France: Exploitation, racism, police violence: the revolt is legitimate!
We reproduce the statement of the national political committee of the NPA (New Anti-Capitalist Party) French, whose newspaper is Révolutionnaires, Of date 2 July 2023[1].
The murder of the young Nahel at the hands of a policeman in Nanterre has aroused indignation that could not be more legitimate. In the suburbs of Paris, but also in other cities and regions such as Marseille and Lyon, The nights of confrontations between young people from popular neighborhoods and the police continue. Police stations and public buildings are the target of attacks as symbols of institutions that oppress and discriminate against popular sectors. And even if the damage goes further, they turn out to be insignificant, let's think what we think, compared to dismantling public services, the destruction of labor law and racist crimes like the one that just cost Nahel his life and the very recent, but less advertised, murder of the young Alhoussein, also killed by police in Angouleme on his way to work at dawn.
On the other hand, increase curfews and the ban on protests, while the right and the extreme right demand a state of emergency and the government considers it at the national level.
The state of social emergency is already a reality in popular neighborhoods. Regardless of what we think of the destruction caused, pales in comparison to dismantling public services, the destruction of labor law and a system that is crushing the future of young workers.
This revolt is that of a fraction of our class
What is expressed is the weariness of being the target of the police, of controls for wearing a face, of police harassment, of the daily "mistakes" and, more generally, of misery and being left aside by the capitalist system. All these young people know that they could have been in Nahel's shoes, whose murder is just one in a long list of police crimes that often go unpunished. Did Nahel run a red light and try to escape from the police?? Reason enough for some to justify summary execution…as long as the victim was from a slum!! Because they are not the Carlos Ghosn[2] nor tax evaders who can be killed by the police, and even less the bosses who rob us every day by exploiting us, freezing our salaries and speculating on inflation.
Police kill to maintain exploitation and protect the ruling class
This time, filmed images make it impossible for courts to, political leaders and the media follow the false version of the police. Nahel's murderer has been accused and placed in pretrial detention. But all these charlatans from the ruling classes find excuses for the murderer in the victim's personality..
In the end, it is a war against the poor, those who must be legitimately killed. The far-right group France Police, whose leader Bruno Attal was a candidate for Éric Zemmour's party in the general elections, wrote on Twitter: "Well done to the colleagues who opened fire on a criminal from 17 years". The tone is the same for the main police unions, What is Police and Alliance?, who state in a statement that the police are "at war" against the "wild hordes" and that, once order is restored, will be "in resistance" against the "rogues". With thinly concealed threats, They ask for "legal protection for police officers", that is to say, license to kill. Not to mention an indecent Internet fundraising campaign (250.000 euro in 24 hours[3]) in support of the police. this police, mostly far-right and racist, is there to control the popular sectors, prevent and suppress their revolt, and wants to do it with impunity. And the government gives them free rein, with the approval of the Rassemblement National. The number of police victims has increased since the law of 2017 -a law passed by Hollande's left!- that relaxed the conditions of the use of firearms in case of "refusing to abide by the law".
Against police violence, it is necessary to end the capitalist system
The increase in police violence is the counterpart of the authoritarian drift of the government against workers and youth. It is the same police that apply anti-immigration policies, which is directly responsible for the hundreds of migrant deaths at the borders, who cracked down on yellow vests and pension protesters. Because, against any "appeasement", We call to participate in all demonstrations, in all the initiatives that are convened in the coming days, against police crimes and against the anti-social policy of the government. We demand an immediate end to all curfews, the release of all those convicted and the abolition of the law of 2017 that makes the use of violence more flexible in case of “refusal to obey”.
In more general terms, it is all those who oppose the policies of the government and businessmen who suffer the repression. And we all have the same interest in embarking on the path of struggle, in mobilizing together. We are on the side of those who rebel, and the best thing we can do is mobilize right now with the same determination as this youth, for objectives common to all our class: against the repression, for our wages, our retirements and against unemployment and job insecurity, to kick out Macron, Darmanin and the employers they serve!
The more widespread poverty and low wages, worse are the working conditions, the more difficult it is to make ends meet and the more the police arm themselves. The police are not there to protect us, but to maintain the power of the rich and the bosses. We don't want a "better" police, an instrument totally at the service of the ruling class: we want to overthrow your capitalist system, that does nothing but crush our lives.
- Justice for Nahel and all other victims of police killings;
- No to curfews and the state of emergency that is being prepared, no to the prohibitions of demonstrations and the restrictions of freedoms;
- Release and amnesty for all those arrested and convicted during the clashes;
- Enough of so much misery: let's take from the gigantic profits of big business so that the workers and the inhabitants of the neighborhoods decide how to rebuild them;
- Zero euros for the army, police and gendarmerie.
[1] https://nouveaupartianticapitaliste.fr/declaration-du-comite-politique-national-du-npa-du-2-juillet-2023/
[2] Entrepreneur of the Nissan-Peugeot group, prosecuted for tax fraud, money laundering and corruption, fugitive from justice.
[3] Since writing this statement, the amount of that collection exceeded one million euros (4 of July).
