There is the loss of purchasing power, the pension reform not yet digested, the upcoming one on unemployment, the economic and social difficulties which fuel the May 1 parades. There is also now, in many comments, the fear of war. Pierre, a retired communist, knows what it’s like to hold a rifle in his hands – he was a reserve officer. “Hearing the President talk about nuclear deterrence, and all these current speeches, I wonder if these people know what war means“, he asks.
A Palestinian flag flies, many young students came from Solidarity, the Struggle Committee, etc. The face blocked by masks “because the far-right guys came to take photos at the start of the demonstration“They are demanding a salary for the students,”fair living conditions for the future workers that we are“, denounce the student housing confiscated in Paris for the Olympics. Gilles, from the local CGT union in Salon, talks about union repression”which are becoming commonplace“, the sentencing of a CGT representative from the North to a one-year suspended sentence for advocating terrorism; the retiree seems a little lost.
250 people marched this Wednesday, May 1st from the Rotonde to the town hall during a unity parade. At the head of the procession, the CFDT and the CGT whose representative, Ludivine Martinez, denounces speculation on energy products and foodstuffs which inflate prices but not wages, attacks by the government “against social norms: this policy is not a failure but a choice” she said, pointing to the billions in dividends paid to shareholders, and to demand, rather than an increase in European military budgets, “a just and lasting peace. Enough blood, enough tears!“Céline Peccini, FSU departmental co-secretary, was indignant against the austerity speeches which only have the effect of”penalize the most vulnerable“and warned that it was attacked from all sides,”public school is at a tipping point“.
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