“Colour Riots” in France as Payback for Dissension

16-07-2023: Very little can be ascertained by appearances in politics these days. The “left” sounds like the right, the right sounds like the left that once was, and protests which declare they stand for an issue turn out to be a vehicle for another cause altogether. In the last days of June, France was swept by riots ostensibly in response to the police shooting of Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old French delivery driver of Algerian and Moroccan descent, after being pulled over during a traffic stop.[1] French President Emmanuel Macron was quick to denounce the police action as “unforgivable”, and stated that “nothing can justify the death of a young person”. Certainly, there has been a history in France of disaffected youth who have responded to police brutality often against those from Arabic and North and West African backgrounds with somewhat understandable rioting and targeting of the state. One of the most notable was three weeks of riots and a state of emergency in the banlieues of Paris in 2005 after two teenagers were electrocuted as they tried to evade police.[2] Yet the scale and scope of the riots in the last days of June and first days of July in France indicate that something else was afoot.

France on fire

Much of the “left” leapt to the defence of the rioters, while Jean-Luc Melenchon of La France Insoumise (LFI or “France Unbowed”) did ask the youth not to harm schools, libraries and gymnasiums (many of which were torched or otherwise vandalised), but refused to “call for calm” and countered with a “call for justice”.[3] Much of the political right reflexively blamed the problems on immigration, and the problems allegedly flowing from too much of it, leading to some ethnic petty crime and a supposed “failure to assimilate”. A demand to assimilate into a society in which many from migrant backgrounds are discriminated against in areas such as employment is unreasonable and unpalatable. Yet Nahel was born and raised in France, as are many of those who inhabit the suburbs of Paris and other French cities, so immigration as such is not directly the issue. While it cannot be denied that racism, low paid jobs, marginalisation and police brutality remain in France, these factors alone cannot explain the extraordinary speed and extent of the extreme violence which ensued.

Some reports had 41 police stations attacked, 2560 fires in streets, 1360 cars burnt and 234 buildings set alight.[4] At the transport depot at Aubervilliers in the north of Paris, 12 public buses were totally destroyed as they were burnt to a cinder.[5] The house Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun was rammed with a burning car, and his wife suffered a broken leg as she fled with her children.[6] The public library in Marseille was set on fire, and masked rioters were hurling objects into the Victor Hugo College as it was encased in flames.[7] The rioting continued for six nights, with police making over 700 arrests.[8] Unusually compared with previous French riots, this time the riots occurred also in small regional towns far away from the major metropolitan centres, such as Quissac. All told, the damage or destruction waged included some 1100 buildings and more than 6000 vehicles.[9]

Two decades of French “insubordination”

The so-called left pointed the finger at racism as one of the main motivating factors in the riots. Yet the riots can scarcely be “anti-racist”, given that a bus filled with tourists from China was attacked in Marseille, leading to complaints to the French government by China’s Consular Affairs Office.[10] The conservative right pointed the finger at immigration, but less than 5% of France’s population are those who acquire French nationality after birth.[11] While the issues that the nominal left and the conservative right raise may have some bearing on the events, they both discount the most essential driver – French ruling class dissent with US led imperialism. Granted, most of the time, the French elite are totally on board with the political agenda of maintaining the political rule of world capitalism led by Washington. Yet France’s revolutionary history, stemming from the classical bourgeois revolution in 1789, means that French politics has always been more left-wing than that which prevails in today’s United States of America (US) and the historical United Kingdom (UK).

