Thomas Miralles, a Yellow Vest spokesman in the southern Pyrenees-Orientales department, said Macron had failed to listen to protesters and vowed to come to Paris this Saturday for his first demonstration in the capital.
Meanwhile thousands of students angered by Macron's education reforms joined the Yellow Vests on the streets for a 'black Tuesday' of unrest, further complicating matters for the French President.
And even Macron's traditional allies in Europe warned they will be 'closely monitoring' his spending plans to check whether they fall within EU limits.
Rules passed in the wake of the 2008 market crash require all member states to have a deficit of less than 3 per cent of GDP, debt at less than 60 per cent of GDP, and for any member state with debts over 60 per cent to take steps each year to reduce it.
France's current debt is 97 per cent of GDP while economists believe Macron's new spending plans will push the deficit above 3 per cent in 2019. Countries found in breach of the rules risk being hit with hefty fines.
France is not the only country to flout the EU's spending rules after Italy passed a budget earlier this year which will see the budget deficit rise to 3.1 per cent by 2020, with debt already at 131 per cent of GDP.
Protesters gathered around TV sets across France on Monday night to hear Macron promise a seven per cent rise in the minimum wage, an end to tax and surcharges on overtime and pensions, and tax-free bonuses.
But opponents said this uncosted spending bonanza would not prevent thousands of protestors taking part in a fifth weekend of action, planned for Saturday.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-Left France Unbowed party, said: 'Emmanuel Macron thought he could hand out some cash to calm the citizens' insurrection that has erupted. I believe that Act Five will play out on Saturday.'
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen also predicted more disturbances, saying Mr Macron had 'given up on some of his tax errors', but 'refused to admit that it is the system he champions that is being questioned.'
Beyond the calls for institutional change - which could result in Mr Macron having to resign - the Yellow Vest movement wants even more tax cuts and pay rises.
'In terms of substance, these are half measures,' said unofficial Vests spokesman Benjamin Caudy. 'We feel that Macron has got a lot more to give.'
Thierry, 55, a bicycle mechanic listening in the southern town of Le Boulou, said afterwards: 'It's just window dressing, for the media, some trivial measures, it almost seems like a provocation.
'All this is cinema, it doesn't tackle the problems of substance. We're really wound up, we're going back to battle.'
Gaetan, 34, from Rennes, added: 'Maybe if Macron had made this speech three weeks ago, it would have calmed the movement, but now it's too late.
Less than an hour after the presidential address, the A9 toll booth from Spain was completely paralysed.
In the northwest, at a roundabout at the end of the A28 in Montabon, near Le Mans, 'yellow vests' gathered under a heated tent to watch the president on TV, sharing a picnic.
'Too bad, blew it again!' exclaimed Etienne. 'Santa Claus has nothing in his sack,' laughed Hubert.
Over in eastern France, at the Cafe de la Paix in Commercy, about 15 'yellow vests' watched Macron's speech with a glass of Picon and a basket of fries, interrupting the presidential address with ironic sneers.
'Sir feels bad,' Elisabeth, a 66-year-old retiree, said mockingly as the president acknowledged that he had 'hurt some'.
'It was about time,' added Damien, in his thirties. 'Liar,' a woman shouted.
'He is being held hostage so he drops some crumbs,' said Jonathan, a 35-year-old official.
In the southern commune of Realmont, 'gilets jaunes' from all four corners of the department of Tarn gathered at the roundabout to heave a sigh and release nervous laughter.
'The people asked him to resign and he puts plasters on third-degree burns (...) this is total rubbish,' said Pierrot, an RSA artist in Albi.
For Luc, a pizza chef in Marseille, 'it's a charade. He announces bonuses to be paid by employers but how will they do it? They don't have more money.'
In a 12-minutes TV address on Monday, Macron pledged a €100 (£90) per month increase in the minimum wage, taking it to €1498 (£1360).
There were also be an end-of-year bonus that employers can pay without being charged by the government, while taxes on those earning less than €2000 (£1800) will also end on January 1.
