Rainy, but combative May Day

We marched with our comrades from Red Flag and MLKP in a combative and determined procession. We salute those who came to participate, even for a while, in its existence.

The demonstration was massive, reflecting the desire for struggle on the part of the population and the political, associative and trade union organisations. A long ribbon ran between Jean Macé and Bellecour. For Lyon, which historically does not mobilise much, this 1st of May is a nice surprise.

Because there is plenty to fight for!

➡️The pandemic showed the contempt of the exploiters. They have imposed constant half measures to protect their profits, resulting in endless curfews and pseudo confinements. Masks, intensive care beds, vaccines, everything is missing: this is the price of a policy of devastation of sanitary protections, considered unprofitable. On this first of May, we salute the courage of caregivers around the world.

➡️ The economic situation was not rosy before the pandemic. It is even worse now. We are at risk of collapse in some sectors, while others are being abused with free money, allowing shareholders to line their pockets. And this does not stop government reforms: the civil service, social security, pensions and unemployment are always in the crosshairs.

➡️The international situation is becoming increasingly tense. The great powers are showing their teeth and are intimidating each other. Their aim is not to defend freedom: it is to divide up the world according to their strength. Behind these divisions, peoples suffer oppression, dictatorships, overexploitation, war and famine. France actively participates in these regimes, such as that of the dictator Idriss Déby in Chad, a slavish lackey of Franco-Africa. May Day is internationalist!

On the whole, this May Day, although combative, is in a twilight climate. We cannot forget that ten days ago, soldiers in charentaise proposed to subdue the population by force. We cannot forget that a whole section of "Republican" politicians applauded them. Nor do we forget that some of these theses even break through into "our camp".

The police intervened on several occasions, creating chaos at the front of the demonstration, and leading to a climate of unhealthy tension. We find this regrettable. We believe that various forms of action and slogans have their place and their right to expression, as long as they do not violate the consent of the participants in the demonstration, nor are they done at their expense.

It seems important to us to underline that, once again, the libertarian meal organised at Place Sathonay (Lyon 1), was banned. This is the third year in a row that it cannot be held, since the violent repression of May 1st 2018. That year, one of our comrades was arrested and brought before the public prosecutor.

The fact that this tradition has been broken is a sign of the times: they are increasingly complex! Repression is taking on new forms, more intense, more precise. The implementation of the "Liaison and Intervention Teams", these police officers in charge of "making the link between demonstrators and the forces of order" have appeared. They came to see us.

We understand their existence as meeting several objectives:

➡️Facilitate, for the state, the management of repression policies. As nassages are sometimes counterproductive in terms of image, mediation is also there to restore a gradation.

➡️Collecting information and individualising relations with the Police, with the aim of identifying the relationship of different groups with the Police, while being able to intimidate.

➡️Disunite the processions, employing different policies depending on the actors, also pushing them to use repression themselves.

Let us not be fooled: polite or brutal, repression and division produce the same effects: tensions rise between those who struggle, while the state and the exploiters emerge strengthened.

➡️We believe that, in the current stage of the health, economic, social, political and ecological crisis, we have a duty to dialogue, to cooperate, to manage to support each other and to win victories again. Otherwise, the first of May 2022 may well be even darker.

➡️In the spirit of the Commune, of its ideal of people's democracy, let us unite our forces, in Lyon, in France, in Europe, in the World. Let us advance, let us fight, let us win!