--- Title: The teachers’ strike, Macron and the Europe to come Date: 11/11/2020 Category: France Tags: class-struggle covid education repression strike URL: https://marxismo.school/communia/en/the-teachers-strike-macron-and-the-europe-to-come --- France wakes up with a teachers' [_health strike_](https://www.liberation.fr/france/2020/11/09/greve-sanitaire-pourquoi-les-enseignants-se-mobilisent-mardi_1805070) as the topic of the day. Newspapers begin to report [scenes](https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/nouvelle-aquitaine/haute-vienne/limoges/coronavirus-limoges-personnel-du-college-albert-calmette-utilise-son-droit-retrait-1893240.html) of [mobilization](https://www.liberation.fr/france/2020/11/10/a-blois-les-enseignant-n-arrivent-plus-a-suivre-le-protocole-sanitaire_1805189) throughout [the whole country](https://www. liberation.fr/france/2020/11/10/profs-a-roubaix-c-est-un-peu-l-angoisse-si-on-devait-fermer_1805077) beyond [Parisian high schools](https://www.liberation.fr/france/2020/11/10/covid-19-a-paris-des-lyceens-se-mobilisent-contre-un-protocole-sanitaire-juge-insuffisant_1805183). In every region and from kindergartens to universities, [the request is very simple](https://www.liberation.fr/france/2020/11/10/greve-sanitaire-que-fout-l-education-nationale_1805201): split classes, hire additional support teachers, introduce remote learning tools and reinforce the neglected hygiene of a school system weakened by the pandemic because of endemic overcrowding and budget cuts. At the University, where [30% of the students were already precarious workers](https://marxismo.school/communia/en/not-all-students-are-the-same) before this pandemic. A movement of students converged with the teacher's movement and is and is directly pushing for the closure of the teaching activity, aware of the general lack of safety conditions. > _There is no room to enforce a safety distance between students. They stand all there, shoulder to shoulder around their table..._ > > Clara, French language teacher Epidemiological studies prove students right: they show that [closing schools reduces the incidence peak by 40-60% and that refusing to close them would increase Covid transmission by 24%](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30785-4/fulltext). At this point, no one disputes that if governments keep classes open throughout the education system, against [all evidence and advice](https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20201108/49319045709/docentes-por-la-publica-convoca-huelga-el-12-de-noviembre.html), it is because they prioritize the need to keep children and youths _away from home_ so that their parents can continue to go to work without complaining. And yet, the vast majority of teachers want to reduce class sizes, not to completely close down. The reason is that the situation in schools, high schools and universities also reflects the overwhelming and growing weight of [precarization](https://dictionary.marxismo.school/Precarization/) and working class poverty. ![](https://marxismo.school/communia/en/assets/estudiantes-francia-800x533.jpg) High school and college students are joining the teachers' strike across the country. Personal hygiene materials, hydroalcoholic gel, masks... fall under the schools' responsibility because many families cannot afford them. The teachers tell how there is a certain percentage of students who have been wearing the same mask since the beginning of the academic year. > _The poorly managed health situation hits even harder the same people: the precarious ones, who will fall while the State looks away_. > > Sam, Physical Education teacher They know that cutting classes in half means that many students will only receive half of the classes, but they are betting on taking risks and teaching on-site rather than closing because for a not insignificant percentage of students, lacking access to digital tools and with a dramatic situation at home, not going to school would mean losing the entire year... and probably being left behind in the teaching system. Faced with the sacrificed position of the teachers, the government becomes angry, threatens sanctions, disqualifies... the nicest thing it has said about the teachers is that their movement is [_immoral and out of place_](https://www.leparisien.fr/politique/greve-sanitaire-des-profs-un-mouvement-indecent-et-deplace-selon-l-executif-10-11-2020-8407607.php). It's a real warning and a portrait of what's to come, of what is already happening. And not only in France. In all of Europe. ## Faced with universal needs, nationalism; faced with protests, repression and impunity ![](https://marxismo.school/communia/en/assets/minicumbre-ue-seguridad.jpg) Yesterday's European Summit: Merkel, Macron, Rutte, Kurz, Von der Leyen and Michell. With a media which is always careful in silencing the workers and some unions which live off staging and imposing impotence, Macron has a clear idea of how to impose himself: show and battering stick, nationalism and Brussels. While his parliamentary supporters were promoting a [_French-style Gag Rule_](https://next.liberation.fr/culture/2020/11/10/les-forces-occultantes-de-la-proposition-de-loi-pour-une-securite-globale_1805208) destined to make the brutal use of violence by the police go unpunished by repressing the spontaneous recordings of police violence, Macron was receiving the Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at the Elysée Palace. The subject: the synchronicity of terrorist attacks in both countries and the need to bring terrorism back to the forefront of the media. In the first instance, the macronite discourse wants to [redirect cooperation in the repression of jihadism in order to turn it into a way to control the Muslim Brotherhood and their Turkish and Qatari patrons](https://marxismo.school/communia/en/france-terrorist-attacks-and-turkey-questions-and-answers). Germany is already in the same position. Following the Moroccan model, the German government will take charge of the training of imams and will regulate who is allowed to preach in the mosques, [closing the way for imams sent from Turkey](https://www.dw.com/es/alemania-limitar%C3%A1-la-presencia-de-imanes-turcos/a-55559071). > It is urgent and crucial to know who is coming in and who is going out. > > Angela Merkel, yesterday But there is more. It was already hinted at when the first measure of the French state after the murders was to [reinforce border security and praise the Schengen reform](https://www.dw.com/es/macron-duplica-seguridad-en-fronteras-y-apunta-a-reformar-schengen/a-55509870). As soon as Kurz was over, Macron joined a video conference with the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte. The [message](https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/11/10/l-union-europeenne-veut-accelerer-les-projets-visant-a-lutter-contre-le-terrorisme_6059299_3210.html): the fight against terrorism from now on goes through common databases, border control and tougher criminal laws that punish membership of suspicious groups. And an [especially poisonous message](https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/islamisme-macron-appelle-a-regarder-lucidement-les-liens-qui-existent-entre-immigration-et-terrorisme-20201110): _you need to take a hard look_, Macron said, _at the ties between illegal immigration and terrorism_. Translation: the repression of the Muslim Brotherhood's _separatism_ threatens to turn into control and legal repression of any neighborhood _separatism_, a new offensive of migrant criminalization and a return to the Europe of borders and strip searches, happy to turn [islands into mass prisons](https://marxismo.school/communia/en/what-they-are-not-telling-you-about-arguineguin-and-the-surge-of-migrants-and-refugees-in-the-canary-islands). [_We have begun some methodical work_](https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/11/10/l-union-europeenne-veut-accelerer-les-projets-visant-a-lutter-contre-le-terrorisme_6059299_3210.html), the French president said. And to shove it all down, a double dose of epic nationalism and heroes of the Republican homeland. Today: a great [show at the Pantheon for the 50th anniversary of De Gaulle's death](https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/macron-parie-sur-la-communion-republicaine-pour-rassembler-le-pays-20201110). The macronite response to the wave of strikes and its synchronization with Brussels, Germany and the Netherlands in increasing the repressive capacities of the states, comes at a time when the [most basic contradictions of the system are becoming increasingly violent](https://marxismo.school/communia/en/second-wave-questions-and-answers). It is clear to us that the rules of confrontation of the ruling class and the state are already set: against the affirmation of universal needs, use nationalism; against protests, use repression and impunity.