An Update from the Amiens IWW
The IWW student-worker militants of Amiens expand their intervention into the broader class struggles of the city and nation. They have been busy hosting rallies and collaborating with student unions.
Hi Fellow Worker!
We’re holding a small rally this lunchtime to protest against the rise in university residence rents in Amiens, in front of the CROUS (regional centre for university and school works), to demonstrate with the students concerned.
The president of the CROUS came to tarnish this latest demonstration by explaining that he was “obliged to increase rents because charges have risen”. This argument did not hold up for long in the face of the anger generated by the high level of insecurity among students in France, and particularly in Amiens.
We were able to make a small banner with a student union with which we often work: Solidaires étudiant-es.
Following a general meeting that we organised with other unions, including the UNEF (Union Nationale des Etudiants de France), the UEP (Union Etudiante Picardie), Solidaires étudiant-es and ourselves, the mobilisation continues!
At the end of the day, we also supported an appeal launched by associations against a municipal by-law banning begging in the city centre. We were also given the opportunity to speak. Here’s what we had to say:
"As a trade union that welcomes the precarious and the unemployed, we join this appeal made by various collectives close to the most precarious people. The decree signed by the mayor of Amiens, Brigitte Fourré, is an attempt to wage war on the most disadvantaged people living on the streets. By taking the decision to exclude them from Amiens city centre, the mayor is driving out the most vulnerable. Clear the way, that’s the word. This decision comes just a few weeks before the launch of the Olympic Games of Shame, which are adopting the same policy of excluding students, the most precarious, the “undesirables”, so that the biggest wallets can strut their stuff without having to meet the victims of France’s anti-social policies.
We are in solidarity with the most precarious, and we ourselves, working-class people who often meet these penniless comrades.
We reject this policy of chasing the poor and hiding behind the misery! We demand the withdrawal of this infamous and stigmatising decree!
You can also find this post on our substack:
Along with the original correspondence from the Amiens IWW
Anoir Delcenserie
Get in touch!
If you wish to contact us, feel free to send us an email at the following address: iwwamiens@proton.me
Who are the Angry Education Workers?
This is a project to gather a community of revolutionary education workers who want to chart a course towards a socialist education system. We want to build contacts between education workers around the world to become a platform for educators of all backgrounds and job roles to share workers’ inquiries, stories of collective action, labor strategy, theoretical reflections, and art. We can then workshop, translate, and boost each others' work.
If you are a union, political collective, mutual aid network, or other organization, and want us to publish materials for you, please reach out!