Re: [Marxism] riots in france

[Greg Dunkel <gdunkel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Josh Saxe wrote:

> Walter wrote:
>
>
> > I found
> > it interesting that both the LO and the PCF seemed to make a point of
> > criticizing the protests by those who'd been victims of
> > discrimination and police brutality rather than focusing on the cops
> > and their acts of brutality, all of which began with the deaths of
> > two young men through electrocution in an underground tunnel...
>
> Walter this is probably because LO and the PCF have much deeper roots
> in the French working class than the LCR.  When the L.A. riots
> happened (I was 11) but I have heard that various Maoist and other far
> left groups (as well as demagogic academics) here applauded
> uncritically the burning down of commercial areas of working class
> communities while ignoring or downplaying the impact this would have
> on the future of South-Central, Pico-Union, Westlake, etc, ....
Here is a short report I translated in its entirety from Saturday's
L'Humanité.  I hope I caught the tone of the PCF's approach and how it
describes what it concretely did.

http://www.humanite.presse.fr/journal/2005-11-05/2005-11-05-817322

Rubrique Société
</journal/rubriques/3/societe/>Article paru dans l'édition du 5 novembre
2005.

Respect, justice, solidarity -- Gathering in front of the Prime
Minister's office

All the Communist members of parliament, and their allies in the council
for the Paris
region, came to a rally yesterday evening Nov. 4 at the Hotel Matignon,
the official
residence of the prime minister.  They were clear that the authorities
do not know how to
respond to the people's demand for justice and respect. What's worse,
the government has
thrown oil on the fire by its irresponsible and peremptory statements.
All this re-enforces
a feeling of tension and exclusion which finds for the moment its only
expression and outlet
in violence, dispair and disarray.  To get out of this situation, the
Communist officials
demanded a full investigation of what happened at Clichy-sous-Bois and
Epinay-sur-Seine and
what followed.

They also demanded funds be provided so these areas can live in dignity
and develop
themselves;  that the funds for neighborhood associations be restored;
that the justice
system and the police guarantee to respect the  rights of all the
people. They called for an
emergency meeting of neighborhood associations, unions, residents and
their elected
representatives to evaluate their needs and put public policies and
funds in place to solve
them.
/30

>


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