This week has seen mass protests in both France and Britain on various parts of what can be described as the neo-liberal agenda to keep wealth in society firmly where it is.
In France the centrist Government of Macron has been trying to increase the State Pension age to 64. This seems quite generous still in Britain where the age is 66 and heading to 67. However we are not comparing like with like here. Occupational pensions carry less weight in France (those you pay into while working along with your employer)so there is a greater reliance on the State pension which pays 50% of the wage earned when working hence the impact of changes even bigger.
There have been militant protests on the issue, including strikes in key areas such as fuel and rail.Wider strike protests tend to be limited to a day at a time so far. Macron pushed the pension change through the French Parliament on Thursday by diktat as winning a vote was not guaranteed. Left MPs sang the Marsellaise and there was mass street protests and some barricades. The latter were described by the media as ‘spontaneous’ which of course they were not. They werent however ordered by someone in high authority.
Whether Macron gets away with this, what Habermas would call a Legitimation Crisis, is in the balance.
There are (as often) comparisons with strikes in Britain, often with the perspective that protest here is less militant than in France. Arguably France does have a more militant tradition,but there are plenty of examples of militancy in Britain and the politics of exceptionalism (Other Countries are better) doesnt lend itself to much useful analysis.
The strikes in Britain on 15th March on pay, conditions and pensions (UCU) reached across a wider layer of employers than in France but there were no street barricades.In a number of areas employers (behind which usually stands the Government in the public sector) are increasing wage offers. However with inflation still around 10% a big issue is whether these are sufficient in a cost of living crisis. The question- quite similar to France- is whether the aim of strikes and protests is to talk to the Government and get changes or to get rid of the Government, or both. For the last two options a level of political generalisation is required beyond,in the UK, Tories out. A few union leaders might do something to encourage that, most wont. If it comes it will need to come from below,based on increased confidence that taking action can bring.
This brings us to Charles Tilly’s repertoire of contention. It looks at a range of possible ways to protest from petitions and public meetings to strike, riots and revolts. It’s a bit schematic in the sense of suggesting a hierarchy of contention whereas several strategies can co-exist in practice.
The issue in France and Britain is what strategy is going to get results, and what are the results wanted. Work in progress
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