Two days after the unions, a dozen youth associations are calling to demonstrate against the pension reform this Saturday afternoon between Place de la Bastille and Nation.
The dispute continues. Two days after a first day of massive action at the initiative of the eight main French trade unions, 11 youth associations are calling for mobilization against the pension reform this Saturday, January 21 in Paris.
The parade, declared in the prefecture, must leave at 2 p.m. on the place de Bastille to join the place de Nation via the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine. Security services are provided to supervise the demonstrators.
The slogan of the associations (L’Alternative étudiante, VoixLycéenne, FIDL, Young Guard, Young Insoumis, Young Ecologists, Young Generation s, Place Publique Jeunes, RED Jeunes, POI, NPA Jeunes) goes beyond the fight against the reform presented on January 10 by the government of Élisabeth Borne and demands, for example, the end of Parcoursup, the orientation reform after the baccalaureate put in place in 2018 – and solutions against student precariousness.
“It’s all going in the same direction”
An initiative supported by La France insoumise, the NPA and Génération s which call for “massive” support for youth associations, unlike the Socialist Party, Europe Écologie-Les Verts and the Communist Party (PCF). Jean-Luc Mélenchon and several deputies and elected LFI will be present in the procession.
“Students, retirees, people who are somehow not at work […] will have the opportunity to mobilize,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Thursday.
For him, young people – whose contribution could be decisive in making the government back down – know “very well that the change in lifestyle that retirement entails, will change life immediately, now”. To justify the organization of another action, two days after that of the unions, Jean-Luc Mélenchon indicated that “all that converges, all that goes in the same direction”.
LFI even proposes to set up local collectives everywhere in France to “amplify the mobilization” and with “the objective of initiating a campaign of local initiative and meetings common to our organizations.
The example of the CPE in 2006
“We feel that something is going to happen. The youth in the street is in a way Emmanuel Macron’s greatest fear”, had advanced at the beginning of the week, the rebellious deputy, Louis Boyard, ex- leader of high school protest, with BFMTV.com.
The youth unions have an example in mind: that of the First Hire Contract (CPE). In January 2006, as soon as this specific employment contract for those under 26 was announced, millions of people, most of whom were between 18 and 25, mobilized to have this bill withdrawn.
“I don’t believe in this kind of scenario. The CPE was not a campaign promise. We did announce the color. We are always told this story but it has nothing to do with it”, judge of his alongside a ministerial adviser.
A new strike is planned at the initiative of the trade union organizations on Tuesday 31 January. In the meantime, the inter-union calls for “multiplying actions”, “especially around Monday, January 23”, the day of the presentation of the law in the Council of Ministers.
As a reminder, the march against high prices organized by LFI on October 16 had resulted in relative success, bringing together 140,000 participants according to the organizers, 30,000 according to the police.
