France: Mass Protests Against El Khomri’s Reform

On March 9, in France, more than 500 thousand people took part in protests against Hollande’s government's new labor law reform. There are among the law main points, drawn up by the social-democratic government, according to its creator, the labour minister Myriam El Khomri, aimed to reduce the high unemployment rate: an increase in employee time (up to 60 hours per week) and a reduction in additional payments for overtime work.
In Paris, the protests united more than 100 thousand people, expressing their disagreement to the “liberal” changes in social policy of Francois Hollande and the ruling party.
The strike began on Tuesday evening, and it is planned to continue until Thursday morning. Among the protesters, there are representatives of the left parties (the Left Party with Jean-Luc Mélenchon in head), workers of railway industry (including the SNCF transport corporation, which caused delays of trains and violations of traffic between the French cities: was canceled almost two-thirds of suburban trains in the region of Île-de-France), representatives of trade unions, and various youth groups.

Ruling Liberal Ideology of Hollande VS left forces

After May 1968, France faces a new society, which’s ideology becomes the main liberal-libertarianism that has the main objective the destruction of: 1) the left social model (which is protected by the French Communist Party), and 2) the moral right model (created by De Gaulle).

Gradually, the differences between the lefts and rights blurred in politics and economics. The rights start to performs only for bourgeois liberalism, capitalism, ignoring conservatism; the lefts – in favor of globalization and progress, ignoring the economic sphere (protection of workers' rights, collective superiority over private property).
Hollande is a representative of the liberal version of the “left power”. In this regard, he focuses not on the fight for the working class rights, the social justice, but on globalization and progress, destruction of traditional values (the lefts in politics). Under François Hollande, the unemployment rate in France increased unprecedentedly: more than ten percent (far more than under his right predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy). But in late January, Hollande was forced to introduce an emergency economic situation in the country at the high unemployment rate.

Left forces against Social-Democratic Liberal politics of Hollande

Hollande and the ruling Socialist Party are rapidly losing popularity even among the left forces. Inability to cope with the critical levels of unemployment, to defend the working class rights, to ensure the country's security (terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13) – all these factors grow doubt on the legitimacy of the Socialist Party.
The French communists consider El Khomri’s law as the “historic setback.”
“We cannot accept any provisions of this law. All the proposed measures are just a violation of the workers rights,"says the head of the French Communist Party Pierre Laurent.
"This is the beginning of the end for Hollande and Valls," said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the head of the "Left Party" in France.
The protesters plan to hold a large-scale national strike on March 31.