Mr Macron also ruled out any return of the Solidarity Wealth Tax, saying that he wanted to stop rich entrepreneurs 'moving abroad', so preventing 'job creation'.
The extraordinarily generous package of measures represents a massive U-turn by Mr Macron who originally said he would not yield to rioting as he tried to liberalise the sluggish France economy.
So-called Yellow Vest fuel protestors first took to the streets on November 17, and this led to the president scrapping green charges on petrol and diesel.
'I heard the anger was first of all against the tax, but it's deeper than that, and this anger could be our chance,' said Mr Macron.
'I heard the despair of the forgotten people. There are couples who struggle to make ends meet, brave single mothers or widows who can't afford child care, and poor pensioners who often have to help children and grandchildren, as well as people with disabilities.'
Mr Macron said this 'Forgotten France' has existed for at least 40 years, and that everything had to be done to held them.
Referring to rioting which has seen 4,523 arrests across France since November 17, Mr Macron said: 'I will not compromise on violence. When violence unfolds, freedom ends.'
Mr Macron, who served in Francois Hollande's Socialist government before becoming President himself in 2017, particularly accused 'opportunists' including looters of 'taking advantage of sincere anger.'
He added: 'No anger justifies attacking a policeman, degrading shop and public buildings. From now on it is the peace and the Republican order which must reign.'
The yellow vest movement - named after high-visibility vests worn by demonstrators - began online earlier this year, before spreading to the streets in November.
What started as opposition to a proposed fuel tax rise has since snowballed into general anger about a lack of concern for the poor and working class.
They see Macron as a 'leader for the rich' and are demanding - among other things - a reintroduction of taxes on the rich, a rise in minimum wage, and for Macron to go.
Yellow Vest protesters demanded even more concessions from
Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday even after he caved in to their demands for more pay and lower taxes with a £9billion spending splurge on Monday night.
Thomas Miralles, a Yellow Vest spokesman in the southern Pyrenees-Orientales department, said Macron had failed to listen to protesters and vowed to come to Paris this Saturday for his first demonstration in the capital.
Meanwhile thousands of students angered by Macron's education reforms joined the Yellow Vests on the streets for a 'black Tuesday' of unrest, further complicating matters for the French President.
And even Macron's traditional allies in Europe warned they will be 'closely monitoring' his spending plans to check whether they fall within EU limits.
Emmanuel Macron caved into the Yellow Vest protesters on Monday night by promising a £9billion package of tax cuts and wage hikes, which has now raised the prospect of clashes with EU budget chiefs
But even as Macron offered an olive branch to Yellow Vest protesters, high school students angry at his education reforms took to the streets of Paris for a 'black Tuesday' of unrest
Students oppose reforms to school tests and courses, stricter standards for getting into university, and a hike in fees for foreign students wanting to come and study in France
High school students vowed to march in solidarity with the Yellow Vests, who promised to keep up their own campaign of unrest despite Macron's reforms, saying they were 'too little, too late'
High school students hold banners making fun of words said by Macron and Prime Minister Édouard Philippe as they take part in a demonstration march at Place Saint-Michel, Paris
Yellow Vests vowed to keep demonstrating even after Macron caved in to some of their key demands, and were joined on Tuesday by thousands of school students
Rules passed in the wake of the 2008 market crash require all member states to have a deficit of less than 3 per cent of GDP, debt at less than 60 per cent of GDP, and for any member state with debts over 60 per cent to take steps each year to reduce it.
France's current debt is 97 per cent of GDP while economists believe Macron's new spending plans will push the deficit above 3 per cent in 2019. Countries found in breach of the rules risk being hit with hefty fines.
France is not the only country to flout the EU's spending rules after Italy passed a budget earlier this year which will see the budget deficit rise to 3.1 per cent by 2020, with debt already at 131 per cent of GDP.
Protesters gathered around TV sets across France on Monday night to hear Macron promise a seven per cent rise in the minimum wage, an end to tax and surcharges on overtime and pensions, and tax-free bonuses.
