French fuel depots forced open amid strikes(may send in paramilitary police to stop rioting)

[maddezmom]

Source: Houston Chronicle

French fuel depots forced open amid strikes
By GREG KELLER Associated Press Writer © 2010 The Associated Press
Oct. 20, 2010, 3:22AM
PARIS — French authorities forced strike-shuttered fuel depots to reopen to ensure gasoline supplies, and the interior minister threatened Wednesday to send in paramilitary police to stop rioting on the fringes of protests against raising the retirement age to 62.

Youths wearing hoods and scarves on their faces rampaged through the Paris suburb of Nanterre, breaking shop windows and hurling stones at riot police. The town has seen clashes in recent days centered on a high school that joined the protests.

Months of largely peaceful demonstrations against the pension reform have taken a violent turn in recent days. The plan is slated for a vote in the Senate on Thursday, but labor unions want the government to renegotiate, saying the bill threatens the country's hard-earned social protections.

President Nicolas Sarkozy and his government have stayed firm, insisting it is essential to saving the money-losing pension system. Countries around Europe are also facing public resistance as they try to tame government debts that have threatened the euro currency.



Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7255105.html

[regnaD kciN]

1. I don't want to overdramatize...

...but this may be the defining battle for progressivism worldwide. The French people seem to have woken up to the damage conservative party rule is doing, instead of falling under the spell of their "charismatic" president and his supermodel wife. Nonetheless, Sarkozy and his allies remain in power and, if they can manage to use military force to break the country's unions at this time and essentially impose their own version of the Catfood Commission on the French people, then there really is no foothold for progressive government anywhere in the world, and the corporate-benefiting "race to the bottom" will be on everywhere.

[Lasher]

2. That's the way I see it.

This neoliberal attack on the middle class must be coordinated internationally.

[No Elephants]

3. Merde!

[valerief]

4. The French sure do have balls! If only we did, too. nt

[Bragi]

8. We the docile salute those with more spine! /nt

[CJvR]

5. Limited sympathy. (retirement age 67 here)

I suspect the main driving force is the rising average age and badly constructed pension systems. The Swedish ATP system was once considered the main achievment of the long reign of the Social Democrats, until even they were forced to realize it couldn't work and reformed it. Despite raising the retirement age to 67 and reducing payments the pension system is still rather shakey in the long run.

[Bragi]

7. They "reformed it" did they?

I find it noteworthy that right-wingers always use the word "reform" to describe the gutting of social benefits.

[regnaD kciN]

9. And that's how a "race to the bottom" works...

Of course, you don't sympathize, because you don't have it as good as they. And when the Catfood Commission 2.0 or whatever urges raising the Social Security age to 72 and gutting benefits even more, than there will be those elsewhere in the world who will shrug it off, saying that, after all, they can't retire until 75, or get no pension at all.

That's the essence of a race to the bottom -- making sure that there's somewhere in the world that have it worse, so that "you can't complain." Guess who always wins such a race? Guess who always loses?

[valerief]

12. +1

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. The only groups not participating in the strike:

The paramilitary police
The UMP

Is that one group or two?

[bikebloke]

10. Sarko on the BBC

Last night, I was listening to the BBC. They played Sarko talking about law breakers. They weren't going to have their way. Nothing about why people were protesting. I remember hearing the same spiel from Nixon and Agnew. Law and order.

[MisterP]

11. AND Sarko during the '05 faubourg riots

he complained the nasty Mooslimes were lazy, and said they had no reason to be angry

this matches the ideas of neocons and other Islamophobes: to them, people who dislike the US suddenly woke up one day filled with hate (or hypnotized by the Reds or scheming priests and mullahs) and decided to pick on poor innocent America/the West