#cole stangler

[eelhound]

"What is the historic bloc that we need to build? In France, it’s necessary to successfully realize the alliance between the middle class and the working class, which itself is traversed by a split between people in urban areas that tend to be of immigrant origin, and people in rural areas who tend to be whiter. That’s the double divorce that we need to resolve.

In our history, we’ve never succeeded without this alliance. The French Revolution was the alliance between the bourgeoisie in the National Assembly — lawyers and landowners — and the lower classes in cities and the countryside. The Popular Front in 1936 was the alliance between anti-fascist intellectuals and workers who wanted forty-hour work weeks and paid vacation. May 1968 was led by students and workers. The election of François Mitterrand in May 1981 was an alliance at the voting booth — not in the streets, and I think that’s what was missing — between [civil servants] and workers.

Since then, we’ve had a split in our historic bloc. For me, it’s due to globalization, which cuts like a knife through butter, marking the winners and the losers. We have people with degrees who are generally protected from mass unemployment. The unemployment rate among the intermediate professions has stagnated more or less since the 1980s. It’s quadrupled for blue-collar workers and risen seven-fold for unskilled workers. The experience of unemployment in working-class families is a family-wide experience that haunts the surrounding environment. It means finding a lot of gigs, scraping by in jobs that lack stability.

How do we patch things up and end this divorce? Before, when we said we needed to end unrestrained competition for industrial and economic reasons, it was very popular among working-class people, but the more highly educated weren’t in favor. Today, with ecology, there’s the possibility to bring people together around this. There’s a possibility to say that unrestrained competition is bad for everyone. It’s bad for workers and it’s bad for the planet. That’s one theme, but there are others.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon won two-thirds of the bet. He succeeded in winning over young people in cities, and he succeeded in winning over young people in certain working-class neighborhoods. He was missing peripheral France, rural France, the France of the gilets jaunes — I mean there’s a thousand different ways to describe this, but there’s a big missing piece there. How do we win back this electorate? I’m not saying it’s easy, but you have to start by identifying it as an objective and asking what are the paths forward.

I’ve suggested several things. For example, the so-called 'frontline workers' during the COVID-19 crisis — home care assistants, agricultural and food workers, [and others] — should be applauded as the new heroes of our time. We should ask, job by job, how are we going to revalue these professions on a symbolic level and on a material level? I think that’s an entry point. Then there’s the question of the train system, which you can link to the current problems on the Paris subway and the Paris commuter rail network. Taking up themes like this allows you to shape the reality of people’s daily lives.

I was reading a book by Luc Rouban, La vraie victoire du RN [The Real Victory of the RN]. The Rassemblement National is clearly gaining traction among these professions I was describing. They have a feeling of contempt for not being recognized by society and for being looked down upon. [Rouban] says the strength of what that party says is that it appears like a discourse of real life, whereas the Left immediately enters into theoretical discourse. I think we need to reappropriate real life. We also need to show positive figures from the Left in [rural] areas. There used to be the village schoolteacher or the Socialist activist who was also the treasurer of the football team. These figures have disappeared. The terrain is open, and we need to take it back. I also think we need to uphold labor as a left-wing value." - Cole Stangler interviewing François Ruffin, from "François Ruffin: It’s Time to Put an End to the Neoliberal Era." Jacobin, 20 January 2023.

[catdotjpeg]

March in Marseille against the new immigration law backed by Macron and Le Pen (one of 150+ across France)… and for solidarity with Palestine

-- Cole Stangler, 21 Jan 2024

[englishindubellay]

ecg 2

Lessons from the economic crisis

Après 2008, En raison de la chute des prix de l'immobilier (real estate), les USA et par conséquent le reste du monde ont traversé la pire crise économique depuis la Grande Dépression.

L'expression « crise des subprimes » a été inventée à ce moment-là.

La faillite de Lehman Brothers et de Goldman Sachs a eu un effet domino et a fait les grands titres de tous les journaux du monde.

