- In the last six months I have followed with particular attention the political revolt and the new situation created by these Jakas in the French State. I've also tried to read writings on them, especially on social media. In fact, the behaviour of the main press, both audiovisual and written, in the French State has been regrettable. Faced with the reality of Jaka, the main French media have acted in the same way as they did with the Basques at the hardest moments of ETA in Euskal Herria: garbage, lie and a concerned and shameful manipulation of public opinion in favour of the most important political and economic class. The political and trade union left, immersed in an institutional dynamic, has also not been applauded in the face of a giant social revolt that it does not control. All I needed to write something, to participate in one of his demonstrations, and that is what I have just done in Paris, taking advantage of the trip to visit the Basque political prisoner Marixol Iparragirre. In this way, on the eve of 1 May I dare to give some views on this social event that most of the Basque media have given such little importance.
The newly elected President of the French State, Macron, who was publicly and vigorously applauded in the midst of the economic crisis plaguing the planet by the great economic and financial powers of Europe and the world, has met in the French State with a social rebellion that he did not expect at all. The movement of Jaka Zure Mugimendua, the strongest movement that has been known in the French State in recent decades, has confronted the abyss of the selfish politician who thought it would pass to history and the encyclopedia as the creator of a new way of making politics (Macronism).
These Yacarés will try to show the world that they have been able to sink Macron opening the doors to a new type of leftist policy in Europe and the world.
And if Macron insisted not to give in, Jaka wouldn't hesitate to throw him down the ravine. Because that is also at stake at the G7 summit next August in Biarritz. Macron wants to show that he has survived the revolt of Jaka in the world of Biarritz, blowing air into the capital. These Jackets want to show the world that they have been able to sink Macron, opening the doors to a new type of left-wing policy in Europe and in the world. It is not a joke, therefore, what is at stake and what is at stake at the top of Biarritz.
In fact, the Jaka movement is very rich and interesting from the political and social point of view, and not only because of the model of its struggle – integral autonomy, self-management, occupation of public space, disobedience, direct action, lack of collaboration – but also because of the diversity of its members – precarious sectors, workers and middle-class – and because of its ability to maintain its dynamics over time. And all of this, assuming many of the demands that have been customary on the left. Time has shown that this is a social movement that has nothing to do with the extreme right, although it has done more than an attempt to manipulate the extremities.
In the last demonstration that I participated in in Paris, in addition to the numerous and large blocks of the Social Front, formed mainly by Jakas Amarillo, were present Attac, CGT, FO, Solidaires, NPA... with its symbol and militancy. No organiser, militant or rightwing. All the slogans heard aloud throughout the demonstration were from the left: against precariousness, against police violence, for democracy, for taxes from the rich, for migration, for popular consultation, against climate change, against Macron ...
How can we explain that such a broad, strong, improvised and organisationally dispersed social movement has emerged and been channelled into the French State outside the traditional left-wing organisation? It is undeniable that in view of the political and economic concerns of a very large part of society, the Left has not been able to see and channel this anger. Serious reality. And that is that, when the time has come to change things, the institutional conventional left has had no credibility for this broad society and Jaka Hori has chosen to make his way. This is a very serious fact for the French conventional and institutional left, which we are not talking about a demonstration, but about an entire dynamic that the Macron Government in the French State can disrupt.
The traditional left of the French State has been left out of this revolt. Worse still, instead of betting on reinforcing this social movement, he has abandoned it, when he has not opposed it, assuming the speeches imposed by the main media: that is the movement of the extreme right, that is an anti-systemic movement against the system, that is nothing clean, that are violent... All of this could explain the disobedient feature of the Jaka movement (occupation of roundabouts, unauthorized mobilizations, blocking of transport) and the trend towards direct action, although most of the time they do not coincide with the use of violence. However, Macron has demonstrated during these seven months that, until the massacres in Paris and other major cities began, the Government has not taken the Yellow Yacarés seriously.
The revolt that arrives in Biarritz in August is yellow. We have reflected on what is happening in the French State in both the Abertzale Left and the Basque Country.
As far as we are concerned, we have not been very fine either. We have said that they do not recognise Euskal Herria, that they sing to Marseilles, that they bear the French flag and things like that so that they do not agree with that enormous social movement. We have not caused a dozen deaths, 2,200 injured (5 cracked hands and 23 eyes burst, dozens of pulmonary perforations, hundreds of internal and severe haemorrhages suffocated, thousands of burns...) and the repression that has brought with it the cutting of Civil and Political Rights (thousands of detainees, hundreds of incarcerated, ban on mobilizations...). The great Star of Catalonia was at the demonstration in Paris, and it would not be the first time it was manifested. However, there is no ikurrina... In that sense, they will never understand us. Of course, what we have learned.
Coinciding with the studies of the Network, we saw at the Paris demonstration that the social sector that had met so far by the French State has been the working and citizen class that has received public health and educational transport services, that is, the millions of people who have seen their situation being precarious by the payment of salaries so far. On the contrary, the most marginalised social sector, the “banlieu”, which lives in the decades of greater social exclusion, was not really represented in the mobilisation of Paris. All of them have long lost all the social rights, services and protections that the French State offered them. Perhaps this can explain that the presence of the movement of these Jackets in the hot neighborhoods of the big cities so far is very limited. And, on the other hand, we cannot forget that the movement of these Jakas was originally given in the rural world.
In short, faced with an economic elite that has been greatly enriched in recent years, Jaka is a wide range of workers and popular sectors that have been precarious and impoverished, and that are at the base, along with some middle class sectors that have begun to suffer the same situation. This is where Macron’s greatest fear lies, that his movement will become a benchmark not only for the workers and the middle classes, but also for the warm neighborhoods. And that is what can happen from this Thursday, as it is clear that the results of the National Debate organised by Macron himself will not coincide with Jaka’s demands, and therefore on 1 May we could give the starting signal to the strategic pooling between Jaka and the trade unions.
The revolt that arrives in Biarritz in August is yellow. We have reflected on what is happening in the French State in both the Abertzale Left and the Basque Country. We must begin to prepare and strengthen the response and resistance to capital throughout the Basque Country.
Joseba Álvarez, member of Sortu