A journalist, seemingly sharing the
illusions of politicians, writes “it’s time for the gilets jaunes to
decide who and what they want to be”. (The Guardian,
29/01/2019) The politicians of france (and of everywhere, faced by a
similar insurrection) are eager to have a “who” and “what” behind every
rebellion, for it is in this manner that rebellions can be induced to
negotiate, to be domesticated and subdued.
Many of the gilets jaunes, even in
the face of their divisions, continue to refuse unifying identification
and thus representation. And the chimera of unity is nothing but a
desired instrument of subjection. What has characterised the
insurrection hitherto is a diversity that understands and acts together,
more or less, but without ever ignoring its differences. Indeed, the
insurrection has been as much against itself (as a permanent, internal
struggle of practice and thought), as it is against the State.
The voices from within the movement
are many, but few are as significant as the initiatives taken by the
yellow vest assembly of Commercy.
In early December of last year, the yellow vest assembly of Commercy released a first statement-manifesto, where it tried to give form to the insurrection. In a second statement-manifesto,
it called upon all local assemblies of the movement to gather together
in an “assembly of assemblies” on the 26th of January.
With assemblies of the Pyrenees, Brittany and Normandy, Cévennes and the Alps, Alsace and Lorraine, Paris, Nantes and Poitiers, and more (some one hundred), a third statement-manifesto was issued, which we share below.
The call of the first “assembly of assemblies” of the yellow vests
27/01/2019 (Entre les lignes entre les mots 28/01/2019)
We, the yellow vests of the roundabouts, car parks, squares,
assemblies, demonstrations, we are gathered this January 26 and 27, 2019
in an “Assembly of Assemblies”, bringing together a hundred
delegations, responding to the call of yellow vests of Commercy.
Since the 17th of November, from the smallest rural village to the
largest city, we have risen up against this deeply violent, unjust and
unbearable society. We will not let this continue! We rebel against the
excessive cost of living, precariousness and misery. We want our loved
ones, our families and our children, to live in dignity. 26 billionaires
own as much as half of humanity; this is unacceptable. Let’s share the
wealth and not the misery! Let’s finish with social inequalities! We
demand the immediate increase of wages, social assistance, allowances
and pensions, the unconditional right to housing and health, to
education, free public services, and for all.
It is for all of these rights that we daily occupy roundabouts, that
we organise actions, demonstrations and that we discuss everywhere. With
our yellow vests, we speak again, we who never have.
And what is the government’s response? Repression, contempt,
denigration. The dead and thousands of wounded, the massive use of
weapons at close range that mutilate, blind, injure and traumatize. More
than 1,000 people were arbitrarily sentenced and imprisoned. And now
the new law called “anti-casseur” [anti-vandal/destroyer] aims simply to
prevent us from demonstrating. We condemn all of the violence against
protesters, whether they come from the forces of order or violent
groups. None of this will stop us! To demonstrate is a fundamental
right. End impunity for the police! Amnesty for all the victims of
repression!
And what a sham the great national debate is [initiated by Macron],
something which is nothing more than a communication campaign by the
government, which instrumentalises our desire to debate and decide! True
democracy, we practice it in our assemblies, on our roundabouts, it is
neither on the TV sets nor in the pseudo round tables organized by
Macron.
After having insulted us and treated us as less than nothing, now he
introduces us as a hateful fascist and xenophobic crowd. But we are the
complete opposite: neither racist, nor sexist, nor homophobic, we are
proud to be together with our differences to build a society of
solidarity.
We are strong in the diversity of our discussions, and right now
hundreds of assemblies are developing and proposing their own demands.
They concern real democracy, social and fiscal justice, working
conditions, ecological and climatic justice, the end of discrimination.
Among the most discussed demands and strategic proposals, we find: the
eradication of misery in all of its forms, the transformation of
institutions (RIC [citizens’ initiative referendum], a constituent
assembly, end of the privileges of elected officials …), the ecological
transition (fuel poverty, industrial pollution) …), equality and the
taking into account of all, regardless of nationality (people with
disabilities, equality between men and women, the end of the abandonment
of working-class/popular neighborhoods, the rural world and the
overseas regions of the country … ).
