For
centuries, the “left” hoped popular movements would lead to
changes for the better. Today, many leftists seem terrified of
popular movements for change, convinced “populism” must lead to
“fascism.” But it needn’t be so, says Diana Johnstone.
by
Diana Johnstone
Part
2 - The Voices of the People
The
Yellow Vests held their first demonstrations on Saturday, November
17, on the Champs-Elysées in Paris. It was totally unlike the usual
trade union demonstrations, well organized to march down the
boulevard between the Place de la République and the Place de la
Bastille, or the other way around, carrying banners and listening to
speeches from leaders at the end. The Gilets Jaunes just came, with
no organization, no leaders to tell them where to go or to harangue
the crowd. They were just there, in the yellow vests, angry and ready
to explain their anger to any sympathetic listener.
Briefly,
the message was this: we can’t make ends meet. The cost of living
keeps going up, and our incomes keep going down. We just can’t take
it any more. The government must stop, think and change course.
But so
far, the reaction of the government was to send police to spray
torrents of tear gas on the crowd, apparently to keep the people at a
distance from the nearby Presidential residence, the Elysee Palace.
President Macron was somewhere else, apparently considering himself
above and beyond it all.
But
those who were listening could learn a lot about the state of France
today. Especially in the small towns and rural areas, where many
protesters came from. Things are much worse than officials and media
in Paris have let on.
There
were young women who were working seven days a week and despaired of
having enough money to feed and clothe their children.
People
were angry but ready to explain very clearly the economic issues.
Colette,
age 83, doesn’t own a car, but explained to whoever would listen
that the steep raise of gasoline prices would also hurt people who
don’t drive, by affecting prices of food and other necessities. She
had done the calculations and figured it would cost a retired person
80 euros per month.
“Macron
didn’t run on the promise to freeze pensions”, recalled a
Yellow Vest, but that is what he has done, along with increasing
solidarity taxes on pensioners.
A
significant and recurring complaint concerned the matter of health
care. France has long had the best public health program in the
world, but this is being steadily undermined to meet the primary need
of capital: profit. In the past few years, there has been a growing
government campaign to encourage, and finally to oblige people to
subscribe to a “mutuelle”, that is, a private health insurance,
ostensibly to fill “the gaps” not covered by France’s universal
health coverage. The “gaps” can be the 15% that is not covered
for ordinary illnesses (grave illnesses are covered 100%), or for
medicines taken off the “covered” list, or for dental work, among
other things. The “gaps” to fill keep expanding, along with the
cost of subscribing to the mutuelle. In reality, this program,
sold to the public as modernizing improvement, is a gradual move
toward privatization of health care. It is a sneaky method of opening
the whole field of public health to international financial capital
investment. This gambit has not fooled ordinary people and is high on
the list of complaints by the Gilets Jaunes.
The
degradation of care in the public hospitals is another complaint.
There are fewer and fewer hospitals in rural areas, and one must
“wait long enough to die” emergency rooms. Those who can afford
it are turning to private hospitals. But most can’t. Nurses are
overworked and underpaid. When one hears what nurses have to endure,
one is reminded that this is indeed a noble profession.
In all
this I was reminded of a young woman we met at a public picnic in
southwestern France last summer. She cares for elderly people who
live at home alone in rural areas, driving from one to another, to
feed them, bathe them, offer a moment of cheerful company and
understanding. She loves her vocation, loves helping old people,
although it barely allows her to make a living. She will be among
those who will have to pay more to get from one patient to the next.
People
pay taxes willingly when they are getting something for it. But not
when the things they are used to are being taken away. The tax
evaders are the super-rich and the big corporations with their
batteries of lawyers and safe havens, or intruders like Amazon and
Google, but ordinary French people have been relatively
disciplined in paying taxes in return for excellent public services:
optimum health care, first class public transport, rapid and
efficient postal service, free university education. But all that is
under assault from the reign of financial capital called
“neo-liberalism” here. In rural areas, more and more post
offices, schools and hospitals are shut down, unprofitable train
service is discontinued as “free competition” is introduced
following European Union directives – measures which oblige people
to drive their cars more than ever. Especially when huge shopping
centers drain small towns of their traditional shops.
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