May 1st 2019 is a day to try everything, a day to dream everything.
The 25th meeting of the Yellow Vests is not like the others. And that’s good. The movement needs to get out of its routine and its ritualisation of Saturday protests. Planned, not a Saturday, but a holiday, an historic date for social struggles around the world, this new meeting should see new people coming to collaborate in the fall of the system: trade unionists, environmentalists, anarchists, and also and especially thousands of angry anonymous citizens.
This date of May 1st arrives a few days after the announcement of “decisions” by Macron following the “grand debate”. Announcements that did not convince anyone outside La République en Marche [Macron’s party – ed]. A speech that confirmed class contempt and the ultra-authoritarian and inflexible position of power, both political and economic power, police and judicial power.
The message is clear: you can gesticulate for months, but governmental policy will not change. And the system even less. If this posture is a tactic to discourage the Yellow Vests and other revolutionary forces, we know that after really being shaken in November and December, the system has managed to regain control over the management of revolts, which have hardly experienced any insurrectionary character in 2019, including the ultimatums of March 16th and April 20th. The strength of the ultra-liberal system is to understand new situations and adapt to them very quickly.
It will therefore take much more than a massive and determined May 1st to succeed in shaking the system. But this May Day is essential for the struggle to continue, for it to mutate in order to dupe the system again, to derail it. Opening breaches, to experiment, to meet, to exchange, to create ephemeral street alliances…
On Wednesday, every citizen in the street will have the keys to the success of this day. It is not the unions that have the keys, it is not the associations, it is not the “figures” of the Yellow Vests. No, it is every citizen, who, according to their choices, their words, their acts, will determine the evolution of this day and therefore of the continuation of the movement: an attempt to protest wildly, to launch a chant strengthened by thousands of demonstrators, to refuse to enter the trap designed to end the demonstration (planned at Place d’Italie a priori), to disguise oneself in order to ridicule the authorities, to climb barricades, to repaint the street in yellow, to enter a building for an ephemeral occupation…
Everything is possible. Day, night, and life belong to us. Let’s not be afraid of the unknown, because only this unknown can allow us to live differently.
The solution will not come from a forklift truck or a bank on fire. It will not come from a protester disguised as a clown or an invisible fanfare. But it will come from all of this and the breaches that all these individualities can create. Breaches in which it will be up to us to exploit and improvise.
The authorities fear this day of May 1st more than they will admit. Its strategy is known in advance: control the entire procession to bring it into the giant trap in order to end the demonstration. And before this – to as soon as possible split the procession in order to isolate the most determined demonstrators and apply maximum of repression and arrests. Everything is done to force the thousands of angry citizens to choose their camps: the good demonstrators who respect the rules of the Republic, or the bad “black block” anarchists thirsty for fire and blood.
Do not give them the chance to separate us, ideologically but also physically, in the street. Let us be united in our differences of practices and tactics. Let us respect each other because we have the same opponent, and that difference does not frighten us.
Wednesday: Every person in the street will have the power to change things. The Yellow Vests movement has demonstrated the strength of horizontality and individual action in a collective struggle. So do not be afraid to embark on initiatives. Talk to your friends and family. There are a few hours left to prepare this May 1st. It is more than enough to think and propose surprise actions, be they festive, musical, or offensive. On Wednesday, each initiative will be an ephemeral revival of freedom and existence. Each subversive act will be a victory against this system that wants us to believe that nothing can ever change and that we must go back to our “previous lives”.
We know that our next lives can be much more joyful and united. And we are ready to fight for this horizon. It starts on Wednesday.
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