But opponents said this uncosted spending bonanza would not prevent thousands of protestors taking part in a fifth weekend of action, planned for Saturday.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-Left France Unbowed party, said: 'Emmanuel Macron thought he could hand out some cash to calm the citizens' insurrection that has erupted. I believe that Act Five will play out on Saturday.'
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen also predicted more disturbances, saying Mr Macron had 'given up on some of his tax errors', but 'refused to admit that it is the system he champions that is being questioned.'
Beyond the calls for institutional change - which could result in Mr Macron having to resign - the Yellow Vest movement wants even more tax cuts and pay rises.
Young people gather underneath a statue in the French capital as they protest Macorn's education reforms on Tuesday
French high school students take part in a demonstration march at Place Saint-Michel, Paris
The student protests come a day after Macron tried to placate angry Yellow Vests, who have been demonstrating for weeks on the streets of the French capital
French authorities fear several factions unhappy with the President's reforms will join together in a wave of protests
A protester holds a sign saying 'be young and shut up' during student demonstrations in Paris on Tuesday
A banner reads: 'Our desires are messy, education for all' during demonstrations in Paris
'In terms of substance, these are half measures,' said unofficial Vests spokesman Benjamin Caudy. 'We feel that Macron has got a lot more to give.'
Thierry, 55, a bicycle mechanic listening in the southern town of Le Boulou, said afterwards: 'It's just window dressing, for the media, some trivial measures, it almost seems like a provocation.
'All this is cinema, it doesn't tackle the problems of substance. We're really wound up, we're going back to battle.'
Gaetan, 34, from Rennes, added: 'Maybe if Macron had made this speech three weeks ago, it would have calmed the movement, but now it's too late.
'For us, this speech is nonsense.'
Less than an hour after the presidential address, the A9 toll booth from Spain was completely paralysed.
In the northwest, at a roundabout at the end of the A28 in Montabon, near Le Mans, 'yellow vests' gathered under a heated tent to watch the president on TV, sharing a picnic.
'Too bad, blew it again!' exclaimed Etienne. 'Santa Claus has nothing in his sack,' laughed Hubert.
Over in eastern France, at the Cafe de la Paix in Commercy, about 15 'yellow vests' watched Macron's speech with a glass of Picon and a basket of fries, interrupting the presidential address with ironic sneers.
'Sir feels bad,' Elisabeth, a 66-year-old retiree, said mockingly as the president acknowledged that he had 'hurt some'.
'It was about time,' added Damien, in his thirties. 'Liar,' a woman shouted.
'He is being held hostage so he drops some crumbs,' said Jonathan, a 35-year-old official.
But the demonstrators vowed not to give up after weeks of often violent protests, insisting that Macron's offer was too little, too late (pictured, protesters at an oil depot in Le Mans)
Roads were brought to a standstill on Monday night after Macron's speech, as people refused to accept his reform package was genuine (pictured, demonstrators in Le Boulou)
A protester near Nantes Atlantique Airport stands next to a sign saying President of the Rich, which is covered in pictures of Macron
A Yellow Vest protester helps to filter traffic along a road near Nantes Atlantique Airport
Protesters take notes as they watch French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on Monday
Macron declares 'social and economic state of emergency'
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In the southern commune of Realmont, 'gilets jaunes' from all four corners of the department of Tarn gathered at the roundabout to heave a sigh and release nervous laughter.
'The people asked him to resign and he puts plasters on third-degree burns (...) this is total rubbish,' said Pierrot, an RSA artist in Albi.
For Luc, a pizza chef in Marseille, 'it's a charade. He announces bonuses to be paid by employers but how will they do it? They don't have more money.'
In a 12-minutes TV address on Monday, Macron pledged a €100 (£90) per month increase in the minimum wage, taking it to €1498 (£1360).
There were also be an end-of-year bonus that employers can pay without being charged by the government, while taxes on those earning less than €2000 (£1800) will also end on January 1.
