To amplify the movement, prepare for the next phase and vindicate our right to life in the face of capitalist profits.

Automatically translated by AI.

By Gérard Florenson

Surprise and panic for the government and the right: an online petition is approaching two million signatures, and the number continues to increase. Initially, it was about the rejection of a law authorizing the use of an insecticide that, in addition to endangering bees and other species, poses risks to human health; but a petition movement of this magnitude demonstrates a broader rejection of the government’s ecological regression policy, which is reversing the little progress achieved in recent years. The parallels are obvious with the socially regressive measures imposed by Macron and Bayrou with the support of the right and the National Grouping.

What this massive petition movement demonstrates is simply the refusal to continue supporting a policy that crushes us and even poisons us for the benefit of the wealthy minority, in this specific case, the magnates of the chemical and agri-food industry. The government and its cronies are looking for those who, environmentalists or the extreme left, instigated the protest movement, thus demonstrating their panic: reformists can channel anger towards the “consultation”, but who can control a spontaneous initiative?

The FNSEA (National Federation of Labor and Social Security) is intensifying its efforts. They want to eliminate our farmers, victims of unfair competition from producers from competing countries who freely use products banned in our country. According to the reasoning of the leaders of this “union”, openly linked to the industrialists who crush the vast majority of farmers, any harmonization must be achieved from below, according to the rule of the lowest social and ecological standards. Faced with this blatant deception, it should be recalled that the quota system that regulated beet production, while guaranteeing producers’ incomes to some extent, was liquidated by the European Union in the name of the free market, without the slightest protest from the “union” or the government.

The contempt and hatred shown by the rulers and their lackeys towards the petitioners and those who support their efforts clearly shows that there are two sides: the rich and their guardians, and those who refuse to let their lives be trampled on, who take the impending catastrophe seriously and no longer tolerate the arrogance of the powerful.

Revolutionary Marxists, of course, are not neutral. We support this initiative and are pleased with its success. We note that many signatories do not plan to stop there and that, as they gather more signatures, they plan to take to the streets to demand the repeal of the law. We don’t know if this will be enough to force Macron to give in, at least on this issue, which would open the way to other struggles. But we do know that the trap we must avoid is the one that many will try to set for us: that of “consultations”, parliamentary positions and supposed expertise.

Moreover, we know from experience that, while any progress is welcome, it is inevitably ephemeral, and that the capitalists will always want to reverse the concessions that the workers and youth have imposed on them through their struggles. We see this clearly with Bayrou’s social cuts agenda. To prevent the rich from taking the bait, we must pull their teeth out!

To put an end to the poisoners who put their profits before our lives, and to truly defend both small producers and workers in the affected sectors, we must expropriate the chemical, agri-food and large distribution monopolies without compensation or purchase. In addition, promoting the democratic debate on what to produce and how. 

Without these requirements, it is impossible to implement an agricultural policy that benefits the working classes.