Beaucoup d'économistes expliquent que la faute incombe à la dérèglementation (to blame : la déréglementation est à blâmer) du sector financier, mais c'est un sujet qui fâche pour les défenseurs d'une économie libérale (free market economy)

Dans l'intérêt de l'Euro, La Banque Centrale Européenne et le FMI ont dû sévir contre certains pays comme les PIGS. Le film de Costa-Gavras « Adults in the Room » montre bien ce qui s'est produit.

Il nous faut également garder à l'esprit que toutes ces mesures d'austérité ont porté un coup à de nombreux citoyens européens qui ne pouvaient plus joindre les deux bouts et se sont retrouvés au chômage.

Certains sociologues disent que Podemos, Occupy Wall Street, Nuit Debout, UKIP, les Gilets Jaunes sont nés à la suite (in the wake) de la crise de 2007 afin de dissuader les politiques de faire les mêmes erreurs.

Les conséquences de la crise perdurentet la guerre entre l'Ukraine et la Russie va forcément (to be bound to) rendre la situation plus compliquée. On dit que la pandémie et cette guerre sont responsables de la crise inflationniste (cost of living crisis) de ces dernières années.

Traduire le passage suivant :

But more importantly, France can boast one of the most successful welfare states in the world. That’s a major reason why the country has a lower poverty rate than its often-idealised American, British and German counterparts. The safety net also helped soften the blow of the last economic crisis, a lesson that authorities would do well to remember as the global economy slows down.

Excerpt from The Guardian. December, 4th 2019 .

 Cole Stangler (a British journalist based in Paris)

Lessons from the economic crisis

Après 2008,En raison de la chute des prix de l'immobilier (real estate), les USA et par conséquent le reste du monde ont traversé la pire crise économique depuis la Grande Dépression.

After 2008, owing to the collapse of real estate prices, the US and, as a result, the rest of the world went through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

L'expression « crise des subprimes » a été inventée à ce moment-là.

The phrase « subprime crisis » was coined at that time.

La faillite de Lehman Brothers et de Goldman Sachs a eu un effet domino et a fait les grands titres de tous les journaux du monde.

Lehman Brothers and Golman Sachs's bankruptcies had a domino effect and hit the headlines of every newspaper across the world.

Beaucoup d'économistes expliquent que la faute incombe (to blame) à la dérèglementation du sector financier, mais c'est un sujet qui fâche pour les défenseurs d'une économie libérale (free market economy)

Many economists explain that the deregulation of the finance sector is to blame, but this is a sore point for the advocates of a free-market economy.

Dans l'intérêt de l'Euro, La Banque Centrale Européenne et le FMI ont dû sévir contre certains pays comme les PIGS. Le film de Costa-Gavras « Adults in the Room » montre bien ce qui s'est produit.

For the sake of the Euro, the European Central Bank as well as the IMF had to crack down on some countries like the PIGS. Costa-Gavras's movie « Adults in the Room » is a clear depiction of what occurred.

Il nous faut également garder à l'esprit que toutes ces mesures d'austérité ont porté un coup à de nombreux citoyens européens qui ne pouvaient plus joindre les deux bouts et se sont retrouvés au chômage.

One must also bear in mind that all these austerity measures dealt a blow to countless European citizens who could no longer make ends meet and found themselves on the dole.

Certains sociologues disent que Podemos, Occupy Wall Street, Nuit Debout, UKIP et les Gilets Jaunes sont nés à la suite (in the wake) de la crise de 2007 afin de dissuader les politiques de faire les mêmes erreurs.

Some sociologists argue that Podemos, Occupy Wall Street, Nuit Debout, UKIP and the Yellow Vests were born in the wake of the 2007 crisis so as to deter politicians from making the same errors.

Les conséquences de la crise perdurent et la guerre entre l'Ukraine et la Russierend forcément (to be bound to) rendre la situation plus compliquée. On dit que la pandémie et cette guerre sont responsables de la crise inflationniste de ces dernières années.

