Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
French workers unbowed in their struggle for justice
The momentum behind a wave of strikes and protests over pension reforms shows no sight of abating, writes DENNIS BROE
Aux armes, citoyens: Trade unionists march in Marseille

TIME magazine named teen climate activist Greta Thunberg its person of the year last week, but in truth, given that this has been a year of global unrest and efforts from the streets worldwide to counter the effects of an ever more rapacious neoliberal capitalism, the real person of the year who epitomises this moment may be the French public worker, on strike now for over two weeks to save the French pension system. 

People’s movements in Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Chile, Colombia and Bolivia after the coup have all challenged their various governments and made local demands for equality, with the movements often springing from what seems almost negligible offences as workers in Chile took to the streets after a four cent increase in metro fares. 

In each case the momentary cause of the uprising was a last straw and brought on, as in Chile, by what has been seen as rewarding the rich while taking more money from those who can least afford it. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
LONGSTANDING MILITARY TIES: (L) Leo Woodall as ‘sexy mathe
Decoding network TV / 24 March 2025
24 March 2025
DENNIS BROE points out that Apple is part of the corporate and state surveillance network which the new series Prime Target rails against
BARE-KNUCKLE: Stephen Graham and Malachi Kirby in A Thousand
TV Series review / 4 March 2025
4 March 2025
DENNIS BROE appreciates the work of TV writer Steven Knight, and his systematic exposure of the debilitating effects of British capitalism
(L) Toby Jones as Alan Bates in Mr Bates Vs The Post Office;
Best of 2024 / 10 December 2024
10 December 2024
DENNIS BROE picks his highlights
DEFEATED: Kamala Harris holds up a phone as she phone banks
Features / 7 November 2024
7 November 2024
In sordid tactics that ended up backfiring, Kamala Harris’s ‘nomination’ was the least democratic in history, while the party actively suppressed dissident voices online and its lawyers suppressed third-party candidates from the ballot box, says DENNIS BROE
Similar stories
Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage speaking during a campaign event at Stafford Showground, Stafford, whilst campaigning for this week's local elections, April 30, 2025
Politics / 8 May 2025
8 May 2025

Reform’s rise speaks to a deep crisis in Establishment parties – but relies on appealing to social and economic grievances the left should make its own, argues NICK WRIGHT

Amanda Seyfried and Rivera Reese in Long Bright River (2025)
TV Network Monitor / 22 April 2025
22 April 2025

DENNIS BROE sifts out the ideological bias of the newest TV series offerings, and picks out what to see, and what to avoid

Rachel Reeves and her Treasury team prepare to leave 11 Down
Features / 22 February 2025
22 February 2025
In his first of a new monthly economics column MICHAEL BURKE argues that public-sector investment is more effective, more productive than private-sector investment
STITCH-UP: Newly imposed French PM Michel Barnier
Features / 7 September 2024
7 September 2024
Bill Greenshields and Mary Adossides speak to France Insoumise MP SYLVIE FERRER on Macron's anti-democratic antics and why the left needs a chance to implement its programme