Solidarity for the Struggles in France from Austria, Bangladesh and Ireland
Featured image: Poster for the call made by Action for the Democratic Rights of the People Austria. Source: ADRV
In Austria, Action for the Democratic Rights of the People (ADRV) published a call for the demonstration that took place on October 29. We share an unofficial translation of the call below.
Solidarity with the Youth Protests in France! It is Right to Rebel!
For several weeks now, the youth of France has been fighting against the poor conditions in schools and universities. What began as a youth protest – one-third of all schools in France were occupied – has developed into a militant, nationwide protest movement against the ruling order. In many European countries, young people are following France’s example by taking up these justified causes, thereby challenging the general political course of imperialist warmongering and attacks on the people’s livelihoods.
No Cuts to Schools and Universities
Students in France are denouncing conditions that we are all too familiar with in Austria: overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages, dilapidated buildings, and “reforms” that are simply euphemisms for budget cuts and deteriorating conditions. In Austria, nearly 50,000 students demonstrated on October 22 against budget cuts at universities. Added to this is the repressive new “headscarf ban” – a smokescreen in the name of “religious freedom” – which must be rejected as a racist special law targeting Muslims.
Against Rearmament and Imperialist Warmongering
As in many other European countries, France is also rolling out one austerity package after another under the pretext of “stabilizing the national budget.” Billions are to be cut, while sectors such as the war industry receive massive government subsidies. As part of the “ReArm Europe” rearmament plan, military spending of up to 800 billion is being prepared within the EU. Arms deliveries to Israel in support of its genocide continue to be tolerated or even supported. The nationwide militant protests in France are putting the imperialists’ war course under pressure and putting the people’s demands on the agenda.
October 17, 2026, and 1961
On October 17, the youth protest turned into a rebellion by the French population, which swept through the institutions of the French State like an earthquake and became a symbol of the political crisis of decaying French imperialism. This day stands as a symbol not only in the present but also historically, for the hypocrisy of the self-proclaimed “democratic” imperialist capitalist rule. On October 17, 1961, the French State carried out a massacre against a pro-Algerian, anti-imperialist demonstration in Paris: more than 200 people were killed and thousands arrested in a futile attempt to maintain power in the colony. Sixty-five years later, on October 17, 2026, more than 2,400 demonstrators were arrested, two were killed, a state of emergency was declared, and the military was mobilized. But just as back then, murders and repression will only deepen the political crisis and fuel the struggle against imperialism. Down with State repression and attacks on democratic rights!
Down with imperialism and Zionism
The youth protests in France stand in solidarity with Palestine and the peoples’ just struggles for independence and sovereignty. The echo of these protests in other countries, such as Italy, Belgium, Albania, etc. shows that the struggles in France are not merely an expression of local or national “failures,” but stem from broad opposition to the general political course of imperialist warmongering and attacks on the people’s livelihoods.
Solidarity with the just protests of the youth in France and other countries. It’s right to rebel!
– No cuts to schools and universities! Down with the headscarf ban!
– No to rearmament and warmongering!
– Long live the Palestinian war of national resistance! Freedom for Palestine! Imperialists: Hands off Iran, Lebanon, and Yemen!
– Down with Zionism and imperialism, long live the resistance and solidarity of the peoples!
Signatories:
Action for the Democratic Rights of the People (ADRV)
Arab Palestine Club (APC)
Venezuela Solidarity Vienna
University of Vienna for Palestine
In Ireland, Anti-imperialist Action carried out a protest in solidarity with the youth protests in France.
We also share below an unofficial translation of a statement in solidarity with the various youth protests across Europe, including in France, by the Revolutionary Student-Youth Movement (RSYM) and the Revolutionary Worker’s Movement of Bangladesh, published on the Facebook account of RSYM on October 29.
Statement of the Revolutionary Student-Youth Movement and the Revolutionary Workers’ Movement
Full solidarity with the student and people’s movements across Europe, including France, and strong condemnation and protest against police repression, killings and arrests during the movement.
The Revolutionary Student-Youth Movement and the Revolutionary Worker’s Movement are strongly condemning and protesting against the killings, arrests, and police repression in the ongoing student and people’s movement in various European countries, including France. Since September 2026, student movements have spread in France against the financial crisis in the education sector, teacher shortage, dilapidated educational institutions, rising cost of living, and future uncertainty. This movement is no longer limited to the demands of students. The demands of workers and farmers have also been added to it. All parties opposed to the French president’s imperialist Macron are now participating in this movement. Radical right-wing nationalists, reformists, electoral leftists, revolutionaries, workers, farmers, and students are all on the streets with class demands. The French government is using mass arrests and police force to suppress the movement. Protests are also intensifying in various European countries, including Italy, Belgium, and Spain, centered on the crisis of education, housing, wages, and public services. Imperialism is in crisis across Europe.
We believe that this crisis of imperialism is not an isolated incident; it is a crisis of the imperialist economic system. The policy of profit-oriented economy, inequality, unemployment, cuts in education and health sectors, and the burden of the crisis on the common people is disrupting the lives of the people. Class conflict is becoming more pronounced. The imperialist-capitalist world system is failing to ensure the basic interests and rights of the people.
The movement of students and the youth of the Gen-Z generation is an expression of their just demands, sense of rights, and political awareness. Considering the youth as politically immature or ignoring their demands and choosing the path of repression is a manifestation of the anti-people State system of the imperialist French State.
We call for the movement to continue until the people’s just demands, including the release of the arrested protesters and demands regarding education, are met.
However, at the same time, the oppressed people must be aware that the overall liberation of the people will not be achieved through a change of government alone. The experiences of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka show that even after a change of government, the crisis in public life continues to increase. Therefore, there is a need for a change in the overall State system and the exploitative socio-economic system.
We call on the oppressed people, including students, youth, workers, and farmers, to transform the movement for isolated demands into a movement for overall system change. The struggle to establish an exploitation-free society must be carried forward by organizing under the leadership of the working class under the ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and advancing towards the goal of socialism and communism.
We express our full solidarity with the demonstrations called in France on October 31 and the nationwide strike on November 5. It is right to rebel against injustice.