The consequences of the crisis are here to stay and the war between Ukraine and Russia is bound to make the situation more complicated. It is said that the covid crisis and the cost of living crisis of these past years are to blame.

But more importantly, France can boast one of the most successful welfare states in the world.

Mais l'élément primordial est que la France peut s'enorgueillir d'avoir un des états providences les plus performants au monde.

That’s a major reason why the country has a lower poverty rate than its often-idealised American, British and German counterparts.

C'est la raison principale qui fait que ce pays a un taux de pauvreté plus bas que celui d'autres pays comparables et souvent idéalisés comme l'Amérique, la Grande-Bretagne ou l'Allemagne.

The safety net also helped soften the blow of the last economic crisis, a lesson that authorities would do well to remember as the global economy slows down.

Ce filet de sécurité a aussi contribué à atténuer le choc de la dernière crise économique, leçon que d'autres gouvernements feraient bien d'avoir en tête au moment où l'économie mondiale ralentit.

Excerpt from The Guardian. December, 4th 2019 .

 Cole Stangler (a British journalist based in Paris)

[whee38]

Macron Blocking Democracy In France | Cole Stangler | TMR

[hinahasan]

france

bardella, far right will be a disaster for france. French centrists must decide: support the left – or hand the keys of power to the far right? | Cole Stangler https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/01/french-centrists-left-far-right-new-popular-front-national-rally-second-round?CMP=share_btn_url

[antonio-velardo]

Antonio Velardo shares: There Is Another Paris by Cole Stangler

By Cole Stangler With a little bit of time and patience, you can still find it. Published: October 28, 2023 at 07:00AM from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/41oNzMK via IFTTT

[eagletek]

France’s unions have put up one hell of a fight – and sent a message to the rest of Europe | Cole Stangler

If French democracy were in a healthier state, Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform legislation would have already been scrapped by now. Broadly unpopular from the outset, his plans to raise the country’s retirement eligibility age from 62 to 64 have triggered a protest movement – historically large even by French standards – lasting nearly two months. Many in the streets view the bill as a breach of…

[wazafam]

By BY COLE STANGLER from Opinion in the New York Times-https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/opinion/france-cnews-americanization.html?partner=IFTTT Culture wars, fueled by Fox News-style provocation, have arrived in France. France Is Becoming More Like America. It’s Terrible. New York Times

[cathkaesque]

Algeria is in the midst of a historicpopular uprising. Protests began in February of this year, as Algerians revolted against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s plans for a fifth term in office. Coming to power in 1999, Bouteflika suffered a debilitating stroke in 2013, after which he made few public appearances and was widely understood to be the puppet of a clique of high-ranking military figures. Protests intensified over the course of February and March, drawing millions to the streets of the capital Algiers and elsewhere, calling on Bouteflika to stand down before presidential elections originally slated for April 18.

In late March, the head of the armed forces Ahmed Gaid Salah called on the country’s Constitutional Council, the equivalent of the Supreme Court, to declare Bouteflika unfit for office. Last month, the octogenarian leader finally announced his resignation, turning over the presidency to the former head of the Senate Abdelkader Bensalah, under the terms of the Algerian Constitution. The latter plans to govern temporarily and oversee a new presidential election on July 4. However, protesters remain unsatisfied, continuing to demonstrate against corruption and in favor of a much deeper democratic transition.

To get a closer look at the protests, Jacobin’s Cole Stangler spoke with Algerian labor leader Rachid Malaoui. Since 2003, Malaoui has served as president of the SNAPAP (Autonomous Union of Public Sector Workers). He is also president of the CGATA (Autonomous General Confederation of Algerian Workers) a confederation of independent unions. Both are separate from the UGTA (General Union of Algerian Workers), the only union officially recognized by the Algerian government. The SNAPAP and CGATA have backed the protest movement since February. This conversation took place just after the ninth straight Friday of protests on April 19.

