In France, to the streets over capitalism - William Pfaff

[Mass]

An excellent analysis of worldwide labor, who goes much farther than France, of course, and is totally connected to the immigration debate (or should be, at least).

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/04/01/in_france_to_the_streets_over_capitalism/

In France, to the streets over capitalism

By William Pfaff | April 1, 2006

PARIS
THE MANIFESTATIONS by French students, workers (and would-be workers), with unions and the French left riding on their bandwagon, have amounted to a spontaneous revolt in France against something that I suspect few of the participants fully appreciate.
...
The protests contest a certain form of capitalist economy which a large part, if not the majority, of French society regards as a danger to national standards of justice -- and above all, to equality.

...

That model has been replaced by one in which corporation managers are responsible for creating short-term ''value" for owners, as measured by stock valuation and quarterly dividends.

The practical result has been constant pressure to reduce wages and worker benefits (leading in some cases to theft of pensions and other crimes) and political lobbying and public persuasion to lower the corporate tax contribution to government finance and the public interest.

...

It seems that this European unrest signals a serious gap in political and corporate understanding of the human consequences of a capitalist model that considers labor a commodity and extends price competition for that commodity to the entire world. In the longer term, there may be more serious political implications in this than even France's politicized students suspect. What seems the reactionary or even Luddite position might prove prophetic.

[JDPriestly]

1. I support the students.

At will employment is the scourge of America. Because of it, most of us live on the edge of bankruptcy no matter how hard we work or how good we are what we do. It is possible to practice a profession independently, but more and more of us work for corporations or companies -- large and small. We bring our skills, our education, our hard work to the company we work for, but we have no property interest in the company and usually no opportunity to obtain a property interest in it. That means that we have no control or right to control or to even have a say in managing or organizing the economic basis of our lives. No matter how good a job we do, no matter how competent we are, we can be dismissed at any time without any reason. Good people lose their jobs every day for no reason at all. Each job loss causes great pain -- especially for young families and older workers. Unemployment insurance is a good idea but it is underfunded. Although an employee has been dismissed without a good reason or because the management of your employer was incompetent, he or she will not receive enough money to pay the mortgage and continue the health insurance. We should be at least writing our representatives in state government about this issue. We should have a law requiring that an employer prove good cause for hiring or laying off an employee.

The L.A. Times noted that the students in the streets at least in the beginning of the demonstrations were middle-class, not really working class. Actually, although jobs that don't require skills or education pay less, they are often easier to get. The skills involved in flipping hamburgers are quickly learned as are the skills required to do retail store sales and at least now, there is a lot of demand for those kinds of jobs. It's those of us who are professionals, educated people, teachers, management, white collar, members of the middle-class that are the most vulnerable to economic disaster after job loss in an at-will employment system. It takes a long, long time for a professional to get a job. Usually there are few openings and the application process is long and demanding.

[Vetinarii]

2. Pfaff is full of it

Does he even know what is going on in France?

The change that the government is trying to introduce is to allow employers to lay off employees under 26 without paying them several months' wages in compensation. The trouble with the present French model (under which, as soon as you get a job, you can basically stay in it for life) is that it isn't working. Almost a quarter of young people (under 26) are unemployed. France today is one of the least equal societies in Europe. It is a land of insiders and outsiders. "Insiders" are the ones who have jobs - the bigger the employer, the better - and who effectively have tenure in those jobs. "Outsiders" are the unemployed, the self-employed, and those who work for companies not big enough to attract government subsidies or contracts. The riots in France last fall were outsiders clamoring for change; the demonstrations this spring are insiders protesting against it.

What de Villepin is trying to do, largely in response to the riots last year, is erode the barriers between insider and outsider, so that it becomes easier - not easy, mind you, but at least within the reach of more ordinary people - to move from one group to the other.

The "serious gap" that exists in France is between the political elite - who are a basically hereditary class, brought up and trained for their roles from early childhood - and the ordinary people, who know that they can never join this class. The people are losing faith in the elite. That's why a fascist made it to the run-off in the last French presidential election, and that's why the EU constitution was rejected in last year's referendum. The people are in the mood to say "No!", and they don't much care what the question is.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[Vetinarii]

5. If it's "progressive"

for a privileged class to protest against watering down their privileges, then by all means color me reactionary.

I have no problem with the "people are not mere commodities" argument. But France is an exceptionally bad example, because that has absolutely nothing to do with the present protests there.

[Mass]

6. Because you know France so well?

BTW, I grew up in France, and not in a class of privileged people. My brother in law works in an "accordeon" factory that is going to close , my sister is a social worker, in the very rural and poor part of France. They both are totally opposed to this law as are many, many French people.

I dont live in France anymore, but I have seen many governments try to pass this type of law and fail. Hopefully, it will fail again, for the sake of my nephews.

[JDPriestly]

8. Is the controversy also about outsourcing?

Is that a problem in France as it is here?

[Vetinarii]

9. The privileged class in France is a very large class

A majority, in fact. A great majority of people do enjoy enhanced job security. Does that give them a moral right to maintain it, at the expense of the minority? After all, whites are a majority in the southern USA; does that mean it was wrong to force those states to desegregate their schools, against fierce and sometimes violent public opposition?

Your sister is presumably employed directly by the government. That makes her job as secure as any in Europe (even though she may not feel privileged, because so many others are in that class). Similarly, a white auto mechanic in Topeka, Kans in 1953 probably didn't feel particularly "privileged" just because he didn't have to mix with people with different-colored skin - that seemed like a natural right, not a privilege. And when that natural right was taken away, millions of ordinary Americans felt very bitter about it.

The bottom line is: the present crowds in France are not campaigning for reform. They're campaigning against it. Even if you do sympathize with them, I don't see how that can possibly be described as "progressive".

[Mass]

10. My sister is NOT employed by the government, you are wrong.

May be you want to learn something about France before you talk about it.

Reading the US MSM is not enough to understand France.

[radwriter0555]

4. The issue isn't JUST about students, but that cannot be voiced, you see.

It is ALSO about providing more opportunity for the new immigrants, but the politicians can't say that out loud... this is an election year, after all.

Things will be just fine in France. France has always worked hard to find the right solution to issues, and I have always appreciated their ability to try adaptation and moderation as opposed to hard line, unbending positions.

A mix of socialism with capitalism IS a good solution.

[Mass]

7. I totally agree with you.