Mr Macron also ruled out any return of the Solidarity Wealth Tax, saying that he wanted to stop rich entrepreneurs 'moving abroad', so preventing 'job creation'.
The extraordinarily generous package of measures represents a massive U-turn by Mr Macron who originally said he would not yield to rioting as he tried to liberalise the sluggish France economy.
So-called Yellow Vest fuel protestors first took to the streets on November 17, and this led to the president scrapping green charges on petrol and diesel.
'I heard the anger was first of all against the tax, but it's deeper than that, and this anger could be our chance,' said Mr Macron.
Yellow Vest protesters decapitate cardboard puppet of Macron
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Yellow vested 'Gilet jaune' protesters block the A9 highway toll near Le Boulou, southern France on Monday night
Rioting has seen 4,523 arrests across France since November 17. Pictured yellow vest protesters at a toll on the A9 highway
Protestors take note as they watch French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on TV last night
The extraordinarily generous package of measures represents a massive U-turn by Mr Macron
Yellow Vest protesters watch Mr Macron's TV address in their high visibility jackets in a house in Gaillon, northern France this evening
French lawyers are arrested at the Palais de Justice in Rouen
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'I heard the despair of the forgotten people. There are couples who struggle to make ends meet, brave single mothers or widows who can't afford child care, and poor pensioners who often have to help children and grandchildren, as well as people with disabilities.'
Mr Macron said this 'Forgotten France' has existed for at least 40 years, and that everything had to be done to held them.
Referring to rioting which has seen 4,523 arrests across France since November 17, Mr Macron said: 'I will not compromise on violence. When violence unfolds, freedom ends.'
Mr Macron, who served in Francois Hollande's Socialist government before becoming President himself in 2017, particularly accused 'opportunists' including looters of 'taking advantage of sincere anger.'
He added: 'No anger justifies attacking a policeman, degrading shop and public buildings. From now on it is the peace and the Republican order which must reign.'
The yellow vest movement - named after high-visibility vests worn by demonstrators - began online earlier this year, before spreading to the streets in November.
What started as opposition to a proposed fuel tax rise has since snowballed into general anger about a lack of concern for the poor and working class.
They see Macron as a 'leader for the rich' and are demanding - among other things - a reintroduction of taxes on the rich, a rise in minimum wage, and for Macron to go.
WILL THE GLOBALIST DEMOCRAT PARTY FOR “CHEAP” ILLEGAL LABOR
ULTIMATELY DESTROY AMERICA?
“Kansas
City is getting more liberal now. The cancer is
spreading everywhere!” Yesterday,
a Townhall columnist
BILLIONAIRES FOR wider OPEN BORDERS TO KEEP WAGES DEPRESSED
and AMERICA FLOODED WITH FOREIGNERS.
But Benioff’s cheap-labor
importation plan would also shrink the income and careers sought by millions of
American college graduates, many of whom will vote in 2020 for or against
Trump.
*
The nation’s workforce now includes roughly 1.5
million foreign college-graduate contract-workers who are imported via the
H-1B, L-1, OPT, O-1, J-1, and other visa programs. These outsourcing workers
are not immigrants, but instead, they are contract workers hired for one to six
years, at lower wages, to take jobs that would otherwise go to American
graduates.
*
The Americans’ salary loss, however,
would be a gain for the CEOs who see their profits rise and their
stock options spike as middle-class salaries decline.
EUROPE IN REVOLT!
AMERICA’S PROTECTED CRIMINAL BILLIONAIRE CLASS HEADS FOR
THEIR BUNKERS UNDER WALL STREET.
AMERICA FACES REVOLUTION, CIVIL WAR II OR REVOLUTION AGAINST
THE RULE BY BILLIONAIRES AND WALL STREET
"Vast popular hardship and suffering, on the one hand, and
almost indescribable wealth and social indifference, on the other.