This means that French politicians over the last 20 years have occasionally taken positions which are unacceptable to Washington and London. In 2003, then French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin declared at the United Nations (UN) that France would not support a unilateral US invasion of Iraq, placing France directly at odds with Washington.[12] In 2008, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon declared that France would not support Georgia and Ukraine becoming members of NATO, due to strong opposition from Russia and a need to have a dialogue with Russia on this question.[13] In 2019, President Macron infamously declared that NATO was “brain-dead”, referring to the fact that there is no co-ordination between the US and NATO on major security issues.[14] In 2022, President Macron dropped another howler by merely suggesting that Russia should be offered “security guarantees” in order to facilitate negotiations for an end to the conflict in Ukraine.[15]

This open dissension to the incredibly dangerous war machine agenda of the ruling classes of both the US and the UK can barely be allowed to stand. For, if France is allowed to stand up and say no to Washington, this example may well spread to other smaller nations. In 2021, the US and the UK governments showed utter contempt for France when it forced the cancellation of a $40 billion deal between France and Australia on the construction of new submarines for the Australian Navy. The deal, which was signed in 2016, was torn up when the governments of Australia, the US and the UK declared the AUKUS military alliance. Apart from obviously being yet another dangerous move towards imperialist war against the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Australia would dump its submarine construction deal with France to immediately sign up to one with the US. This outrageous breach of contract, let alone of basic diplomacy, led France to recall its Ambassadors to the US and Australia in response, citing the “unacceptable behaviour” of the US and Australian governments.[16] The AUKUS snub by Washington, London and Canberra demonstrated what these respective ruling classes really think about their counterparts in Paris.

The BRICS trigger

Arguably, the move of Macron which pushed the Anglo/US imperial establishment over the edge was his attempt to obtain an invitation to the upcoming BRICS summit in South Africa. BRICS is the political and economic alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa which now accounts for over 40% of global GDP (gross domestic product) and more than half of the world’s population.[17] When the BRICS was first formed 20 years ago it was a concern for the West, but since that time the unstoppable growth of the PRC’s socialistic economy has boosted it into a bloc which leaves the West and its floundering G7 club of “rich” countries (France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US, the UK and Canada)[18] drifting into irrelevance. In seeking a seat at the table of BRICS, Macron was simply recognising the new political and economic realities of the rise of the Eurasia and the decline of the West. Yet Washington and London viewed this move of Macron’s as a desertion from the imperialist camp to the side of the non-imperialist arch-rivals.

This was too much, and arguably in response, the deep states of the US and UK pulled the trigger on “colour riots” (as opposed to a colour revolution) in the hexagon. A government or national political leader does not at all need to be an adversary of Washington to be subjected to a regime change attempt. For example, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the target of a US state backed colour revolution from the start of this year for several reasons, but particularly for not backing NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine against Russia.[19] There could scarcely be anyone less in favour of the US Empire than the leader of Washington’s patron Israeli state, but the US ruling class demands total, not partial, subservience. Netanyahu saw a practical need to maintain some cordial political relations with Russia and even with Red China, so Washington used its enormous resources to fuel ongoing protests throughout Israel, effectively calling for the end of the administration of “Bibi”.

None of this excuses Macron in any political sense, as Macron has been a bitter enemy of the French working-class ever since taking office. Prior to the June/July riots, there were three major revolts against Macron’s draconian rule from Paris. In 2018 and 2019, the Yellow Vest rebellion shook France to its core, and only really abated with the onset of the repression which began with the fraudulent Covid narrative. Due to the fact that the Unions were not involved, some characterised the Yellow Vests as “right-wing”, but in fact the demands of the Yellow Vests were largely progressive, anti-Macron and even anti-capitalist, even if not articulated in such forms.[20] During 2020 to 2022, millions in France marched and demonstrated against Macron’s unjustifiable vaccine mandates and his freedom crushing Covid passports,[21] for which there was not a shred of scientific validity.

