French protesters furious over the government's proposals to change the pensions system flooded the boulevards of cities from Paris to Marseille today as Nicolas Sarkozy's embattled labour minister presented the reform to a parliament echoing with jeers.
Huge numbers of people – 1.1 million according to the government, 2.7 million according to the leading CGT union – turned out throughout France to demonstrate against plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. There was significant disruption caused to trains, planes and public services as a result of the strike. In the capital alone, the CGT union estimated the number of protesters at 270,000.
"It is about time the government reacts," said Francois Chérèque, leader of the CFDT union, last night, claiming the "massive" turnout had given the protesters moral authority to demand changes to the bill.
The WSWS nails it, as the powers-that-be don't even pretend to hide their contempt for the working people of this country:
Prominent figures in the US ruling elite have recently made a series of statements that forewarn of massive cuts in social spending, up to and including Social Security, the bedrock federal insurance entitlement for elderly and disabled workers.
These comments reveal that, whatever the precise outcome of the midterm elections on November 7, they will set the stage for a bipartisan assault, in the name of “fiscal responsibility,” on what remains of the social reforms of the last century.
The knives are already being sharpened for a long-awaited attack on Social Security. In a rude and provocative e-mail to the president of the Older Women’s League dated August 23, former Republican Senator Alan Simpson—appointed by President Obama as co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform—revealed his deep hatred of both Social Security and the working people who depend upon it.
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