The prairie is still hot

France is still hot

The spontaneous outburst of class struggle in France seems to calm down. Just because it was spontaneous it was obvious that the rebellion will fade out by some time. But as a burning coal bed beneath the earth that flares up when it meets oxygen the class struggle in France will, sooner or later, but it definitely will and it will create the leadership it needs.

A short overview of just the numbers gives a good impression of what happened:

More than 800 police officers have been injured.

More than 1,000 buildings were damaged.

At least 250 police stations were attacked.

More than 200 towns affected.

More than 5,500 cars have been set ablaze.

Much more than one billion euro damage was caused.

More than 3,300 people have been arrested.

At least two people were killed during the uprising. A 54-year-old government official was killed by a stray bullet in Cayenne, French Guiana, and a 27-year-old was shot dead by riot police in Marseilles with a flash-ball projectile.

The rebellion hit the French colonies: In French Guiana, riots and protests erupted in the capital city, Cayenne. Demonstrations took place in Guadeloupe and Martinique. In Réunion riots lasted for days. Internationally Brussels (Belgium), Lausanne (Switzerland) and Montréal (Canada), were effected by the uprising.

This revolt is one on a quite long list of such mass rebellions in France. If we look only onto this century alone it began in 2005 with the three-weeks-long uprising in the Banlieus. Then there were the 2006 youth protests, the Villiers-le-Bel riots in 2007, the students uproar from 2007 to 2009, the riots in July 2009, the Trappes riots in 2013, the Sarcelles riots in 2014, the Corsica unrest in 2022, not to forget the still ongoing yellow vest movement which clashes regularly with the cops, and the last big thing was and is the struggle against the pension reforms, which left France “calm” for only two months until the recent uprising. But regarding the extent, the intensity and the effect this July 2023 is outstanding.

As it was analyzed: The murder of Nahel Merzouk has only been the triggering incident of the ongoing struggles that follow the development that we have previously seen in France. In an exclusive interview with The Red Herald, at the time of the struggles against the pension reforms, the Maoist Communist Party of France (PCmF) explains that the riots in France are an expression of the revolutionary development in the world:

“We see in France a revolutionary situation in uneven development, which expresses itself in the situation in Europe.”