Activists for justice in Palestine once again took to the streets in France alongside the labour movement fighting back against the Macron government’s pension reforms that aim to raise the retirement age, over the objection of 93% of working people in France. The movement has involved multiple one-day general strikes as well as mass manifestations throughout the country on Saturday, 11 February.
This date also coincided with the ongoing Days of Rage and Resistance, called for by the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement. In Toulouse, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra — a member of the Samidoun Network — joined the demonstration — which attracted over 100,000 people — affirming that “challenging the government and corporations here also means denouncing the French government’s unconditional support for Israeli apartheid and its privileged diplomatic, political and economic relations.”
The Collectif displayed flags and banners calling for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea, and for the freedom of Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab Communist struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for the past 38 years. Speakers denounced the complicity of French companies, like Carrefour and Thales, in the colonization of Palestinian land.
Several contingents, especially the youth and student contingent, once again enthusiastically responded to the call of the Collectif’s stand by chanting for Palestine:
Participants also took solidarity photos in order to denounce French state complicity with Israeli crimes. Over 40 Palestinians have been killed by occupation forces since the beginning of 2023, while the policies of ethnic cleansing and colonialism only escalate with the full support of imperialist powers, as recently witnessed in Macron’s welcome of Netanyahu in Paris. This came as part of the Days of Rage and Resistance, which highlighted the issue of complicity in the call to action: “These days aim to confront U.S., Canadian, British and European policies in support of Zionist colonialism, and confront the fascist and racist states and movements that work to cover up, justify and beautify Israeli crimes and colonialism throughout all of Palestine, from the river to the sea.”
Meanwhile, in Paris, Samidoun Paris Banlieue and other activists for Palestine joined with CAPJPO-EuroPalestine to take to the streets in the mass demonstration that filled the streets of the capital city.
Participants waved Palestinian flags and banners calling for the liberation of Georges Abdallah. They chanted loudly: “Violences sionistes, violences sociales : même combat contre le capital” (Zionist violence, social violence: same fight against capital!” They also carried signs for the Days of Rage and Resistance highlighting French complicity in Israeli crimes.
These were not the only cities where the presence of Palestine was felt in the labour struggle. In Bordeaux, Tarbes, Saint-Etienne, Annecy, Grenoble, Marseille and elsewhere, participants carried banners for the liberation of Georges Abdallah and flew Palestinian flags, indicating once again that the Palestinian cause is a global symbol of the struggle to confront imperialism, colonialism, racism and all forms of injustice and exploitation.
