In Switzerland, the international Friday for Future strike movement was massivelyfollowed in view of the political and social context. The demands made, by theirradical nature, have imposed the climate emergency in the public debate andrehabilitated the strike as a mode of action. At present the movement isstruggling between institutionalization and difficulty in working with certainunions. ---- Since 2019 in Switzerland, several very mobilizing social movements,for the local context, have emerged. While the claims and key themes of thesesocial movements vary (anti-racism, feminism, climate cause), they all have incommon the fact of being on the margins of already existing politicalinstitutions and organizations and of mobilizing young people in particular, inhigh school and at the university, without necessarily any political organization.These movements have come to energize a rather smooth political and socialcontext since the 2010s and the breathlessness of the alter-globalizationmovements, by their radicalism and their modes of action. One of these mainsocial movements is the Strike for the Climate (GdC). Inspired by the schoolstrikes of Greta Thunberg, it is part of the international Fridays for Futurestrike movement. The movement took hold in the first months of 2019, with strikesin Swiss-German primary schools and then spread to the rest of the country and toall levels of education.Revitalize the social contextThus, various regional groups were created to organize, on certain Fridays,demonstrations and decentralized school strikes, mobilizing up to more than100,000 people in the various large cities of Switzerland on March 15 and 16,2019. Since then, only the " Women's strike " of June 14, 2019 managed to dobetter by bringing together 500,000 people. From green growth, which is extremelyundervalued, however, to social ecology, via eco-socialism or even more reformistpositions, the movement clashes with the radicalism of its demands, despite thepresence of first-time activists and activists, and heterogeneous internal currents.They are four in number " and a half " : reduction of carbon emissions to zero by2030, recognition of the climate emergency, defense of climate justice, on anational and international level, and the cessation of all financing for energy.fossils. The " and a half " demand being the break with capitalism and thecurrent political system that these different demands imply. Even if it onlyconcerns schools and universities, the GdC has revived the strike as a conceptand mode of action, although it has been particularly restricted and attacked bythe Swiss bourgeoisie.Through its great capacity for mobilization, the movement has managed to firmlyestablish the issue of the climate crisis in public debate, to legitimize andpopularize radical notions such as " degrowth " or " climate justice ". Inaddition, the "climate strike" helped to highlight the role of Switzerland in theglobal capitalist system, and its disproportionate responsibility for globalemissions.Disproportionate responsibilityThus the strikers have multiplied actions against both public and privatefinancial institutions, denouncing their thirst for profit in defiance of theplanet, and the imperialist nature of their activities. Multinational companiessuch as Glencore, or the trading of raw materials, which directly participate inthe plundering of raw materials in the global South have been strongly decried,Switzerland being a real hub in this area.The funded pension system in Switzerland has led to the establishment of enormousfinancial reserves which amount to 1,000 billion Swiss francs for 8 millioninhabitants. The majority of these funds were invested in one of the mostprofitable areas, fossil fuels. Swiss pensions are at the center of current tradeunion debates because of the system of pseudo co-management of pension funds. Themajor trade unions are struggling to convince of their own desire to change theirrelationship to the productivity and returns of the said funds with strongactions to deal with the climate emergency.Eventually, the referendum campaign against the new CO2 law in 2021 dentedmilitant forces.By positioning themselves for a refusal, legitimate with regard to thelegislative text, the militants and militants battling on the institutionalground partly demobilized. Many did not recognize themselves in thisinstitutional approach. The strength of the GdC was its active participation inconcrete struggles on the ground and not its establishment as a "classic"political actor in the Swiss-style debate. Even if the law was refused in apopular vote, with the help of opportunity from ultra-liberal circles who thoughtit was going too far, it was a Pyrrhic victory that did not allow the movement tomobilize more fully, nor to consolidate.More recently, a platform, the Strike for the Future, was created by activists toextend the movement to the world of work. The goal is to integrate the unions inthe climate fight and to call for a general strike to implement a popularecological transition.Faced with these new forms of mobilization, the unions are struggling to fullyfind their place. Exchanges have been organized in particular on constructionsites, between construction workers and climate strikers. Even if this approachis commendable, it is clear that deep differences emerged during these meetings.The fear of losing one's job, the continual drop in income due to inflation andunsuccessful salary negotiations constitute the most present and mobilizing fearin the Swiss workforce.The Strike for the FutureDuring the mobilizations of May 1, 2022, by trying to give as a national sloganthe reduction of working time, the unions tried to incorporate the climateemergency into this historic demand. Even if links exist between the two fields,the approach appeared as an alibi at a lower cost. The disparities in theincorporation of trade unions in climate struggles are extremely dependent onregional realities. If the cantons experience real coordination and a desire tocollaborate fully, in the majority of the country, it is indifference that reignsbetween these political components.UCL Romandiehttps://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Suisse-l-urgence-climatique-rehabilite-la-greve-et-l-action-directe_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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