"I don't want to lie to myself anymore. I don't want to create the illusion that my presence in the government means we're up to the challenges, and so I've decided to quit the government." With those words, France's environment minister Nicolas Hulot announced during a live radio interview that, after 15聽months in the role, he was parting聽company with President Emmanuel Macron.
France
Tiziri Kandi is an officer with the聽hotel workers鈥 branch聽of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) 鈥 a major confederation of French trade unions. Following the聽111-day Clichy Holiday Inn strike in Paris, she spoke with Joe Hayns about the strike, outsourcing, and the limitations faced by railway workers in their struggle against President Emmanuel Macron鈥檚 attack on the state-owned railway operator, SNCF.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the dramatic May-June 1968 upsurge in struggle by workers and students in France. The effects of this turbulent period, writes Stanley Blair, were felt around the world 鈥 and for years to come in France.
1968 was one of those extraordinary years when millions of people were involved in trying to change the world for the better.聽Hall Greenland writes that the year's most compelling events took place in May and June on the streets of France.
Thousands聽of people flooded the streets of聽France聽to demonstrate against聽President Emmanuel Macron鈥檚 economic reforms on May 27. "In the name of the poor, the humiliated, the homeless and the jobless, we are telling you, 'Enough, enough of this world'," leader of the left-wing France Unbowed party, Jean-Luc Melenchon, said.
French police聽and聽protesters聽clashed in Paris on May 22 after聽unions聽鈥 angered by years of聽public-sector pay cuts聽and President聽Emmanuel Macron's聽economic reforms 鈥斅爑rged state employees to stop work聽and join nationwide street聽protests.
Riot police charged聽at protesters with batons in central聽Paris, firing stun grenades and tear gas. Police said 20 demonstrators were arrested.
The demonstration was called by the large聽labour unions聽plus many smaller ones, and involved the organisation of street rallies in about 140 cities, towns and villages across聽France.
Strikes, protests and occupations are breaking out everywhere. Sam Wainwright writes that resistance to French president Emmanuel Macron鈥檚 austerity plans is gathering pace and its development will determine the future of the country.
Macron and his big business patrons complain that France has failed to 鈥渕odernise鈥 like Britain did during Margaret Thatcher鈥檚 reign. A key turning point that explains why the French working class has been able to slow this process was the huge social movement and strike wave of 1995, in which millions of people took to the streets.聽
Mireille Knoll was brutally murdered in her Paris apartment on March 23. She was 85 years old with a disability and a Holocaust survivor. Police suspect anti-Semitism聽may have motivated the attack upon her; all prompting an emotional outpouring.
On the 50th anniversary of the huge May-June 1968 strive wave that brought France to the brink of revolution, workers are still fighting for their rights. This was seen clearly with the rail strikes that crippled France on April 3.
Tens of thousands of public sector workers and students, led by the聽National Society of French Railways鈥 (SNCF) staff, went on strike to protest a series of attacks on workers鈥 rights proposed by President聽Emmanuel Macron.
France is once again on the brink of an all-out industrial war 鈥 and its outcome could transform the country鈥檚 political landscape.
This is a gender-bending true story of how a French man fled World War I trenches and 鈥 at the urging of his wife 鈥 survived in hiding by passing as a woman.
More than 1600 delegates gathered for the third annual conference of聽La France Insoumise, the radical left political project that has stormed onto the stage of French politics, over November 25-26 in the city of Clermont-Ferrand.
The group鈥檚 name defies a neat translation, often rendered as France Unbowed, Unsubmissive or Untamed. Only launched in February last year, the group is widely seen as the only real and effective opposition to President Emmanuel Macron. Founding spokesperson and former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon is recognised in opinion polls as the effective leader of the opposition.
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