Two parties of the corporate oligarchy, dedicated to war and
political reaction. The impossible economic and political conditions
must produce sooner rather than later the greatest social upheavals
in American history."
*
"A series of recent polls in the US and Europe
have shown a sharp growth of popular disgust with capitalism and
support for socialism. In May of
2017, in a survey conducted by the Union
of European Broadcasters of people aged 18 to 35, more than half said
they would participate in a
“large-scale uprising.” Nine out of 10 agreed
with the statement, “Banks and money rule the world.”
*
"A
defining expression of this crisis is the dominance of financial
speculation and parasitism, to the point where a arrow international
financial aristocracy plunders society’s resources in
order to further enrich itself."
REVOLUTION STIRS IN AMERICA
“It will more likely come on the heels of
economic dislocation and dwindling wealth to redistribute.”
*
"Between 2002 and 2015
annual earnings for the bottom 90 percent of Americans rose
by only 4.5 percent, while earnings for the top 1 percent grew by
22.7 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Under the
Obama administration, more than 90 percent of income gains since the
so-called “recovery” began have gone to the top one percent."
*
“Our entire crony capitalist
system, Democrat and Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy
approaching par with third-world hell-holes. This is the way a great
country is raided by its elite.” ---- Karen McQuillan THEAMERICAN
THINKER.com
"A defining expression of this crisis is
the dominance of financial speculation and parasitism, to the point
where a narrow international financial aristocracy plunders society’s
resources in order to further enrich itself."
THE BILLIONAIRES’S GLOBALIST DEMOCRAT PARTY FOR WIDER
OPEN BORDERS
the true cost of all that “cheap” labor is passed
along to the middle class.
"This doesn't include the costs
of illegal immigration to society, which provides health care, housing, education, child
care, and legal services to illegal aliens. Even though immigration
advocates claim that illegal aliens do indeed pay taxes, the dollar
amount pales
in comparison to
the cost of the many services they receive."
Meanwhile, despite the
highest taxes in the nation, California is $1.3 trillion in debt – unemployment
is at a staggering 11%. California's wacko giveaways to illegals
include in-state tuition, amounting to $25 million of financial
aid. Nearly a million illegals have California driver's
licenses. L.A. County has
144% more registered voters than there are residents of legal voting
age. Clearly, illegals are illegally
voting.
WALL STREET AND THE SUPER RICH PREPARE BUNKERS FOR THE
REVOLUTION
(SOCIALSIM, INEQUALITY)
BANKSTERS AND BILLIONAIRES
PREPARE FOR THE WORST.
REVOLUTION IS IN LOOMING AND
WILL MARCH RIGHT DOWN WALL STREET FIRST.
"A series of recent polls in the US and Europe have shown a sharp
growth of popular disgust with capitalism and support for socialism. In May of
2017, in a survey conducted by the Union of European Broadcasters of people
aged 18 to 35, more than half said they would participate in a “large-scale
uprising.” Nine out of 10 agreed with the statement, “Banks and money rule the
world.”
*
"The
ruling class was particularly terrified by the teachers’ walkouts earlier
this year because the biggest strikes were organized by rank-and-file
educators in a rebellion against the unions, reflecting the weakening grip
of the pro-corporate organizations that have suppressed the class struggle
for decades."
*
“The yearly income of a typical US
household dropped by a massive 12 percent, or $6,400, in the six years
between 2007 and 2013. This is just one of the findings of the 2013
Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances released Thursday, which
documents a sharp decline in working class living standards and a
further concentration of wealth in the hands of the rich and the super-rich.”
*
"The American
phenomenon of record stock values fueling an ever greater concentration of
wealth at the very top of society, while the economy is starved of
productive investment, the social infrastructure crumbles, and working
class living standards are driven down by entrenched
unemployment, wage-cutting and government austerity policies, is part of
a broader global process."
*
"A defining
expression of this crisis is the dominance of financial speculation and
parasitism, to the point where a narrow international financial aristocracy
plunders society’s resources in order to further enrich itself."
