From: "Tom Condit" <tomcondit-AT-igc.apc.org>
Date:          Mon, 11 Dec 1995 14:18:53 +0000
Subject:       French strikes and homeless


Dear comrades:

I forward this post from the "Homeless" list.  The author is a
North American doing work with the homeless in Paris.
Note the web page references at the end for further info.

Tom

---Forwarded message-----

Date: Mon, 11 Dec 1995 15:54:45 -0400
From: hill-AT-msh-paris.fr (hillary)

 The current strikes in France highlight the effects of applying
commercial  logic to public services. In a country where social
security, public works  and education have been an integral and
expected part of the structural  fabric, proposing changes based
largely on  remaining competitive in the  international economic
marketplace is bound to bring people to the streets.  Annual and
mostly harmless strikes usually follow budget proposals in the
Fall, but this year's movement reflects, among other things,
workers'  indignation at seeing their retirement plans modified
through redefinitions  of social categories and their
corresponding benefits.

 Students have joined in with their own basic "table and chairs"
complaints  about the pathetic lack of resources in most
universities, as well as the  more actively dangerous asbestos
roaming around buildings on many campuses.

 Here, too, can be heard an outcry against the invasion of the
monster/private realm. This translates for the university system
as private  institutions sprouting up around France, and above
all the upcoming private  Parisian university referred to as the
"Fac[ulte] Pasqua," named for the  former Minister of the
Interior who pushed the project through (and who  also clamped
down radically on immigration laws, I might add). Another
example of the private sector entering the educational system is
a  satellite of Georgia Tech which was built in Eastern France,
with a great  deal of financing from the local government. I
recently saw photos of the  modern glass edifice covered in
toilet paper by student demonstrators who'd  been refused a
face-to-face show-down with the president. Triple-ply  rebellion.

 The students have been trying to link their movement to that of
the  workers' unions. Demonstrations last week brought both
groups, joined by  teachers and others, out together to total
about 1 million in all of  France. The strikes continue, with
trains, metros and buses almost  completely shut down, airports
occasionally blocked by strikers, small  movements by truckers
stopping traffic on selected highways, closed  universities...
The list goes on and the media has begun filming consumers
clearing out the shelves for basics like sugar and flour, and
filling up  with gas. May '68 left cupboards bare for about a
week, and though the  current strikes are not comparable in
content, they do trigger Pavlovian  consumer responses. Every day
shows yet another desperate small business  owner describing
phenomenal losses during the pivotal Christmas shopping  season.
They're all wishing they sold bikes, rollerblades, scooters and
any  other device for increased mobility around town. With no
public transport,  a quirky sense of solidarity has kicked in,
and hitchhiking has become a  daily affair for most. Somehow
people feel as if safety is assured,  following the logic that
anyone hitchhiking has to get somewhere for a  respectable
purpose like work. (I'm interested to see who will pick me up
when metro service picks up.)

 Getting back to the media - there's an obvious campaign on the
primarily  publicly-funded television and radio channels to show
the downside of the  strikes, as well as to play up the divisions
within each group of strikers:  worker and student unions pitted
against one another, focus on  demonstrators doing damage to city
and private property, and comments from  the general public
intended to show their lack of support for strikers.

 In regards to homeless individuals, the media is also playing up
the guilt  factor and conveniently aiming it at the thoughtless
strikers (easier than  questioning a dysfunctional social
structure). The argument goes that  because metro stations have
been closed, homeless people have consequently  been dislodged
from their shelter and protection against winter chill.  Because
strikes have forced traffic to absurd levels, the mobile food
kitchens haven't been able deliver. Because buses and public
transport  aren't working, individuals haven't been able to reach
shelters and health  services. (Though I'm trying to give a
glimpse of the bottom line here, and  not refute the issues, I
can't help myself on this last one - doesn't this  make officials
wonder about the accessibility and distribution of shelters  to
begin with?)

 There is truth in the difficulty faced by vendors of any of the
five  national homeless newspapers since the metro has stopped
running.  One fairly central metro station in Paris has been
opened, but regardless  there have been two deaths in the past
few days - one man froze to death;  another man, rolled up in a
carpet to keep warm, went unseen and was run  over by a truck.
"Normal" winter deaths in the midst of others' unrest...

 I have seen homeless populations organize and picket in front of
government  administrative buildings, and requisition buildings
with the help of groups  like "Droit au logement/Right to
Housing", but I'm not aware of any direct  and organized
participation in the current strikes.

 The government tried to demystify the proposed reforms known as
the "Plan  Juppe" by publishing a lengthy explanation in all
national daily newspapers  this weekend. The Communist Party
newspaper, "l'Humanite," refused to  publish the
advertisement/clarification. Unions have begun meetings with a
government mediator and, after refusing the word "negotiation" as
a  feasible description for previous exchanges, union leaders
have now  recognized that negotiations are supposedly underway.
The next demonstration is slated for Tuesday, December 12th. The
strikes  will take a new twist if the private sector decides to
join the movement.

 For more direct info and accounts of general assemblies, tracts,
etc. on  the Internet:

 www.anet.fr (for reactions and info about the strikes as well as
the home  page for NoPasaran, Samizdat and the anti-racism news
research group Crida)

 www.univ-paris8.fr (the folks from the Warka home page have set
up a  special section for paris "en greve", on strike, featuring
tracts, photos  from the Dec. 1st demonstration, related Web
resources)


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