We, yellow vests, invite everyone, with their means, and to the
extent of their ability, to join us. We call for the continuity of the
Acts (Act 12 against police violence, before the police stations, Acts
13, 14 …), for the continuity the occupations of the roundabouts and the
blockading of the economy, to build a massive and permanent strike,
from the 5th of February 5th. We call for committees to be formed in
workplaces, in school and everywhere else, so that this strike can be
built from the ground up, by the strikers themselves. Let’s take our
affairs in hand! Do not stay alone, join us!
Let’s organize ourselves in a democratic, autonomous and independent
way! This assembly of assemblies is an important step that allows us to
discuss our demands and our means of action. Let us federate to
transform society!
We ask the ensemble of yellow vests to circulate this call. If, as a
yellow vests group, you agree, send your signature to Commercy
(assembledesassemblees@gmail.com). Do not hesitate to discuss and
formulate proposals for the next “Assembly of the Assemblies”, which we
are preparing right now.
Macron Resign!
Long live the power to the people, for the people and by the people.
Call proposed by the Assembly of Assemblies of Commercy. It will then be proposed for adoption in each of the local assemblies.
Yellow Letter #20: Press on off!
(lundi matin #176, 29/01/2019)
Since the beginning of the movement yellow vests movement, of
mysterious yellow letters are distributed at roundabouts and on social
networks. With as much accuracy as poetry, this 20th missive lays the
groundwork for a strategy of struggle: “we gather more and more people
so that the cold reason from above gives way to the good sense from below.”
This world has become logical. It imposes its relentless pace on our lives, and on our bodies. Those at the top ask
us to bend over while waiting for the catastrophe. They ask us to join
their ranks! They ask us to make a deal with the devil! But it is by
staying away from their world that we can stop this hellish pace. We
still have the opportunity to turn the tide, to sow new seeds on
fertile soil. Let us no longer be seduced by the refrain of reform, or
by candidates lists to the Europeans elections! The providential man is
us!
We must from today put into practice a radical project: the clear separation with the world from above. We must launch local experiments in the recovery of abandoned, polluted, endangered and cleared land! We must rebuild our world from below with our hands, with our hearts, with our vital force. Today, our combat strategy is to gather more and more people so that the cold reason from above gives way to the good sense from below.
Let us now turn to serious matters! Let us unravel the national and European territory! Relentlessly, let us occupy it with our know-how: let us finally secede! It
is no longer a question of our rebelling, it is a question of applying
new practical determinations, of giving birth to new ways of being in
common! Now that we have finally understood and demystified the language
from above, let us build together the foundations of yellow houses,
yellow communities, yellow lands! Our commons from below must
become concrete, active, visible truths! We must engage in a permanent
occupation, that which we have begun on the roundabouts, and extend it
to infinity. We know it, we have seen it, we have lived it, we can count
on the immense generosity of a France of solidarity.
Let’s be sure! The one from above does not believe in his reality
anymore! Resigned, s/he lives there out of weariness and weakness!
Ultimately, s/he does not like the monster s/he has given birth to, and
prefers to take refuge in her/his tower of denial! S/he does not want to
confess her/his fault! S/he wants to go to the very end because s/he
must be right at all costs! To us, women and men below, it for us to
make him confess her/his misery! Let us get him down from these desert
heights, and bring her/him back to life, to us! We must now destroy at the root all the fantasised illusions of this world from above, that sells us every day waste, death, sadness with a sparkling and shiny packaging!
We are today led by invisible logics, by algorithms stored in
ultra-secure rooms that day and night make the destructive machine! We
must break them to live again! We must annihilate them! Macron is only the first floor of the rocket! We must certainly overturn it, but we must also attack these mathematical places:
banks, control centers, shopping centers, major global organisations,
stock exchanges! The machine of value creation must be blocked and
destroyed! We must derail this train of death! Let’s take the controls of this world on autopilot!
So, men and women from below, get out of the network, get
out of the digital boxes, get out of this mortuary prison! Let’s break
programs! Do not hesitate anymore! Do not go back! Let’s deflect the
goal! Let’s never let ourselves be encoded by the world from above!
Let’s create short circuits from below! Spread the Yellow Virus worldwide!
To Us.
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