the essential
Barely re-elected President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron will experience a first day of social mobilization this Sunday, during the May Day parades. Yellow vests, trade unionists, left-wing activists, many will be on the streets to try to influence the liberal policy that many fear in his second term.
It is a very special 1st of May that Yellow Vests, unions and opposition parties are preparing on social networks, this Saturday, on the eve of International Workers’ Day, with calls to demonstrate more or less peacefully depending on movements.
“Even if Macron does not want to, the Yellow Vests are still there, opening a rebellious and bickering May 1st”, warns Marcel, adding not without humor “The yellow vest bends but does not roundregarding, continued…”
Feminist and rebellious engaged in Gironde, Kristèle wants to see in the first parades post-presidential election the demonstration that “another world is possible”. The Popular Union therefore calls for “general mobilization” in all departments. But it is at the corner of Place de la République and Magenta that Jean-Luc Mélenchon is expected tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. The opportunity for a fiery speech before legislative elections which might prove decisive for him?
Anyway, it is the students who should occupy the head of the procession from 2:30 p.m. With the idea behind thwarting Emmanuel Macron’s second term by preventing him from obtaining a majority in the National Assembly for LREM deputies.
“For the good of all, a job for everyone, let’s be in the streets with the workers for another world. Let’s stop the policy of Emmanuel Macron”, this is the very political line taken by the calls to scroll. It remains to be seen whether it will be calm and within the Republican rules.
If the demonstration were to skid and tear gas fly, some say they are already ready, to the call of the Brains account not available on Twitter: “Let’s hold the line, defeat them! See you tomorrow in all the streets of France. And in Paris , let’s refuse the mobile trap that the pref will want to put in place”…
Not necessarily a good omen if we remember the 1st of May which preceded the Covid pandemic. But the unions intend to stay on the ground of demands.
“The CGT calls on all employees to take advantage of May 1st, International Workers’ Day, in order to make this government understand that savings should no longer be made on the backs of the most precarious! » pic.twitter.com/69Nl7YixFM
– The CGT (@lacgtcommunique) April 28, 2022
For Philippe Martinez, secretary general of the CGT, the President of the Republic must keep in mind that he was elected without real support from the population, mainly in order to block the far right. “It is essential that he does not pretend to listen but that he responds with actions to the expectations of citizens and the world of work,” he said in an interview with Archyde.com.
Objective therefore, to maintain the pressure on the President of the Republic. Without that, he “will consider that he has a free hand for anti-social reforms”, is wary of the leader of the CGT. So, for him, “the more people there will be mobilized during this May 1 and at the end of this May 1 in businesses, services, the more we can influence government policy.”
On the side of Laurent Berger, the time is rather for dialogue if not for an outstretched hand. The secretary general of the CFDT calls on the head of state to organize a “big social meeting” in order to involve as many people as possible in the decisions.
Already, he had warned, Tuesday, in a column published in the newspaper Le Monde… “Mr. President, you will not be able to meet these challenges alone. Call a meeting today with the social partners and the major associations Call it what you want (conference, Grenelle, convention, etc.), but launch this major social event now to change the method and involve as many people as possible in the co-construction of decisions.”
In the process, the CFDT launched a rather consensual slogan for the May 1 demonstration: “Want to change? For a fair ecological transition… at work!”
For its part, Force Ouvrière calls for a “May 1st protest” by insisting on purchasing power. Its poster reads “bread, peace, freedom” on a background of a blue planet resting in the palm of a hand.
A peaceful gesture, hoping that the demonstrations will be just as peaceful.