For a real path forward

For months at the start of this year, millions of workers in France again demonstrated relentlessly against the direct attack on aged pensions. French workers correctly saw that Macron’s raising of the pension age from 62 to 64 was yet another brick in the wall of assaults against basic living standards. For four months, demonstrators marched with stern determination, creating enormous political pressure on the government. During the massive May Day 2023 mobilisations in France, the Workers League intervened in Paris by raising some key economic demands: for full pensions from age 60 and a six-hour workday. These were linked with the political demand to oppose US/EU/NATO wars on Russia and China via the blocking of weapons shipments to Ukraine.[22] If achieved this could point the way towards the establishment of a workers’ republic in France, which would begin the process of expropriating the major means of production. If not for the deliberate lack of enthusiasm on behalf of most trade union officials, the movement could have forced the government to back down. As it was, Macron and his government used article 49.3 to essentially force the pension attacks through the parliament without a vote,[23] obliterating even the formalities of bourgeois democracy. Despite this, the struggle against the pension attacks had a clear majority of support from the French workers.

The Yellow Vest rebellion, the movement against Covid repression and the vast protests against pension attacks were progressive uprisings which challenged the deterioration of capitalism in France and its consequent retribution against the masses. In contrast, the riots of late June and early July expressed no political demands – aside from “justice for Nahel” – yet used extreme violence on an enormous scale in a seeming display of nihilism. The burning of schools, libraries and public buildings cannot be an act of protest, however misguided. The attacks on police stations and even politicians themselves are a sign of something else altogether. It is likely that this was a regime change attempt triggered by the Anglo-American establishment in order to maintain total domination for imperialism. The government of Emmanuel Macron was under attack,[24] and there may well be further onslaughts unleashed.

Many have drawn comparisons between the Black Lives Matter riots in the US in 2020 in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police, and the recent riots in France. There are similarities, and both events involved the use of violence in order to topple a sitting President; Donald Trump in 2020, Emmanuel Macron in 2023. Both events aimed at removing a leader who dared to stray – only slightly – from the overbearing political necessity to impose US imperialist dictates. Trump disagreed with the deep state on the need to confront and go to war against Russia and was eventually removed. Macron does not outright oppose confrontation and war against Russia but is far from enthusiastic about it. Washington and London need him gone, even if through dangerous riots. There is video footage of some rioters firing military grade weapons in Paris and Lyon,[25] something to which regular protestors would scarcely have access.

Imperialism means war abroad and war at home. Poverty for millions, cost of living pressures for workers who have employment, political repression, contrived riots and uprisings, corruption, censorship and more are the current modus operandi of global capitalism. It must be overthrown and be replaced with a socialist order. Neither the woke left nor the conservative right have any answers for the working class, regardless of their rhetoric. Only vanguard parties based on authentic Leninism have the potential to lead the working masses towards the establishment of their own governments and their own states, as the first step towards an egalitarian and harmonious society.

WORKERS LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

[1] www.heavy.com/news/nahel-m/ (11-07-2023)

[2] www.news.sky.com/story/why-are-people-protesting-in-france-and-why-is-there-a-history-of-rioting-12911541 (11-07-2023)

[3] www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2023/07/06/riots-in-france-the-trouble-with-jean-luc-melenchon_6044385_23.html (11-07-2023)

[4] www.policetribune.com/french-riots-spread-to-belgium-switzerland-reports-of-rioters-targeting-christians-conservatives/ (11-07-2023)

[5] www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/30/monument-french-rage-buses-torched-riots-police-killing (11-07-2023)

[6] www.cbsnews.com/news/nanterre-france-riots-arrests-latest-lhay-les-roses-mayor-home-attacked/ (11-07-2023)

[7] www.humanevents.com/2023/06/30/paris-race-rioters-torch-middle-school-library-after-algerian-teen-killed-at-traffic-stop (11-07-2023)

[8] www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12255699/Rioters-ram-French-mayors-home-burning-car-assassination-attempt-injures-family.html (11-07-2023)

[9] www.apnews.com/article/france-riots-protests-small-towns-36ea7d521f583bfad35b0d3a234ff909 (11-07-2023)

[10] www.reuters.com/world/europe/china-complains-france-after-chinese-tourists-hurt-riots-2023-07-02/ (12-07-2023)

[11] www.statista.com/statistics/466028/distribution-population-nationality-france/ (12-07-2023)