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CONTRE INFOS
EUROPEAN COUNTER NETWORK
PARIS / FRANCE
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English edition #2
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Ecn c/o Reflex - 21 ter, rue Voltaire, 75011 Paris (France)
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eMail : Counter@dialup.francenet.fr
Samizdat : http://www.anet.fr/~aris/
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THE PARISIAN ATMOSPHERE
So, Saturday evening I'm on my way home down the Boulevard Voltaire...
sirens are wailing and 8 wagons of riot cops are on their way, pell mell,
down to Nation.. On the Place Poltaire they were setting up a water canon...
just like the crowd buster in 'Soleil Vert'
I run back home, grab my two cameras fill them with a cartridge, empty my
pockets of anything awkward and I'm on my way down to Nation...
The demo isn't over coz there are still swathes coming down the Bd Diderot.
I go through a CRS (TN riot cops) cordon on the rue de faubourg st Antoine
and get through... fairly good humoured I was expecting some more aggro..
Sausage, pancake and waffles... some folk dancing ...
Folk having a cool time...
The last bunch of demonstators goes through.. a cordon of riot police
behind... I talk to someone, and i turn my head... THE SQUARE IS EMPTY!!! A
small group around a fire are warming there hands...
'We are cowards...' 'Noone is supporting the movement... where are the 5
million on poverty's doorstep... where is DAL, where are the unemployed?
'Look at all them dickheads demostrating' they are all saying in front of
their TVs.
The CRS didn't even ask us to disburse... we did it ourselves
'Shit this ain't no party. We ain't here to dance...'
On Saturday night in the Place Nation the dustbins were being emptied...
half an hour after the demo had finished... no more slogans, no more red
flags, no more smiles on folks faces...
Lets stay in the streets... lets avoid TF1 (TN national TV)... lets stay in
the street... let's not be cowards
nomad@creanet.fr
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SURVIVE OR LIVE
Speech of the Seattle Indian Chief (*) to millions of men and women marching
for a better future (December 1995)
How can you agree to sell your strength to chiefs who despise you and treat
you like slaves? The idea seems strange to me. How can you give your enemy
the duty of feeding those you love?
How can one teach dignity to children by imposing absurd laws on them and by
offering them each day the spectacle of renunciation and submission? I
really do not understand. Maybe it is because the red man is a savage.
Today, in your millions, you are answering the call to rebellion. The
railway line is deserted; nobody is taking messages from one region to
another; many young people are refusing to sit down to listen to the hollow
speeches of their masters; as for those men who are extracting the burning
rock from the soil, they have fought against the soldiers. The whole life of
your people has been changed.
However, you seem ashamed of your strength. You feel a need to justify every
gesture of your anger by a fault in your adversaries. You seem to fear that
they will suspect you of wishing to destroy this world where money and
material goods are more important than that which is human! I do not
understand: is it not the only thing to do, if you do not wish to see
disappear once and for all what remains of the pure water, the forests, the
wild animals and even the towns from whence the poor have been chased as my
people have been chased from their lands?
Can you believe that a change of chief, a signature at the foot of a treaty
will suffice to create a future for your children?
My people have fought and we have learnt the meaning of the word treason. It
is the chiefs in Washington who have taught us and many of our people have
died from the bullets of the military or have been vanquished by cold and
hunger in the reservations where they have been parked. It seems people are
still dying of cold and hunger in our towns! What crimes have they commited
those you have allowed to be banished whilst every one of your masters
lives in luxury and goes around driven by five horses?
You also have your ancestors, who fought for their freedom and for yours.
Those who today would put you on your guard against revolutionnary hope are
the same who, 200 years ago were happy to replace the nobility with the
bourgeoisie, dukes with lawyers whilst the people remained slaves! Can you
not be worthy of what your ancestors dreamt of, as you yourselves dream of
creating a better future for your children in the next millenium?
The sons and daughters of the earth live upright. They only lie down to
sleep and make love. I know no other way of living. If this was good for
savages then that is what I am!
