In every country, the government, whether conservative or supposedly left, is cutting jobs and wages and slashing social programs in complete disregard for the overwhelming opposition of the population. Elections, parliamentary debates have no effect on policy. The state does the bidding of the financial aristocracy, tearing up the living standards of the masses in the interests of the bankers who are responsible for the economic crisis. The financiers and corporate executives are making more money than ever by exploiting mass unemployment and growing social distress to slash wages and increase the exploitation of the working class. Where the best efforts of the trade unions do not suffice to hold the workers in check and struggles break out that challenge the plans of the capitalists, most prominently in France and Greece, the state uses its powers of repression to smash strikes and protests. In France, the Sarkozy government has deployed riot police to break up protests, while arresting hundreds across the country. In Greece, the government, elected with the support of the unions, deployed the military to break a strike by truckers and others against massive layoffs. There have been general strikes and mass protests in Spain, Portugal and Ireland. In Britain, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government is imposing unprecedented cuts, which will mean the loss of at least 500,000 jobs in the public sector and another 500,000 in the private sector.
Protests in France continued to intensify this weekend, despite the decision late last Friday night by the country’s Senate to support the government’s controversial pensions' reform legislation. The bill - which would raise the retirement age from 60t o 62 - has resulted in days of strikes, riots and fuel shortages in the country. But the approval of the Senate vote has now cleared the last hurdle, meaning that the law could come into force as early as this week. It also led to police storming through picket lines at oil refineries and fuel depots last Friday afternoon after the government hardened its stance against the protesters. At some fuel depots, French officers fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators and managed to reopen the Grandpuits refinery, which is the main refinery serving Paris. Some of the protesters were injured in scuffles. However, despite the crackdown, the protests are not expected to die down, with unions announcing a seventh day of nationwide demonstrations for Thursday and another on November 6. UNEF, which is the country’s main student union, called on students and young people ‘‘everywhere in France’’ to demonstrate and take part in sit-ins.
The French government used force for the first time to open a key oil refinery that supplies Paris. Working out of a crisis center at the energy ministry, French authorities are directly controlling the distribution of oil in an effort to relieve concerns about the nation’s reserves. After 130 hours of debate over the pension law, the French Senate voted 177-153 in favor of the legislation. The lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, already passed a similar version of the bill. However, a committee was set to meet to merge the two versions, making the bill almost certain to pass. By the way, though Sarkozy gained a kind of victory in the Senate, his falling popularity will damage his presidency while the country's economy is suffering turbulences.
Elsewhere, British women who wanted to terminate a pregnancy are being confronted by Christian protesters, in a copy of tactics used by hardcore anti-abortionists in the US. A Texas-based religious group, which has support and funding from hundreds of American churches, has been holding protests outside Marie Stopes House in central London, one of Britain's first modern abortion clinics. It is the first time that the group – called 40 Days for Life – has targeted an abortion clinic in mainland Britain. Two years ago Parliament voted against reducing the cut-off limit for abortions from 24 weeks into a pregnancy to 22 weeks. Among those to vote for a reduction were David Cameron, William Hague and the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley. Anti-abortionists hope EDM 834 will spark a renewed debate over the abortion laws.
In the past week, thousands took to the streets across Britain protesting against massive budget cuts that would leave up to 500,000 people jobless. The British government unveiled its plans to cut government spending by 19 percent over the next four years and to raise the legal retirement age in an attempt to tackle the 155-billion-pound, 243 billion dollars, budget deficit. British trade unions have strongly criticized the cuts, the most radical shake-up of public finances in decades. During a protest meeting in London, Robert Crow, the head of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, called on the trade unions to take joint actions to derail the austerity plan. Some 20,000 people from across Scotland marched in downtown Edinburg, chanting slogans condemning Prime Minister David Cameron's government. Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, leaders of trade unions and public figures took part in the protest. Mass demonstrations also took place in Cardiff, Belfast, Cambridge, Sheffield, Norwich and other cities across the United Kingdom. During a rally in Bristol, a number of protesters were detained and two policemen were injured in a clash with demonstrators. British Prime Minister David Cameron is embarking on a painful period of austerity. There is hardly an aspect of British life that has been left untouched by the cuts. Ministerial budgets have been slashed by an average of 19 percent. Almost half a million public sector jobs will disappear over the next four years, while state expenditures will plunge by 83 billion pounds, that is 131 billion dollars, and taxes increased by 29 billion pounds. The retirement age is also set to rise.
In the largest government reshuffle in six years, Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said this week that he would eliminate two ministries and replace his deputy prime minister, in a bid to gain new political momentum and adhere to stricter austerity measures requested by the European Union. The reshuffle comes at a time when the prime minister's popularity has crumbled with unemployment above 20 per cent and the economy mired in very low growth levels. Analysts said the removal of the Equality and Housing ministries is unlikely to lead to major savings for a government struggling to bring down its budget deficit, which may be at around 9 per cent of gross domestic product this year. The two ministries have long been the target of criticism. They were created by Zapatero in recent years, as part of his renewed focus on social spending, but their functions have been unclear and often overlapped with those of local authorities. A fast reduction of Spain's budget deficit is a key concern in global markets, as the government is still anticipating a 6 per cent deficit next year. Spain's 1.5 trillion-dollar economy is much bigger than those of Ireland, Portugal and Greece, and a fiscal crisis in this country would likely have serious consequences for the euro zone as a whole. The changes comes at a time when Spain is grappling with a 20 per cent unemployment rate, the highest in the EU, and attempts to emerge from nearly two years of recession. Rodriguez Zapatero is trying to show that his new team will act better concerning the deteriorating economic conditions.
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