More strikes shatter France as Sarko goes on with his plans against the people

And yet another journey of strike today in France. Because yesterday the Senate passed (by a rather narrow 174 to 159 votes) the highly controversial pension reform that makes people work for two years more (if they still have a job) before they can retire.

The strike was particularly strong in the transport sector, with harbors, railroads, airports and subway paralyzed across the state. Other sectors mentioned are the oil industry and education, and even the Eiffel Tower. 

There is a clear risk of deepening of the struggle, with many unions already calling for stronger action: keeping the strikes active indefinitely, what means that not just today but tomorrow and so on France, or at least part of it, will be on strike. One of these unions is the all-powerful General Workers' Confederation (CGT), so the threat looks very much real. 

Workers hope that if the strikes continue they will be able to force the government to pull back.

France is, more than any other country, central for the wider European economy, sociology and culture. Important countries like Spain and Britain are only connected by road and railroad via France. 

However it would be much better if these struggles were coordinated across the EU, because, in the end it is the Commission at Brussels who is arbitrarily dictating all these measuers. While it'd be nice if Sarko falls in this one, it'd be much better if Barroso, Merkel, Berlusconi and Rodríguez Zapatero also succumbed to their mindless unilateral measures only backed by a few oligarchs. 

Of course, it'd be even better if we'd begin seeing oligarchs' heads rolling at the guillotine... but it's probably too early for that. In due time.

References: Al Jazeera, Kazeta[eu], AFP, The Boston Globe, France 24.

Update: Ciudad Futura[es] has a rather nice photo coverage of the demos in France this 'Red Tuesday'. It also informs that the indefinite general strike has no clear date yet but that it has the support, according to opinion polls, of some 65-70% of the citizens (and it is indeed supported by the major union CGT).

It also indicates that this saturday 16th more demos are being called in all the state.

Update (Oct 13): Gara[es] mentions that the figure of demonstrators could easily be larger than the three million that went to the streets in September 23. In Toulouse alone there were 140,000 and there were some 244 demos across the state.

It also mentions that the worker assemblies in the transport sector at least have widely agreed to continue the strike today and possibly all the week until the protests called for this Saturday. In the end we are effectively before the first sustained general strike in Europe in many many years.

Steel workers demonstrating at Marseilles

Update (Oct 13): La Haine[es] has another interesting report including videos and photos, with emphasis in the more or less violent incidents, a sign of the radicalization of the struggle as Sarkozy tries to cut the rights of the workers while cutting taxes for the rich:

• In Paris some 300-400 people have burned stuff in the streets after marching to Austerlitz station and being blocked by the police.
• In Caen hundreds have marched towards the see of the capitalists' organization MEDEF, evolving into direct confrontation between demonstrators and police, with one arrested and another one severely injured by a gas canister thrown by the gendarmes.
• In Montémilar, near Valence, a hundred people have plundered the mayor's office, a member of Sarkozy's party UMP.
• In Saint Nazaire, some 500 people marched on the sub-prefecture, with police charging against them. Some 14 arrested. 
• In Nancy University there has been a fight between students and Nazi groups. Four students (no Nazis) were arrested and people protested before the police station in the evening demanding their release.