There is one other thing I don't understand: some of you, most often the
young, show great courage and anger when facing the soldiers. Given their
age perhaps it is temerity, but what of it! Perhaps they use their
impetuosity against false targets - the aims of life do not shine in the
cages of glass, but what of it! How can you abandon to their fate their
outstretched hands? Do you wish to smash the dreams they have?
See what you have already done and learn what you are capable of! You can
stop in its steps this world which destroys man in the way you stop trains.
In the struggle forgotten fraternity is reborn, the smile of shared hope,
the courage to want.
The end of survivval and the beginning of life.
(*) In 1854 in Seattle the Chief of the Dwamish tribe on the North West
coast of America replied to the Washington government which was promising
them a reservation in exchange for the 'purchase' of land from its people in
a text that was translated into French by the title The end of life and the
beginning of Survival.
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LETTER FROM ROUEN
On Tuesday, almost all the personel of public service is on strike,
the 'uprising' started in ROUEN (Yo, it's our town, in ~Normandie~)
with a strike of the student (Yo, most of us are students in Rouen,
and union activists on the campus, but not me, I am unemployed and
living thanx to state Welfare). The strike was stopped
when UNEF-ID(a trade union,if the word apply to students) and so-called
COMMUNISTES-REVOLUTIONAIRES were happy to have the gov renounce to
lower the budget of 12,000,000 but finally lower it of 6,000,000 Francs.
Before we even heard of the budget cut, we wanted to fight for a raise!!!
And the UNEF-ID an friends considered a 6,000,000 cut a VICTORY and
had a "fiesta" !
It was an obvious manipulation from the Juppe's GOV, but it had a
'pervert' effect, other universities got on strike to have
what the gov. called "a constructive negociation", so did the
workers from SNCF (railroad).
At the same time Alain Juppe had presented a reform of National Health
(~Securite Sociale~) and the raise of the contributions for the retirement
pensions.
The opposition (~parti Socialiste~) did not protest !!!
Only the little ~parti Communiste~ protested. The First time a
president and a gov. is so unpopular, there is almost no opposition
in parliament ! Something rotten in the Republic of France...
All left-wing Unions, sometimes against their leaders, asked the
withdrawal of the whole Juppe's Project and the guarantee that
telecommunications and other services won't be privatised.
At this very moment, even the FASP (main Police Union) joined the
~mouvement.
If the government doesn't renounce, not only the ~Service Public~ but
all the workers could take strike action (even the unemployed persons
as they are joining unions and associations are involved).
And president Chirac, direct from Cotonou, Benin (A French
African "~colonie" ) tells us : "be confident...", hu hu.
I hope u have understood at least half of that ^^^^
Anyway, are their any students on this list?
Do u intend to have trike action (or what?) in your countries?
F..K the Labour Party, F..K the ~Parti Socialiste~ this french party
that discredited the LEFT during 14 long years and made the RIGHTISTS
so strong, and the people of France so ignorant.
Raul Menfou /'De Gauche Et Je T'Emmerde' association. Rouen, France.
PS: Because of the strike of public transport : we had 560 km of trafic jam
in Paris, on monday morning. Not so good for environment :)
PS bis: The uprising here seems serious, but it could stop tomorrow...
the morning of the big evening hasn't come yet (or whatever you
say in your barbaric language for ~"Le matin du Grand Soir n'est pas
encore arrive"~ ;) )
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"We are a social movement not a student movement"
Nantes, as we know, was proud and terrible in March 1994 when it was
fighting against the CIP (1). The collective actions of libertarian groups,
Virus Mutinerie and SCALP, had allowed for the emergence in the heart of the
student population and further afield a new practice and a new theory. New
questions were being raised: what are the aims of education (should they be
profitable?), an end to the primacy of work, the sharing of wealth,
North-South global relations, racist laws etc.
The struggle in Nantes today.