[thebeatifulones]

[fuojbe-beowgi]

"Something Extraordinary Is Happening in France" by Cole Stangler via NYT Opinion https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/16/opinion/france-elections-melenchon-macron.html?partner=IFTTT

[antikorg]

» Comment les lobbyistes des gros pollueurs font pression sur la législation européenne

» Comment les lobbyistes des gros pollueurs font pression sur la législation européenne

2021-09-15 07:00:50 Les Crises L’Union européenne envisage une importante législation sur le climat visant à réduire les émissions sur le continent. Mais un ennemi bien connu se mobilise pour faire reculer la législation : les lobbyistes des gros pollueurs. Source : Jacobin Mag, Cole Stangler Traduit par les lecteurs du site Les-Crises   Royal Dutch Shell a récemment confirmé qu’elle ferait…

[newstfionline]

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Barr Acknowledges Justice Dept. Has Found No Widespread Voter Fraud (NYT) Attorney General William P. Barr acknowledged on Tuesday that the Justice Department has uncovered no voting fraud “on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” a striking repudiation of President Trump’s groundless claims that he was defrauded. The statement from Mr. Barr affirming Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s win served as a harsh blow to Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the election.

A New Setback for Big Cities as Return to the Office Fades (WSJ) U.S. employees started heading back to the office in greater numbers after Labor Day but that pace is stalling now, delivering another blow to economic-recovery hopes in many cities. The recent surge in Covid-19 cases across the country has led to an uptick in Americans resuming work at home after some momentum had been building for returning to the workplace, property analysts said. Floor after floor of empty office space is a source of great frustration for landlords and companies. About a quarter of employees had returned to work as of Nov. 18, according to Kastle Systems, a security firm that monitors access-card swipes in more than 2,500 office buildings in 10 of the largest U.S. cities. The low level of employees at their desks is intensifying the pain for cities geared toward office life. Cities’ populations are falling as people working from home move to the suburbs or other less dense locations where they can find more living space for less money. Metro public-transportation systems in cities such as New York, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C., have lost billions of dollars in revenue from months of employees favoring remote work. Many restaurants, shops and services that cater to a business crowd are barely hanging on, or have given up. Even some of the first companies to return to the workplace are now having second thoughts, reverting to remote work and Zoom calls.

Air Travel Decline (WSJ) An analysis of business travel trends suggests that somewhere between 19 and 36 percent of all air trips are projected to be lost permanently following whatever the eventual return to normalcy looks to be, as new wired business environments and cut budgets permanently change the face of the airline business. The 10 to 15 percent of business travelers account for 40 percent of revenue at the major global air carriers, with business trips contributing an estimated $334 billion out of the $1.1 trillion in travel revenue in 2019. The uncertainty of the foundation of the airline business could mean serious changes in the economics of air in the years to come.

Oklahoma declares day of prayer as virus surges (AP) As coronavirus continues surging in Oklahoma, nearing 200,000 cases, Gov. Kevin Stitt has declared Thursday a day of prayer and fasting in the state. “I believe we must continue to ask God to heal those who are sick, comfort those who are hurting and provide renewed strength and wisdom to all who are managing the effects of COVID-19,” Stitt said in a Monday statement.

Vaccine Profitability, By The Digits (Quartz) $1 trillion: Estimated global vaccine annual revenues, in the pre-Covid-19 days $4 billion: Estimated global flu shot annual revenues $10 billion: Projected Covid-19 vaccine annual revenues while the virus is still deemed a public health hazard $7 billion: Annual revenues Merck makes from the cancer drug Keytruda, alone $3: Minimum per-dose cost for AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine $25-$37: Per-dose cost for Moderna’s

Trump’s unfinished border wall faces uncertain future after Biden pledge to freeze construction (Washington Post) President Trump’s vision for a wall along the Mexico border will remain unfinished when he leaves office in January. The president-elect, Joe Biden, has pledged to stop construction after he is inaugurated, leaving Trump’s monumental project half-built and broken up by gaps. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials and military planners at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have had urgent meetings in recent days to prepare for Biden’s likely stop-work order. The officials acknowledge that the structure almost certainly will remain incomplete in areas where construction crews do not have time to wrap up their work by Jan. 20, Inauguration Day. The Trump administration has completed 415 miles, according to the latest CBP figures, and the agency says crews remain on track to complete 450 miles by the end of the year.

