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"Americans have the will to resist because they have weapons. If you don't have a gun, freedom of speech has no power." -- Yoshimi Ishikawa, Japanese author, in the LA Times 15 Oct 1992
Update (1400ET): French President Emmanuel Macron’s government narrowly survived a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly on Monday, fending off an effort to kill his contentious pension overhaul and topple his administration.
The French National Assembly rejected a vote of no-confidence against the Government of Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, in the aftermath of the massive weekend protests over the French government pension plan.
This defeat of the motion means that the Prime Minister will not have to resign, and that Macron’s tyrannical pension overhaul will become law.
This is one of the biggest political crisis endured by the 45-year-old French President.
Buckingham Palace is ‘monitoring’ the volatile political situation in France, which has seen widespread strikes and disruption, ahead of the King’s first state visit to the country later this week.
The city of Paris is a mess right now.
Some might even say that it has always been a mess! Regardless, the point is that the authorities in Paris are trying to handle the situation before it gets truly out of control. Hundreds of citizens have been arrested as they continue to protest changes by President Macron to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 in France.
After French President Emmanuel Macron pushed through pension reform without a vote in parliament, the backlash has been fierce, and there is now a good chance that a no-confidence vote this week could collapse his government. Even if he survives the vote, commentators say that Marine Le Pen has never been in a better position, with the conservative populist emerging as the “victor” in the fierce debate over pension reform.
A protracted strike by rubbish collectors has added a new twist to France’s festering dispute over pension reform as the battle over President Emmanuel Macron’s deeply unpopular reform enters a make-or-break week with tonnes of uncollected garbage piling higher by the day.
“When the rubbish collectors go on strike, the trashers are indignant.” Jacques Prévert’s iconic play on words has long been a favourite slogan of the French left – and indeed of all advocates of workers’ right to lay down their tools in protest.