It has its own characteristics which were evident two years ago and also
others new or more strongly asserted. It also shows certains defects old and
new.=20
As in March 1994, the struggle which is taking place on campus affirms its
autonomy (UNEF-ID is dead, UNEF is divided), its plurality (free and
accepted political expression for groups and individuals), and its direct
democracy (sovereign General Assembly, absence of hierarchy and
delegation...) It is also characterised by its openess to all be they
students, unemployed, workers, the excluded etc., its violence (2), its
parties. By its motions that have been passed and in the way it functions
the Nantes movement shows itself to be anti-capitalist, social - 'we are a
social movement, not a student movement' (1st December 1995) -
anti-hierarchical. What is more recent is its solidarity, really wanted and
organised alongside the struggling workers, in particular the workers of the
SNCF (TN French rail network): jointly organised demonstrations, concerted
action to get money for the strike funds...
By being aware of its own self identity the movement has considered full
self management for the university and has proposed a change in the
curriculum (permanent critic of knowledge and not simply its consumption),
its form (end of the paternalistic relation between students and teaching
staff) by puting an end to class divisions - opening the university to one
and all, ending the 'slavery' of the IATOSS personnel. This has not been
tried but it will be soon. That's a promise. But also there are various
faults which are becoming apparent. By putting in place a structure which
tries to exclude manipulation or political backlashes, the movement
sometimes gets bogged down in practical formalities which limit initiative.
The worst defect of the movement, but one which must also be considered its
greatest success, is its high degree of politisisation. By becoming aware of
the global nature of things, of their difficulties andd by wishing to
confront them head on the movement realises that it has no real critical and
liberating thought.
If critical elements exist, they are still weak and insuffisiant. That is
why many feel they have grasped the nettle but don't know by which end to
hold it. In order to solve the problem a day was dedicated to Marx and the
setting up of a liberation movement. 300 people took part and the outcome
was a belief in the the necessity to dispense with hierarchical, mass and
authoritarian organisations (such as PC, LCR, PO, LO) (...)
Also it is necessary to reread various revolutionnary ideologies - marxism,
anarchism, dadaism, situationalism... In Nantes the movement is not yet
revolutionnary but in a state of revolution.
Ballou (Scalp-Nantes)
(1) One can learn a lot by reading the pamphlet 'On a toujours raison de se
revolter' published in 1994 by the RESEAU No Pasaran. Available from Paris.
(2) The movement believes in direct action and has no hesitation in breaking
down the doors of those places it wishes to occupy. It is equally
disrespectful of the authorities - insulting, setiing up 'trials' of members
of the administrative council
in their presense during the occupation of the univerity presidents
residence (Friday 24th Nov), the spraying of President Jayez and other
academics with red wine. It accepts by a large majority street violence
against the police because it knows that the 'real troublemakers' are those
who by economic and political decisions smash up the lives of millions of
individuals: unemployment, exclusion, racism etc. It also will not hesitate
to make fun of journalistsbecause of their commitment to the system. For
example the media substituted in their report a light injury for a serious
one during the riots of Thursday 31st November in order to dramatise the
situation or else by never reporting (or nearly never) the political
decisions of the General Assembly in order to give the impression we are
still only demanding pencils and rubbers.
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FOR AN EDUCATION WHICH FILLS US WITH HUMANITY NOT CONSUMERISM
Today's society does not look at man as a thinking being but rather as the
raw material destined to be consumed by an economy that enslaves him and
looks upon him simply as a means for it to increase wealth.
This situation is largely held up by our education system which begins at a
very early age. We are forced to learn a code of good conduct. This code
does not give us rules of citizenship but rather a code for underlings. The
education system errases invividuality and the questioning mind. The first
diploma in good conduct is achieved at the end of secondary school and is
known as the baccalaureat. This diploma is also the means of entry to the
famous university system.
As for other people, they are 'parked' in technical training projects which
most often lead directly to unemployment or insecurity in jobs with neither
status nor rights.