Armed bank robbers storm another Brazilian town, battle police in streets (Reuters) More than 20 armed robbers stormed a bank in a small Brazilian town on Wednesday, taking hostages, exchanging gunfire with police in the streets and killing one person before fleeing in a convoy of vehicles. The attack, in the early hours of the morning in the northern river port of Cametá, was the second such heist in as many days in Brazil, marking an escalation in the scale, organization and aggression of bank robberies. The attack on Wednesday saw the group of men, armed with high-caliber weapons, storm a Banco do Brasil bank, the Para state security ministry said. It was not immediately clear how many hostages had been taken or if they were all freed. Authorities also did not say how much money was stolen from the bank.

Europe’s schools still open, still relatively safe, through covid-19 second wave (Washington Post) When European schools reopened their classrooms in the spring, after the first wave of the coronavirus had crested, some parents expressed concern their children were being used as “guinea pigs” in a dangerous experiment. But to the extent that European schools have acted as laboratories for the world, the findings eight months later are largely positive. Most of Europe kept schools open even during a worst-on-the-planet second wave of infections this fall. And still, schools appear to be relatively safe environments, public health officials say. As long as they adhered to a now-established set of precautions—mask-wearing, hand-washing, ventilation—schools are thought to have played only a limited role in accelerating coronavirus transmission in Europe. Those conclusions contrast sharply with the prevailing wisdom in the United States, where public health officials have focused on low rates of positive coronavirus tests in the broader community as a prerequisite for in-person schooling. Some U.S. school districts recently announced that they are going remote again, as coronavirus cases rise, and other districts have yet to reopen their classrooms at all. “It is still difficult for me to understand why schools are closed in the United States,” said Otto Helve, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare who has studied coronavirus transmission in schools. “Schools are not driving the epidemic.” “It’s not that we think schools are no danger, that there’s no effect,” said Steven Van Gucht, the head of viral diseases at the Belgian public health agency. “Schools are the last thing to close; they’re really the last thing on the list. There is political pressure and societal pressure. We consider schooling an absolute priority.”

Macron’s double standards (Washington Post) The parliamentary allies of French President Emmanuel Macron were forced to backtrack this week over a controversial bill that sparked mass protests across the country. The proposed security law carried a provision that would ban recording police on active duty. Critics saw it as, among other things, a vehicle to punish journalists and activists attending protests, not least at a moment when a number of shocking incidents of police brutality have come to the fore. On Monday, Christophe Castaner, head of Macron’s La République En Marche party in parliament, said the legislation would be “completely rewritten.” The concession was prompted by hundreds of thousands of people defying pandemic-mandated restrictions and taking to the streets in dozens of cities and towns. The protests were largely peaceful and drew dozens of local elected officials in Paris, channeling the broader disquiet stoked by recent political and legal maneuvers by Macron’s government. Macron’s “legislators have shown that they’re not necessarily against shutting down the free circulation of information—it just has to be in their interest to do so,” wrote Paris-based journalist Cole Stangler. “Contrary to the image that France projects abroad, freedom of the press does, in fact, appear negotiable at home.” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, a right-wing politician who joined Macron’s centrist movement, has also fanned the flames: Last month, he appeared to suggest that journalists covering protests ought to clear their coverage with the police to avoid the risk of detention, sparking an immediate backlash. And, even as the country battles a pandemic, he declared that the real “cancer” facing French society was the “lack of respect for authority.”

Rules for thee, not me (Foreign Policy) The reasoning behind a surprise resignation on Sunday of a Hungarian member of European parliament came to light on Tuesday, when Belgian media reported that Jozsef Szajer, an MEP with Viktor Orban’s right-wing Fidesz party had been arrested fleeing a mostly-male sex party in the center of Brussels. Police had broken up the party as it had violated coronavirus restrictions and said at least two of the participants claimed diplomatic immunity.

