health found that in 2009 more than 45,000 unnecessary deaths occurred in the US due to the unaffordability of private health insurance and the lack of a public system. A privately dominated healthcare system would see similar horrific consequences in Australia.
[Rally to defend Medicare: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1381880575405805/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming">Melbourne</a> – Friday 30 May, 5:30pm State Library Victoria; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/318312961650802/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming">Sydney</a> – Saturday 31 May, 1pm Sydney Town Hall.]

Medicare co-payment only the beginning

It’s a cold and windy Thursday afternoon in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. It’s also May Day and today, dozens of workers – members of the Victorian Health Professional Association (VHPA) – have gathered outside the Northern Hospital’s main entrance to protest a lockout by their boss.
Workers in the radiology department of the hospital expected that their enterprise agreement negotiations would be a standard affair. Instead, they have found themselves at the centre of a battle against privatisation and union-busting. Some workers have been locked out for weeks.
The Northern Hospital is the only major public hospital in Victoria with a completely privatised radiology department. The department is run by Healthcare Imaging Service Ltd (HIS), which recently took over management from another company.
The bosses at HIS appear determined to show state governments across the country just how lean and mean the health care business can be – cutting wages, trashing conditions and breaking the union. “We’ve been in negotiations for over 12 months now”, explained one of the locked-out radiology workers. “They’ve been dragging this out for so long: stalling, cancelling meetings and now this.”
The company is offering a miserable 2 percent pay rise over the course of the next agreement, but only if workers give away conditions including some weekend penalty rates and sick leave entitlements. It’s the most serious attack they’ve ever faced. The union is calling the company’s final offer a “real pay cut of 10 percent”.
The bosses of HIS, on the other hand, are enjoying stupendous wealth. “The CEO is Ed Bateman”, says another worker, “mates with Tony Abbott”. Dr Ed Bateman regularly appears on the BRW rich list, and last year his net worth was estimated to be over $400 million. His company, the parent company of HIS, is one of the largest and most profitable health care corporations in Australia. Its profits surged by 29 percent in 2013, to $150 million.
The attack on these workers is central to the company’s business model. It’s about proving that HIS has what it takes to drive down costs in the sector in the hope that this will win it contracts in other public hospitals. When asked if a victory for HIS would set a precedent, one of the locked-out workers responded: “Oh yeah, right across the industry … this will impact all across the industry in NSW and Queensland.”
HIS bosses are also aware of the significance of the dispute and are doing everything they can to stifle the workers’ ability to bargain. Those gathered at the Northern Hospital were clear that industrial laws were stacked in the bosses’ favour, pointing out that HIS is legally allowed to lock out its workforce for engaging in protected industrial action to protect their wages.
HIS workers at the Northern Hospital and other sites across the state will need all the support they can get in the coming weeks. Visit the VHPA Facebook page for info on upcoming events and pickets: facebook.com/vic.hpa.

Hospital lockout a privatisation battleground

On Tuesday 24 September, hundreds of elderly pensioners, their families and unionists joined in a lively protest at the Monash Council Chambers in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley.
The rally was the latest successful action in a campaign that began in early July, when the sale of Monash Gardens and Elizabeth Gardens aged care facilities was first floated by council.
Protesters again took their opposition to the proposed sell-off directly to the councillors responsible for the plan. The 400-strong crowd managed to shut down the council meeting and forced councillors to scramble out of the room through a booing and jeering crowd.
Addressing the crowd, Pip Carew, from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), spoke of an increasing trend towards privatisation and funding cuts in aged care. She suggested that government and local councils see older people as an easy target for cost cutting.
But as the rally’s chairperson walked through the crowd with microphone in hand, it became clear that the council is pitting itself against anything but an easy target. Residents, many of them in their 80s, took the microphone and spoke defiantly about their intention to fight the council and their right to access quality aged care facilities.
The Monash Council is expecting to raise at least $15 million by selling these facilities to private operators. The sell-off is a short term cash grab and a wink and nod to developers that Monash City is open for business. Monash and Elizabeth Gardens are not the only facilities that are directly under threat. The Napthine state government has announced that it will be selling off hundreds of aged care beds across several facilities around Melbourne by next year.
Past experience has shown that the privatisation of aged care homes leads to an increased workload for workers, fewer jobs for highly trained staff and an overall reduction in the quality of services for residents. This agenda needs to be fought, and can be stopped.
The campaign to save Monash and Elizabeth Gardens shows us how we should fight and how we can win. When the Monash Council announced the privatisation proposal, it clearly wasn’t anticipating the birth of a grassroots campaign of residents, family members and workers that would challenge its greedy scheming. This sort of campaigning, with direct action as its focus and democratic participation by all those concerned, is exactly the sort of thing that has been able to win in the past and has every chance of winning this time.
Support the campaign:
6:30pm, Tuesday 29 October, Monash City Council Chambers, 293 Springvale Road, Glen Waverley.

‘We are fed up!’ French workers and youth fight back

Why ice hysteria leaves me cold

Medicare co-payment only the beginning

Hospital lockout a privatisation battleground

‘No sale’, aged care residents tell council

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