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  • Anti-imperialism at the laundromat

    INTHEFRAY Magazine, MA
    May 1 2005

    Anti-imperialism at the laundromat
    PULSE (Web Log)

    This afternoon I was walking to the laudromat when I ran smack into a
    social movement - or make that several. Parisians were out on the
    street today in the tens of thousands to voice their opposition to
    the European Constitution, which will be voted on in a country-wide
    referendum on May 29 (as described in a previous post).

    It was quite a spectacle. There were enough flags to arm several
    dozen color guards - from rainbow-colored ones calling for "Peace" to
    martial-red ones printed with Che Guevara's mustachioed face. There
    were banners with slogans in angry capital letters, inevitably with a
    "Non" slipped in somewhere between big, scary words like
    "délocalisation" (outsourcing) and "impérialisme" (imperialism). And
    there was an endless procession of flatbed trucks, each with its own
    sound system, broadcasting anything from anti-Chirac, anti-Bush
    chants to festive reggae music.

    I waited nearly two hours - through pre-wash, wash, rinse, and dry -
    as the protesters filed by on Voltaire Boulevard. Every time I
    thought I could go back to folding my underwear there was another
    brigade of flags and banners, another eardrum-rattling chant, another
    left-wing group with a cause to publicize.

    The CGT, a confederation of unions aligned with the French Communist
    Party (a relatively mainstream political faction here in France),
    seemed to have the largest delegation on the streets. The trade
    unionists were there mainly to protest the privatization of public
    services, which some believe will be imposed on France if it cedes
    more of its sovereignty to the European Union. There were also plenty
    of signs - some held by a group of Armenian activists - declaring
    that Turkey should be kept out of the European Union (another popular
    rallying cry for the anti-constitution crowd).

    That said, a whole set of grievances completely unrelated to the
    coming referendum were also being aired. Students protested
    educational reforms proposed by the French government. Immigrants
    rallied for the rights of the undocumented. Hindu nationalists voiced
    their support for the Tamil Tigers, a pro-independence group
    responsible for terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka. Communists hailing
    from "Turkey and northern Kurdistan" railed against the Iraq
    occupation. Expatriates from Togo decried the lack of attention being
    paid to their country, where violence has broken out since last
    week's disputed presidential election ("After Rwanda, Togo," said one
    sign).

    There were plenty of unflattering references to American foreign
    policy. The majority of protesters stuck to the kind of anti-Bushisms
    one finds back in the States, but near the end of the procession I
    saw a truck drive by dragging a puppet on the ground behind it. It
    was Uncle Sam, wrapped in an American flag.

    I suppose it should be expected that every lefty (and not-so-lefty)
    organization under the sun comes out for the Big March. As academics
    like to say, today's media-savvy protesters often "shop around" for
    the best venue to get their message across. Still, I was surprised by
    how international the demonstration was, especially for one
    ostensibly about strictly European affairs. Many of these protesters
    dislike the globalization of markets, but they represent the
    globalization of protest: local issues become global, global issues
    become local.

    The one sign I saw in English, as it turned out, mentioned someone I
    used to hear a lot about back in Philadelphia, near where I grew up.
    Nestled among the anti-neoliberals and anti-imperialists was a small
    group of protesters with a banner that read: "Free Mumia Now."


    - Victor Tan Chen
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