Grève Générale. Bring Down the House of Cards!
by: Dave Belden on September 9th, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Harriet Fraad sent us this French video with a comment from her husband, econ prof Richard Wolff:
The General Strike in France rallied, according to the CGT (France’s largest of the 6 national trade union federations who united to produce this strike), over 2.7 million demonstrators marching against raising the retirement age and against austerity around the slogan, “do not permit governments to make the mass of people pay for the failures of capitalism.” Not the least of the mechanisms helping to generate this support were video clips like this one:
Note: It does help to know that Greve means strike, and Lutte means struggle.
Grève générale le 7 septembre
Uploaded by Solidairesnational. – News videos from around the world.
So do I put this up because I want to see the kind of revolution where the house of cards collapses, leaving a vacuum that is all too likely to get filled with the moralistic Robespierres or Khomeinis or Cromwells (whether religious or secular in their moralism) of the French, Iranian or English revolutions, or with the true believers in some “scientific” advance of the working class led by its vanguard intellectuals, like Lenin? Not at all. If you want an excellent read by a progressive and a feminist on the glories and horrors of card-house collapse check Marge Piercy’s brilliant novel of the French Revolution, City of Darkness, City of Light, out of the library.
I’m the kind of revolutionary who instead collects stories of nonviolent revolutions, and of significant reforms that deeply changed innumerable people’s lives. But I am very aware that few significant reforms happened historically without major popular uprisings that inspired the fear of revolution in the hearts of the elites, making them much more eager to compromise.
When the French government announced plans to increase the retirement age from 60 years to 62, there were big protests in the streets. How would they feel about a retirement age of 70 which is being discussed in some quarters here in the U.S.? Unlike the U.S. government, the French government is afraid of its constituents. I, too, would like to see this kind of populist outpouring in the U.S. but people are discouraged. Time and again, they are ignored.
Most of the people with whom I speak, for example, know nothing about the Catfood Commission (The Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Deficit Reduction, I believe). It is called “catfood” because progressives think old people will be eating catfood by the time they’re done. This bipartisan commission meets in secret, behind closed doors (democracy in action)!–to discuss ways of reducing the deficit but appear to be focusing on Social Security. We are periodically treated to outbursts from Alan Simpson, one of the co-chairs who recently announced that “Social Security is a milk cow with 310 million tits.” Alan Simpson, a former GOP Senator should know all about milk cows because as a former senator, he is entitled to a federal pension, COLAs, and lifetime guaranteed federal health benefits. He’s feeding off the biggest milk cow of all.
The Social Security “crisis” is manufactured. It presently has a 2.5 trillion dollar surplus,(not unnoticed by Wall Street), did not create one dime of the present deficit and should not be used to fix it or to fund wars, a bloated military budget, tax cuts for the rich, or corporate giveaways such as a senseless tax subsidy for oil companies–to name just a few. Go after the things that caused this deficit. It is fully funded to 2037 (or 2039) by some accounts, and can meet shortfalls after that by taking the lid off the FICA payroll cap.
I am urging all your readers to call their representatives and tell them that privatizing Social Security (in whole or part), reducing benefits, or diminishing Social Security in any way, is unacceptable. Working until we fall down is also unacceptable.
Social Security surpluses are converted into Treasury Bonds. If someone is asking where’s the money to redeem those bonds, why don’t we ask that same question when we redeem bonds held by Goldman Sachs or Pete Peterson, hedge fund billionaire who leads the charge against Social Security?
Exactly what is it that our political leaders stand for if not to protect and strengthen one of the best government programs we have ever had, helping millions of retirees and future retirees who have seen a substantial decline in all their major assets.
I join Sen. Bernie Sanders in saying, “Keep your hands off Social Security.” Let’s start pushing back—hard—, just like the French. At least, start innundating with calls!!