US Capitalists recognise social threat of French protests

international | worker & community struggles and protests | other press Tuesday April 04, 2006 15:44 by Terence

US media reacts to French protests with hatred and fear

The US media operating clearly on behalf of US capitalism has reacted angrily to the protests in France using hatred and fear. This is quite striking because normally the US media hardly covers internal developments in other countries. So the fact it is doing this shows it's true fears which are that the social unrest might spread to the USA itself where social tensions are already very high.

In the excellent analysis piece titled:

US media reacts to French protests with hatred and fear
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/apr2006/pres-a01_prn....shtml

the American press which does not normally cover other countries internal issues has come out strongly against the protests in France. As the article goes on to prove, it clearly shows the concerns of those high up in the social order that such unrest could spread across the Atlantic to the US itself and thus threaten to disrupt the social order.

As most people know tensions are rising in Europe as the social welfare state is being rolled back and unfettered capitalism is allowed to stalk the land and prey on the populace. In the USA the social welfare net was never as highly developed as Europe and thus as a result social tensions are much higher and this has neccessitated the need by those in power to be more repressive and lock up more people. For example the average imprisoned rate in Europe per 100,000 people varies from approximately 70 to 120, whilst over in the USA it is slightly above Russia at a rate of 620+ per 100k.

Some prime extracts from the article are:

The reaction of the media has been universally hostile, varying from denunciations by the right-wing press of “mob rule” to the more low-key perplexity expressed by the liberal media, which suggests that French are suffering from some type of collective dementia because they believe they have the right to such things as job security.

The headlines of several newspaper commentaries give a flavor of this contempt, from the Wall Street Journal’s, “The Decline of France” (March 21) and “Casseurs” (or “Smashers,” March 29); to the Washington Post’s “French take to the Streets to Preserve their Economic Fantasy” (March 22) and “The French In Denial” (March 28); to the New York Times’ “France’s Misguided Protesters” (March 27).

AND

As always, the Wall Street Journal leads the pack of reactionary voices. Having spared no provocative insult against Jacques Chirac and Dominique de Villepin for refusing to line up behind the US invasion of Iraq, the Journal now declares the French president and prime minister the champions of democracy. The French government is facing down “Jihadist” students, who, the newspaper claims, are resorting to violence to defend their “religion of job security.” Writer Nidra Poller declares, “Democracies run on elections and legislation; mobs rule by fire and the sword,” suggesting that state repression is needed to crush the protests and uphold “democracy.”

AND

Complaining that France sported “only” 14 billionaires, as compared to 24 in similarly sized Britain, Pearlstein concludes his column: “Indeed, when you ask French university students who is the Bill Gates of France, they look at you blankly. It’s not simply that they can’t name one. The bigger problem is that they can’t imagine why it matters, or why that has anything to do with why they can’t find a good job.”

Nowhere does Pearlstein explain how the hoarding of vast fortunes by the super-rich and the gaping levels of social inequality have improved the lot of American workers. Instead, he, along with the other well-heeled pundits in the corporate-controlled news media take as given that US employers should wield dictatorial powers in the workplace and retain the unquestioned “right” to destroy thousands of jobs and slash wages and benefits. After all, Dr. Pangloss, this is the best of all possible worlds.

AND as the article shows the US media eventually lets the cat out of the bag about it's certain concern about France with:

While the US should consider itself “fortunate” that it does not “endow its workers with the right not to be fired,” the editorial says, “one can see counterproductive sentiments similar to those of the French protesters in the workers at companies such as General Motors. They demand preservation of generous pensions and lifetime health coverage from employers that might be driven out of business...

“On a larger scale, it’s possible to see the French in the intractability of the Medicare and Social Security debates,” the editorial continues. Claiming that longer life spans, the coming retirement of baby boomers and exploding health costs, were pushing the government and economy toward a “fiscal abyss,” the newspaper complains that “those who receive these benefits, or are about to, have shown scant interest in reforms needed to avert a looming crisis...”

Regarding unemployment, it ought to be noted that the so-called famously low unemployment rate in the US is a fraud. They typically claim it is around 5 or 6%, but as has been proved many times elsewhere, the rate is double this and when this is taken into account, then historically it's rate has always been very similar to Europe's. And the reason they get the figure that they publish is that when you are more than 6 months unemployed in the USA, you are no longer considered looking for work and you are dropped out of the unemployment statistics.

Obviously there is a deep fear that revolutionary ideas have a tendency to cross borders and oceans with ease.