Americans,
Learn From The Yellow Jackets: Stop Running And Start Fighting Back
In
France, the Yellow Jackets (or “Gilets Jaunes” in French) have rushed into the
streets in massive numbers. They are not protesting cuts in the generous
entitlements. They are not throwing fits because they fear
losing one-month paid vacations. The fight is about the increased
fuel taxes—exorbitant taxes on top of the
already high cost of fuel.
But it’s
more. The Macron government,
an aloof, elitism regime, is pushing a globalist, pro-EU agenda, one
which is crippling the quality of life for working Frenchmen, especially in
rural areas and small towns. Mass
migration, bureaucratic wrangling, massive crime and unemployment with
minimal police presence are raving the country. Sadly, this is history
repeating itself as farce. Like now, Western and Northern
France rebelled during the French Revolution. The bloodthirsty
Jacobins, lead by cat-like Robespierre, seized power from the French
King, but their so-called reforms in the name of social
justice ended up hurting the very working people they claimed to care about.
The
unrest is also targeting the inflexible, unaccountable EU
bureaucracy. Belgian Yellow Jackets are protesting the main
offices in Maastricht and Brussels. Europeans have started to realize that the
federalization of the continent is not working out as they had hoped. A common
currency, a common market has turned into communistic micromanaging. The
economically stronger countries are expected to carry the costs of the
fiscally weaker nations. The central
planners want open borders, cheap labor, and the resolute silencing of any
disagreement to their plans. A federalized Europe is not working out.
A Frenchman cannot run to Portugal, Spain, or Italy to escape the moral and
fiscal ruin of his home country. French voters have no choice but to fight back
for their rights and dignity in their home countries.
France’s
Yellow Jacket revolt is spreading into the Netherlands as well. The Dutchmen
are just as animated, but less violent, expressing pent-up outrage over similar
issues: excessive taxes, open borders, but also a stifling culture of political
correctness. This subtle anti-free speech tyranny has inhibited a healthy
exploration of difficult issues, but has hindered public safety. Islamic
militants among the teeming masses of refugees are overwhelming Europe,
undermining the tenuous social fabric of the Western World and bringing rampant
acts of terrorism in their wake. Islamic preachers call publicly for full-on
conquest Europe, the imposition of Sharia law, and with it the casting out of
freedom, the democratic process, and civil rights for all. However, law-abiding citizens face criminal penalties for criticizing
Islam, Allah, or for calling out the violent tendencies advocated for in the
Koran. This injustice cannot stand any longer, so the people are taking to the
streets.
Even in
Canada, a small yet growing contingent of Yellow Jacket protests are gathering
in different urban centers, including Calgary, Alberta and
Ottawa, Ontario: the federal seat of the national government. They
are protesting Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax scheme. They
are also rising up against Trudeau’s lax defense and border control policies.
Seven conservative provincial premiers are pushing back against the
federal government’s insistence on taking in large numbers of Middle Eastern
refugees, but refusing to pick up the costs for this program.
Throughout the
Western World, people are clamoring for the freedom to speak out
against Islam, against the aggressive secular agenda invading their
schools and the government. In general, they are
forcefully denouncing the rogue cult of
progressivism. As the taxes and dead bodies pile up, as the
degradation of the public square becomes more prominent,
the citizens are pushing back.
Contrast
these European uprisings with the United States. Instead of
fighting big statism, Americans are fleeing their home
state in droves. Californians are in mass exodus, including
members of my own family. If they don’t like the blue
state bureaucracy, American citizens enjoy the luxury of moving to
a red state. And yet, this intra-migration process is hitting a
brick wall. Some reliably red states have been
trending blue over the last ten years. After Election
2018, progressives are targeting more of them.