In Siberian coal country, signs of Russia’s shrinking population are everywhere (Washington Post) KEMEROVO, Russia—Maria Ivanko decided on the size of her family well before the coal mine where she works filed for bankruptcy and a pandemic plunged her into even greater uncertainty. Fifteen years ago, she had her first child and knew it would be her last. Evgenia Petrova, who also works at a coal mine near the Siberian city of Kemerovo, said she also intentionally had one child. And sitting to Petrova’s left in a roadside cafe, Elena Ponkratova, a local journalist, nodded in agreement. She has one child, a 25-year-old daughter. The small family sizes are indicative of Russia’s stagnant birthrates and slumping population, made more acute by the pressures of the pandemic. The population in the Kemerovo region declined by about 100,000 in just the past decade to 2.6 million, according to Russia’s statistics agency, Rosstat. Overall, Russia is expected to see its biggest population drop since 2006, accelerated by borders closed to migrants and coronavirus deaths that currently stand at more than 36,000. The government projects a 352,500-person population decline this year, according to a report from the RBC news website, with an estimated decrease of 1.2 million people between 2020 and 2024.

China’s space ambitions: robot on Mars, a human on the moon (AP) China’s landing of its third probe on the moon is part of an increasingly ambitious space program that has a robot rover en route to Mars, is developing a reusable space plane and is planning to put humans back on the lunar surface. The Chang’e 5, the first effort to bring lunar rocks to Earth since the 1970s, collected samples on Wednesday, the Chinese space agency announced. The probe landed Tuesday on the Sea of Storms on the moon’s near side. China is a generation behind the United States and Russia, but its secretive, military-linked program is developing rapidly. It is creating distinctive missions that, if successful, could put Beijing on the leading edge of space flight. In 2003, China became the third nation to launch an astronaut into orbit on its own, four decades after the former Soviet Union and the United States. Its first temporary orbiting laboratory was launched in 2011 and a second in 2016. Plans call for a permanent space station to be launched after 2022. China has launched its own Beidou network of navigation satellites so the Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, doesn’t need to rely on the U.S.-run GPS or a rival Russian system.

No global financial support for Lebanon until govt in place: French presidency (Reuters) France’s presidency said on Wednesday that there would be no international financial support for Lebanon until there was a government in place and warned that an audit of the central bank was more urgent than ever. A financial meltdown has crashed Lebanon’s currency, paralyzed banks, sent inflation soaring and increased poverty. Suggestions of a looming end to subsidies have triggered panic buying. “To borrow or lend money you need trust and trust isn’t there,” a French presidential official said ahead of a video conference to assess the humanitarian situation. “We will stay like this as long as there is no credible government in place.”

Gantz Backs Vote to Dissolve Knesset (Foreign Policy) Israel’s unlikely coalition government is on even shakier foundations today as Israeli lawmakers vote to dissolve the Knesset. Benny Gantz, the leader of the Blue and White party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition partner, has said he would support the measure, setting up a showdown that could lead to another election—the country’s fourth in two years. Gantz’s decision comes out of frustration over the government’s failure to pass a budget for 2021, which, if passed, would essentially lock in Gantz’s ability to assume the office of prime minister next November as per the terms of the coalition deal struck between Likud and Blue and White in April. “Netanyahu has decided to dissolve the government and drag Israel into an election,” Gantz said in a statement to the media. Although budget issues are the proximate cause of the Knesset vote, recent developments have likely made Gantz wary that Netanyahu will hand over the premiership in November. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden should not expect an easier ride on Iran policy if Gantz does take power, an Israeli government source told Foreign Policy. There is “no daylight” between Netanyahu and Gantz on the question of the U.S.-led “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran.

[mannartt]

New from the always informative Thom HartMANN...French law is trying to make it illegal to make a video or audio recording of police, especially if they are doing something brutal or illegal. This is France, but will this attack on civil liberties happen in the same way in...