This is a neat website- it is a flight radar website that monitors flights 24 hours a day:
http://www.flightradar24.com/
A friend of mine shared it with me and it's interesting how France is looking pretty bare!This is a neat little video I found online:
http://vimeo.com/15924533
And here are some articles if you would like to become informed:
All in all, I am not affected by it as much as other people are... but I don't have any trips planned in the next couple of weeks. Come November- things better start getting back to normal- because I will be traveling again!!!!12 October: Highlights from the strike and protests in France
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Share on: Delicious | Digg | reddit | Facebook | StumbleUponby Charlie Kimber
Three and a half million people marched on over 200 demonstrations across France according to the CGT union federation. This is a new high for the present campaign. It shows how crucial the battle taking place in France is—one with implications for the whole continent.
The strike and protests— the fourth day of mass strikes and demonstrations since June—are against attacks on pensions. The scale of the mobilisations was impressive:
- The Eiffel Tower in Paris had to close
- 330,000 marched in Paris
- 230,000 on Marseille
- 140,000 in Toulouse
- 75,000 in Rouen
- 40,000 in Caen
- 75,000 in Grenoble
- 60,000 in Rennes
- 45,000 in Lyon
The CFDT federation declared that the day saw “15 to 20 percent more on the march compared to previous days of action”.
And in most parts of industry the number of strikers was significantly higher than on previous days of action.
“Faced with the anti-democratic obstinacy of the government that remains deaf to the hopes of the country, we must step up the pressure and give ourselves the means to paralyse the country," said the postal workers’ section of the Sud-PTT unions.
"The demonstrations have been massive. The movement has grown and is broadening. It's the biggest wave of demonstrations our country has known for a long time," said Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry.
But it wasn’t just the size of the involvement that made this strike day different.
Many groups resolved to continue striking after Tuesday—including sections of rail workers, energy workers, metal workers, dockers and refinery workers.
Another new move was the decision by students and some school students to join in.
This escalation, if carried through systematically, can lay the basis for continuous mass action—and victory.
Right wing president Nicolas Sarkozy announced a rise in the minimum retirement age to 62. And to get a full state pension, workers will have to work until they are 67. Workers’ pension contributions are also rising.
This “reform”, now going through its final parliamentary stages, is the symbol of France’s rulers attempt to make workers pay for the bosses’ and bankers’ crisis.
Opinion polls show that some 70 percent of the population back the strikes and protests. But the government has so far offered only minor concessions. Now there is strong pressure from below for the strikes to escalate to become an unstoppable wave.
Unstoppable
Jean-Pierre Delannoy, a metal workers’ rep in the CGT union federation, said his union’s members were “fed up with simply strolling through the streets”.
He attacked the CGT’s leaders for placing the responsibility on local branches to choose whether to strike after Tuesday.
“The strategy of episodic sheep-like protests is wrong and will fail unless we step up our movement and listen to the grassroots, who want us to take real action,” he said.
“Trade unionism will suffer if we fail. The solution is continuous action.”
A report in La Voix du Nord newspaper records a recent union meeting where a motion was put for a continuous general strike. “For? All hands went up. Against? No movement in the room. Abstentions? Same.”
In some areas continuous strikes have already broken out.
The port of Marseille has been a battleground throughout the summer. Crane operators, terminal workers and dockers are striking against privatisation and the pension changes.
The world’s third biggest oil terminal at Fos-Lavera has been hit hard by the action, with petrol supplies running short in Corsica and in some areas of France and shipping disrupted in significant areas of the Mediterranean.
Pierre Brossat, a dockers’ union representative at the port, told Socialist Worker, “We are not prepared to see our livelihoods taken away for profit. We do a hard and physical job and are not going to work until we drop.
“The initiative for this strike came from union members. They want action to win. That means continuous strikes, and a general strike that closes down the economy and hits the bosses.”
The mood for strikes has spread across Marseille. Monoprix supermarket workers have struck since 17 September for a living wage.
They led the recent pension demonstrations chanting “We’re not tired!” to show they want to keep fighting.
Potent
Thousands of school canteen workers have been striking for over a fortnight over pay and the pension reforms.
Everywhere local issues and the pension battle combine to make a potent mix.
Continuous strikes sunk previous attacks on pensions by prime minister Alain Juppé in 1995.
General strikes showed the mass mood, but it was weeks of action by rail workers that kept up the pressure and forced a climbdown.
A similar victory now would energise the fightback across Europe, and show that workers can impose their own solution to the crisis—one that makes the bosses pay and points towards a system where people come before profit.
taken from: http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=22733
Wikipedia's Article as of today's date:
The 2010 civil unrest in France are a series of ongoing general strikes and demonstrations in France which have occurred during September and October 2010.
They have involved union members from both the private and public sectors protesting in cities, including Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Paris and Toulouse, against a proposal by the French government to raise the normal retirement age for public pensions from 65 to 67 and early reduced pensions from age 60 to 62, which the Assemblée nationale has approved,[1] while temporary pre-crisis taxes cuts are maintained for the benefit of the richest individuals and companies, and top government officials are subject to an ongoing corruption inquiry.[2] Those who object to the changes say the poorest will be most affected by them.[3]
The strikes have been compared to the popularly supported 1995 strikes in France, with 70% of respondents to one poll suggesting the 2010 strikes would swell into a national movement akin to 1995, and a majority expressing support for such an event.[4] CGT secretary Bernard Thibault, one of the main trade union leaders, commented to La Chaîne Info: "There have never since 1995 been as many protesters ... from both the public and private sectors, and now from all generations. The government is betting on this movement deteriorating, even breaking down. I think we have the means to disappoint them."[5]
Overview:French union leaders have organised six days of nationwide strikes and demonstrations thus far, on Tuesday 7 September, Thursday 23 September, Saturday 2 October, Tuesday 12 October and Saturday 16 October, and Tuesday 19 October. The figures regarding the number of participants vary widely, with numbers being reported by the French Interior Ministry, police, and unions.[11]
The second day of strikes saw the cancellation of as many as 50% of flights at airports in Paris and other cities.[12] Half the country's long-distance trains were cancelled.[13]
A prolonged strike by garbage collectors led to a build-up of trash around the port of Marseille.[4] The strike has lasted for at least three weeks.[14]
Students began to participate in the demonstrations during October, with 1 in every 15 schools in the country affected by the middle of the month.[4] Police fired rubber bullets in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, causing a 16-year-old student to nearly lose an eye, with other students reported to have also been injured.[5] Police sprayed tear gas on young protesters in Lyon, which was captured by television cameras.[5] Families and children came to the fore on the third day, the first occasion on which a demonstration occurred on a Saturday.[15]
The fifth day of strikes caused the French government to publicly admit that Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport was rapidly running out of fuel, though it did advise people "not to panic".[5][16]
What's a year in France without living through some famous strikes?! It's all part of the experience....
