Dispatches from the French election
John Mullen, LCR
Just a week before the European elections, France has had a weekend
of major demonstrations. On Saturday afternoon about 250,000 people
around the country demonstrated to defend the present system of health
care. The government has proposed very recently to charge one euro for
every visit to the doctor ( obviously just the thin end of a wedge) and
to increase the cost of staying in hospital to fourteen euros a night,
among other reforms, all of them bad. These attacks were milder than had
been expected, after the government parties fared very badly in recent
regional elections, but nevertheless are a serious challenge to the
workers movement. On other issues ( entertainment workers, research
workers) the government has climbed down recently , making major
concessions, even if only involving these particular sections. A more
significant government setback was their decision to raise the minimum
wage by five per cent this summer - it is clear that they are scared.
The future of the movement to defend the health system, and the results
of the European elections will be key elements deciding whether or not
the attacks will deepen or not.
On the Saturday evening about thirty thousand people marched through
Paris to protest at the visit or George Bush and Poutine to France. The
anti-war movement in France is generally very small, and this successful
demo was very encouraging to those of us who would like to build a
permanent anti-war organisation of some kind in France.
June 2004