“The objective is that we take this reform, and put it in the trash,” said Sunday Olivier Besancenot, spokesperson for the NPA.
“We are engaged in a battle, there will be a winner and a loser”said Sunday March 5 Olivier Besancenot, spokesperson for the NPA, in Political Questions on France Inter, franceinfo, with Le Monde, on the eve of a week of mobilization against the pension reform. “I am one of those who think that we were lost in advance” in Parliament, he explains, claiming “an extra-parliamentary political and social life”. According to him, “we will arrive at this true-false suspense where there will be an agreement between Macronists and Republicans” on the text, which imposes “massiveness” in the mobilization, “because that’s the only way to win”.
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Olivier Besancenot denounces “ideology” of President Emmanuel Macron in his approach to reform, “it’s an old liberal dream to demonstrate that we are capable of making the street bend”. But unlike the Woerth reform in 2010, where the text was passed despite 14 major demonstrations, “we have for us what we lacked”assures the spokesperson of the NPA: “there is a deep rootedness in the region which recalls 1995, what is happening in the private sector and in the youth”.
Unions and left-wing parties unanimously call for a tougher tone. “It’s the first time I’ve heard at this level of a unit that stands on such bases”, he assures. He claims to “understand” that the secretary of the CGT chemical federation, Emmanuel Lépine, wants to put the French economy “on your knees”. “We will have to get used to there being remarks that take your breath away a bit”he adds, “all the rest of the time, it is the population that is on its knees, because of the economic order and the dictates of profitability”.
“Hit fast and hard”
Olivier Besancenot hopes that “no one will tremble when it comes to making the decision to continue” strike. However, he assures that “the goal of the game is not that it lasts, we will try to strike quickly and hard with this general and renewable strike”.
Finally, he recalls the primary objective of this mobilization: “The objective is that we take this reform, and put it in the trash”. This movement could however have political consequences, recognizes Olivier Besancenot. “If there is a political crisis that is grafted on to this, it will not be my fault, it will be that of Emmanuel Macron. If his mandate is played out now, perhaps it will be shorter than expected”he quips.