This Tuesday, March 7 in Toulon, the mobilization against the pension reform has entered a new phase. Harder. More numerous. Longer. They were thus 25,000 (according to the inter-union, 9,000 according to the authorities) gathered at 10:30 a.m. Place de la Liberté, ready to take the city in a pincer movement. The inter-union had indeed decided to split the procession in two to put locally “France at a standstill“.
The demonstrators therefore took the path to the Castigneau gate, to the west, for some, to the Bir-Hakeim roundabout, to the east, for others. After a meridian break around a picnic – and a certain loss of living strength – the two parades met again at the foot of the Mayol stadium, roundabout Bonaparte, in order to prevent the carriers from entering the commercial port, until mid-afternoon.
corner stone
photo">If they are not organized, do not march under banners, young people are present in the processions of the fight against pension reform, as here in Toulon.Photo by Camille Dodet.
“If today the country is blocked by the government’s ultra-minority project, it alone bears the responsibility. If the government persists, it will be solely responsible for what will happen in the days to come”, launched Pascal Brun, Var secretary of Solidaires for the inter-union, before the mass of the demonstrators did not shake. And Olivier Masini, secretary general of the Departmental Union of the CGT du Var, to underline: “Beyond generalizing the strike, it is important that young people are fully involved in this great movement of action.”
The cornerstone of the movement because, assures the CGT member, “when a movement becomes intergenerational, nothing can stop it”.
In the procession, young people are present. Scattered, but present. Like this small group of high school students from Dumont-d’Urville, wearing chasubles and flags grabbed here and there, after a short blockade of their establishment. “It’s important for us to be there. For our parents too, who will be the first affected by the reform”begins Heidi, before expanding: “ This society is already exhausting and people will get worse and worse.”predicts the young girl, alongside her friends, Inès, Naëlle and Naïs, as well as two dozen other comrades.
“We have this power”
Jeanne and her brother Charles came with their parents. “But we didn’t ask them anything!”, launches Daniel, the dad. Her eldest explains: “Working longer, for poverty wages, this is not the model of society in which we want to live “, gets carried away the young girl, her brother supporting his words with broad nods.
A little further on in the demonstration, a group of students from the La Garde campus, led by Leïa and Sami, explains that they understood the importance of mobilizing: “We understood that it concerns us”indicates the first, while the second insists: “We have that power.” The young man, however, regrets thatthat no student organization has mobilized widely.
Maybe next time? It will be the xx. But as of this Wednesday morning, the Var inter-union will meet at 10:30 am at the foot of the prefecture in order to question the delegate of the prefect for women’s rights on equality in companies. The week should thus be punctuated with actions to obtain the withdrawal of the reform.