One
contact from New Mexico just witnessed this Democratic
resurgence. The lone Republican Congressman, Steve Pearce, lost
his bid for governor, and his seat flipped blue (likely due to
voter fraud, but no one’s fighting it). “I am planning on moving out
of here,” she told me. But I had to ask: “Where do you plan to
go?” Arizona suffered some Democratic wins. Wisconsin and Michigan will
have Democrats installed in statewide offices next
year. Republicans still control those state legislatures for now, but
for how much longer? Even ruby-red Kansas just
elected a Democratic Governor. Another friend (who had relocated
to the Sunflower State) expressed shock and disdain, even though he enjoys
the much lower cost of living. “Kansas City is getting more liberal now. The
cancer is spreading everywhere!” Yesterday, a Townhall columnist
wrote a steadied piece on the full-on
Democratic takeover of Virginia in the last
decade, too. I visited there last year—it felt like Los Angeles, only
worse. Americans are finding that there are fewer
places where they can flee from state’s oppressive governments.
Americans better learn
the lesson and follow the example of their Yellow Jacket peers: assert
your rights in your home states. Running to Texas is not
the final answer. Texas is combatting a blue
undercurrent already. The seduction of socialism, which gives way to the
specter of communism, has possessed the minds of college students there as well
as in California, Oregon, and Washington State. Don’t flee, fight back, Americans. It’s
time to Make America Great Again, not just find a redder state to retire
in.
The
Founding Fathers didn’t pull up stakes and flee west of the Appalachian
Mountains when the British Empire exacted higher taxes while denying the
American colonists’ equal representation in parliament. If American
citizens don’t like what they see happening at the local level or the state
level in their home states, they need to start fighting back, because there are
fewer places to run to.
Another day, another horror in America: Five children killed in
Youngstown, Ohio, house fire
11 December 2018
Daybreak Monday brought news of yet another horrific tragedy in
the United States. Fire officials in Youngstown, Ohio, confirmed that five
children had been killed, and their 26-year-old mother, America “Amy”
Negron-Acevedo, severely injured after fire engulfed their home late Sunday
night.
Negron-Acevedo has been transferred to the MetroHealth Burn
Center in nearby Cleveland. She survived the fire by jumping out of a second-floor
window. Residents on the block were alerted to the fire as Negron-Acevedo ran
down the street, injured, screaming for help to save her children.
The five deceased children have been identified as Aleysha
Rosario, 9; Charles Gunn, 3; Ly’Asia Gunn, 2; and Brianna and Arianna Negron,
one-year-old twins. Two of the children were found dead by firefighters who
rushed into the house at 434 Parkcliffe Avenue, while three died later at the
hospital.
According to neighbors, the family had only been living in the
house for less than half a year. Negron-Acevedo works for Century Container, a
plastic container manufacturer half an hour’s drive outside Youngstown, where
the average wage for a shift supervisor is less than $13 an hour. Even if she
were making this amount, at full time it would have placed Negron-Acevedo and
her children well below the poverty line, leaving her with the only option of
renting substandard housing.
Two firefighters were injured in the rescue effort, one serious
enough to be taken to the hospital for treatment. Youngstown City Fire Chief
Barry Finley told reporters that the tragedy had also taken a heavy emotional
toll. “It’s extremely hard. We have a relatively young department, and most the
guys have children. So, it hits pretty hard, and the fact that it’s so close to
Christmas hits even harder.”
While the immediate cause of Sunday’s fire remains under
investigation, temperatures in Youngstown fell into the low
20s
Fahrenheit over the weekend. During the winter
months, families often turn to unsafe space
heaters to avoid high heating bills or to keep
warm when utilities have been shut off over
unpaid bills, contributing to a higher number
of house fires.
The tragedy that struck Negron-Acevedo’s family is not an
isolated event. More than 3,400 people were killed in structure fires across
the US in 2017. The majority died in their homes. Earlier this year, a blaze
that consumed a house in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood killed ten
children between the ages of three months and 16 years old. In that case, there
were no functional smoke alarms in the home to alert the sleeping children to
the fire.
Whatever the specific causes and
circumstances, such tragedies arise out of
definite social, economic and political
processes.
