The global class struggle in 2019
16 January 2019
The year 2019 is beginning with a wave of strikes, demonstrations and other manifestations of class struggle around the world.
In France, the “yellow vest” protests are entering their 10th week, with at least 85,000 demonstrating throughout the country this past weekend, the second straight week in which the number of protesters increased. The yellow vests have been joined by “red pen” protests of teachers over stagnant pay and terrible conditions in public schools.
In India, tens of millions of workers participated in a two-day strike last week against the right-wing policies of the Hindu supremacist BJP government of Narendra Modi. Miners, manufacturing workers, transport workers, government workers and many others took part in one of the largest strikes in history.
In Mexico, strikes and plant occupations are spreading through the “maquiladora” factories, centered on a wildcat strike by 70,000 workers from 45 factories in the town of Matamoros, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas. Workers have called for a general strike beginning today.
In the United States, 33,000 teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest district in the country, began a strike on Monday, while thousands of teachers and their supporters have participated in demonstrations in the Northern California city of Oakland against attacks on public education.
Reports in the media warn of another “educator spring” following the strikes and demonstrations in West Virginia, Arizona, Oklahoma and other states last year, but this time in states controlled by the Democratic Party. The anger of teachers—supported by students and workers—coincides with the growing opposition of 800,000 furloughed or unpaid…