Until very recently - the 1950s - university was a separate world where folk
lived out their separation. It enjoyed this pretentiousness. Those were
times when politics implied criticism, the critical mind. Today's elite
doesn't need to know how to think but rather how to manage, make money. Thus
the elite is formed in the specialised schools: HEC (High Finance School),
Ecoles Superieures de Commerce, ENA, private universities etc. In this
strange factory which never lacks funding some strange types are formed: the
technocrats.
The university has become the training ground for the middle classes and no
longer that of the elite and students, if they are lucky because both the
failure rate and graduate unemployment rate are high, will get small
managerial jobs above all in the state education system. The current
economic and social crisis explains the university crisis. It is no longer
possible or even necessary for the global capitalist system to guarantee the
future of 2 million students. That is why the funds have dried up which
would allow students to study in reasonable conditions. This is nothing
other than the outcome of the logic of liberalism and regional management.
And if the universities are in crisis the knowledge we receive is dead
already decomposing. The lecturer has become a small time trader and his
students undemanding consumers. They acquire a knowledge they cannot use.
Nothing is more important to the student than to acquire a vague learning
which he will then sell, if he can, on the labour market.
'Take notes', 'learn by heart' and 'regurgitate' these are the three
elements which define knowledge today.
Let us make of school - from primary to university level - a place of
blossoming, enrichment, criticism and action. This is one of our demands.
Emancipation as opposed to submission.
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To have a university or technical training no longer protects you from
unemployment. Universities are simple there to massage the unemployment
figures where you can wat before taking on an insecure job. The capitalist
production system has no room for people who think for themselves. It
prefers managers, money makers, good leaders and docile workers. To talk of
training problems, adapting education to the needs of business in order to
deal with the economic and social crisis is pure demagogy in a world where
mutations and evolutions allow for the production on mass of use value goods
which could be redistributed with equality and solidarity amongst
individuals and the peoples of the North and South allowing all to live with
dignity. It is for us to create the new future which will ensure that our
living conditions are satisfactory with or without work
(Extract from 'No Pasaran' special edition 14th December 1995)
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Strikes drag on in French city of Marseille
PARIS, Dec 20 (Reuter) - Transport problems dragged on in
the Mediterranean city of Marseille on Wednesday as striking
workers were slow to return to work but service was nearly
normal in the rest of France, officials said.
Train, commuter bus and tram drivers were returning to work
gradually in Marseille, however, and a first high-speed TGV
train left the city for Avignon and Paris to the north a little
over an hour late and with 200 passengers on board.
``At this point, it's a problem of restoring service in the
Marseille region and no longer a problem with strikes still
going on,'' a spokesman for the SNCF state rail firm said.
Unions had voted to end the strike, but some workers were still
absent.
He said trains were running normally or at near-normal
levels on most of the rest of France's high-speed and intercity
lines.
The recovery was just in time to carry hundreds of thousands
of Christmas holidaymakers after more than three weeks of
crippling stoppages, triggered by government plans to overhaul
the welfare system and trim civil service retirement benefits.
Apart from Marseille, the sole major problem area for the
SNCF was high-speed Eurostar service between Paris and Brussels,
where just two round-trips were planned on Wednesday -- this
time because of a strike by Belgian rather than French rail
workers.
In Paris, Metro underground and suburban RER lines were also
restored to near-normal levels.
About 80 percent of the capital area's buses would run on
Wednesday, the RATP regional transport authority said.
All rides were free on Wednesday for the third straight day.
Rejecting drivers' pleas, RATP president Jean-Paul Bailly
said drivers would not be paid for the days they did not work
but he said a system would be worked out to lessen the pain to
strikers.
He said in an interview with Europe 1 radio that the pay for
days not worked would be deducted from paychecks gradually and
that strikers would be able to exchange overtime or time owed
them for the lost pay.
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English version by
FREEDOM PRESS
http://www.lglobal.com/TAO/Freedom
a-infos news list
http://www.lglobal.com/TAO/A-Infos
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