French police describes rebelling proletarian youth as “savage hordes of vermin” – protests continue
We have made some corrections on the English translation of the Spanish original on the 3rd of July.
The riots, which started after teenager Nahel M. was murdered by the police in the proletarian neighborhood of Nanterre, Paris, on June 27th, continue despite 45,000 police, including special anti-terror unit, have been dispatched to suppress the rebellion. Especially working class youth has taken the streets in the riots, which have engulfed many major cities.
The State has deployed armoured vehicles to the streets to contain the rebellion. ”All means” have been considered, including a state of emergency. Local curfews have been imposed at night, and public transport has been shut down after 9pm. President Macron has earlier urged parents to keep their children home, and recently the minister of justice Éric Dupont-Moretti hysterically threatened families with a fine up to 30,000 euros, or even jail time, if youth under 18 goes out at night. He also said that calls for rebellion on social media would be prosecuted. On Sunday morning, the French authorities claimed that the night had been ”relatively calm” and that this was due to the actions of the 45,000 police officers dispatched. This statement however seemed quite overly-optimistic for the State: again clashes took place, especially in Marseille, where street battles between the youth and the police lasted until late night. On Saturday the police described that they have faced “guerrilla-type” scenes in Marseille and described the situation as “apocalyptic”. In Paris, six public buildings were burned and five police officers were wounded. Near Paris, protesters drove a car into the home of the mayor of L’Hay-les-Roses and set it on fire. Riots took place also in other major cities. Around the country 719 were arrested. The police also had to admit that no victory could be declared, and the riots would continue. Even when the spontaneous struggle eventually comes to an end, it will not mean a victory for the State or the calming down of the revolutionary situation, as we can see in the recent history of uprisings in France and the world.
The riots have also spread to the French colonies in the Caribbean, where clashes, damaged buildings and cars were reported. In Cayenne, Guiana, the protesters were reported to have shot at the police.
The police does not hide their hatred against the proletarian youth: the police stated on Friday they are at war with ”savage hordes of vermin”. In addition, two biggest police unions have demanded that the government takes harder measures to restore order, or they revolt. Macron has been careful in his statements in order to wash the hands of the State of the murder, trying to portray the problem as a problem of a few “rotten apples” despite the police carrying out the interests of the State and operating under the control of it. The police also has used the occasion to complain how they are scared to go around in the banlieues because the people resist them daily. Immediately after the murder of the 17-year-old the deputy secretary general of the France Police union Bruno Attal said that he would rather see one ”scum” dead than one police officer. In the media, the teenager was portrayed as “troubled youth”. The lie that the police was acting in self-defense has however been exposed more and more: recently, one of the passengers in the car Nahel was driving came forward and published an audio tape on the situation. According to the witness, Nahel’s foot moved from the brake because the police was hitting him with a gun, causing the car to move forward. The police’s statements are an expression of the war against the people that is has been waged by the State in the banlieues since decades, in which Nahel is another victim. Similarly, the protest of the youth is not only directed against the police, but the State apparatus itself, which can be seen in the multiple burned administrative buildings, and is another expression of the revolutionary situation in uneven development in France.
In addition to the French State and its colonies, there has been protests also in Belgium and Switzerland. In Belgium, protesters used fireworks against the police and torched cars, and at least 10 people were arrested. Also in Lausanne, Switzerland, the masses took to the streets and clashed with the police, and at least a dozen people were arrested. Therefore, it is seen that there is a potential of a similar explosion taking place in other countries of Europe, of which the bourgeoisie is worried: for example the vice president of the conservative CDU party in Germany, Andreas Jung, reflected this by saying that “without a stable France there cannot be stability in Europe”.
Faced with the revolutionary situation that is being experienced in France, the contradictions are sharpening and the revisionist and opportunist positions are exposed.
For example, the PCF, a party that since decades abandoned the proletarian political struggle and is focused on the reformism of the State, denies the need for the struggle. In a post on social networks, its Secretary General, Fabien Roussel, says that the “left” defends “public services” and not looting. In addition, in his official statement they again condemn the protests, greeting the (peaceful) demonstration on Thursday, June 29, which they call “massive, dignified and serene mobilization” without forgetting to greet the mayor of Nanterre. Among the causes they see in this murder, they allege that the “neoliberal policies” making an electoral appeal to fight against these measures in the face of the murder of a young man. However, the PCF is not saying that the mayor of Nanterre, Patrick Jarry, was a member of the PCF for 25 years, until in 2010 he created the Gauche citoyenne a Nanterre party, also a ‘communist’ party. Finally, his statement ends by condemning “all violence” against people and property, and stating that “the perpetrators of these crimes (author’s note: those who took part in the protests) must be punished.”
The class position of the PCF is clear. Faced with the murder of a young man at the hands of the police, not being the first murder to occur, the PCF blamed its political opponents and “neoliberalism” as an attempt to wear down the opposition for the general elections. In addition, they condemn violent actions, seeing that the bourgeois right to private property goes above the right to rebel.
The position of La France Insoumise [LFI] follows the same line as that of the PCF. Without explicitly condemning the riots, it blames the problem on the “right-wing” of the police. On social networks, its leader, Melenchon, referred to the “murderous behavior” of the security forces. Also as a measure to solve the political crisis, LFI proposes an “emergency” plan. The measures that he proposes are in the same way, once again, with making a change in the security forces. They propose creating a “Justice and Truth” commission to clarify what happened, programs to train the police, the return of the 1986 code of ethics. They also propose aid to repair businesses, homes and public buildings with public money. Although the LFI is not clearly positioned against it, like the PCF, its measures continue to have an anti-worker character. Once again, the character of the State is separated from the police and seeks electoral solutions that benefit it in the next elections. In addition, the giving money to repair the damage caused during these is a strategy to reduce the pressure that the protesters are applying.
On the other hand, the parties that call themselves “anti-capitalist” do not follow a very different discourse. Here the problem is not imperialism and the continuous attacks on the poorest working class, but concrete elements of it. Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste [NPA] joins the LFI discourse and points out that the cold-blooded murder of Nahel is due to the fact that the police are racist and that is why they act like that. They also add that the police act with impunity, for which reason they also blame Macron and Darmanin as responsible for it and call for the resignation of the Minister of the Interior. They end their statement asking for the conviction of the murderer and compensation for the family members, reestablishing public transport in the neighborhoods, releasing the detainees, rejecting the state of emergency and disarming the police “in cooperation with the population”.
In general, in the opportunist and revisionist left in France there is a position of “peace”. Even if they can justify, or not, as in the case of the PCF, the protests, their objective is that the protests end through reforms in parliament. The measures they propose are reduced to changing the essence of the repressive institutions, specifically the police, maintaining the system of exploitation and repression against the poorest masses of France.
In addition, these parties that have not criticized the uprising is because they see this response to the murder of a 17-year-old boy as understandable – not because the rebellion of the exploited masses is always just because of the oppression of imperialism. And in the view of the revolutionary world situation that is being experienced, due to the great crisis of imperialism, the great strikes, protests and uprisings will continue in France, and in the world, even after this specific struggle comes to an end.