Youngstown is one of many cities across the Midwest that has
been devastated by four decades of deindustrialization and the destruction of
tens of thousands of decent paying jobs in steel mills and machine shops. Since
the day in September 1977, known as Black Monday, when the Youngstown Sheet and
Tube Company announced its closure, the city’s population has been reduced by
more than half.
Today, nearly 40 percent of Youngstown’s residents live below
the poverty line. A 2014 report found that more than 63 percent of children in
the city were growing up in poverty, placing the city just behind Flint,
Michigan, with the worst child poverty rate in the country. The destruction of
jobs and the explosion in poverty that followed the economic crisis a decade ago
has fueled an opioid overdose crisis across the US, with the region around
Youngstown a center of the crisis in Ohio. Last year, 245 people died of drug
overdoses, an increase of 23 percent over the previous year.
With its property tax base wiped out by factory closures and
ensuing depopulation, the city has struggled to cover the cost of basic social
services, including the fire department. Earlier this year, the city removed
one firetruck from service and demoted nine firefighters in order to cut their pay,
as part of an effort to cover a projected $15 million budget shortfall for the
city over the next five years. “We all have to tighten our belt to be more
fiscally responsible with the city’s money,” Fire Chief Finely told media at
the time.
That such sums could constitute a financial crisis is exposed as
absurd by the fact that Ohio’s richest man, Les Wexner (net worth $6.1
billion), owns a $100 million yacht, enough to pay the salaries of more than
2,200 firefighters for an entire year. The vessel, which goes by the name Limitless, is one of the
world’s largest private superyachts, specially built in 1997 by German ship
maker Lürssen for Wexner, the chairman and CEO of L Brands corporation
(Victoria’s Secret).
Indeed, limitless sums are made available for
the whims of the corporate and financial elite,
while basic social services are decimated—
with the inevitable consequences.
The destruction of Youngstown has been overseen by Democrats and
Republicans at the state and local level, with the city being hollowed out over
the last 40 years under the control of Democratic mayors. Nationally, under
Obama and now Trump, there has been an intensification of the assault on the
working class. Whatever their conflicts, both parties agree on the transfer of wealth
from the working class to the rich, while hundreds of billions are allocated
every year to finance the weapons of destruction and war.
The United Auto Workers, United Steelworkers and other unions
have facilitated the destruction of jobs, working hand in hand with the
Democrats. For decades, the increasingly wealthy executives that control these
organizations have collaborated in the decimation of living standards for the
workers they claim to represent.
The social crisis that has ravaged Youngstown and the
surrounding Mahoning Valley is set to worsen as GM, the largest industrial
employer in the area, is planning to shutter its Lordstown assembly plant just
17 miles west of Negron-Acevedo’s home.
GM’s plans to close Lordstown along with plants in Detroit,
Michigan and Oshawa, Ontario, will be a death sentence for countless workers
and their children, tearing apart families and social networks. For the
company’s executives, board members and investors, the social inferno they are
preparing will pad their bottom line, while funneling millions to wealthy
investors.
This underscores the crucial importance of the meeting hosted
by the World Socialist
Web Site Autoworker Newsletter on Sunday, which adopted a
resolution for the formation of rank-and-file factory, workplace and
neighborhood committees, independent of the unions. The resolution stressed
that the consequences of the job cuts would be felt far beyond the workers
immediately impacted. The struggle of autoworkers to defend their jobs and
wages must be connected to a broad struggle of the working class.
Such tragedies as that which befell the Negron-Acevedo family,
and many more like it, are entirely preventable. Billions must be allocated to
construct modern fire-resistant housing, including the use of smoke detectors
and much more advanced technologies, along with an infusion of funding into
fire departments. A safe and affordable house is a basic social right that must
be guaranteed to all.
To secure these rights, the working class must be organized in a
political struggle that takes direct aim at the wealth and prerogatives of the
financial aristocracy. Capitalism, which ensures the inalienable right of the
rich to profit, must be overthrown and replaced with socialism, the
reorganization of society on the basis of equality and social need.