
French: 
Un an après les manifestations des gilets jaunes en France, 
La population est de nouveau dans la rue et cette fois-ci 
pour protester contre la nouvelle réforme des retraites 

English: 
The reform of the pension system is the product of an ultra-liberal
and ultra-capitalist society.
People are unhappy, because the yellow vests
first drew attention to financial insecurity. 
Getting to the end of the month is still just as difficult, if not more so.
The government has lost the battle of ideas.
The police are there to protect the government. 
It's not a police for the people anymore.
A year after the gilets jaunes protests started in France,
people are on the street again and this time
it's to protest against the new pension reform

French: 
que le gouvernement souhaite mettre en place.
La nouvelle réforme des retraites a été rédigée dans l'idée de 
minimiser les dépenses du gouvernement. 

English: 
that the government wants to put in place.
I'm a teacher. To give you an idea,
my union has calculated we could lose up to 800 euro from our pension.
We're also fighting for our children's futures.
I'm not just here about my retirement.
We've put this young guy in power and he's killing off the rights
and values of our country and our people.
They expect you to work even more, to make more of an effort, 
to tighten your belt, while the bosses of the wealthiest companies 
keep getting their profits.
It's outrageous - so basically, we're saying no.
There needs to be space for everyone in society -
you can't have one section crushing everyone else under it.
It's unacceptable.
On the front of our town halls and our schools,
the words 'liberty, equality, fraternity' are written.
We've lost that. And it's an absolute disgrace.
The new pension reforms were drafted as an attempt
to minimise the government's spending.

French: 
En plus de repousser l'âge de la retraite pour beaucoup de postes en France, 
les économistes ont calculés une perte d'environ 32.4% 
en caisse retraite dans le secteur publique comme conséquence.
A la suite de cela, le secteur privé perdrait en moyenne 30%. 
Ce qui fait approximativement une perte de 500€ par mois 
pour un employé au salaire mensuel de 2000€.
Nous avons parlé à la CGT, la confédération syndicale la plus ancienne 
et la plus forte en France, 
afin de mieux comprendre la situation actuelle.

English: 
As well as increasing the retirement age for many jobs in France,
economists calculated a loss of an average of 32.4%
in retirement money for the public sector as a consequence. 
The private sector's workers would lose an average of 30% as a result. 
That's approximately €500 lost per month
for an employee with a monthly salary of €2000. 
We spoke to the CGT, France's oldest 
and most powerful confederation of trade unions,
to understand more about the current situation.
This reform affects all workers.
Today, pension benefits are calculated either on the basis
of an employee's 25 highest paid years in the private sector,
or on an employee's last six months salary in the public sector.
With the new points-based system,
pension benefits will be calculated
based on the entire span of a person's working life.
People who have been out of work for periods of time,
because of unemployment or illness or disability,

English: 
will not be able to accumulate many points
and so will have very low pensions.
Women are one of the groups that will be
most affected by these reforms.
In the January protests, a video showing a group of women
sporting the aesthetics of Rosie the Riveter
and criticising Macron's politics went viral.
We spoke to one of them
to understand the roots of the movement.
The lyrics were rewritten entirely
to address the issue of the pension reform,
particularly its impact on women.
I'm here. 
The song speaks about women who work
and who would get nothing at the end of their working lives
because they have not had complete careers,
even though raising and looking after children is a job in itself.
All that counts for nothing in the end. 

French: 
Les femmes sont un des groupes les plus 
affectés par ces réformes. 
Dans les manifestations de Janvier, une vidéo montrant un groupe de femmes 
arborant l'apparence de Rosie la riveteuse
et critiquant la politique de Macron s'est répandue de manière virale. 
Nous avons parlé à l'une d’entre elles 
afin d'en savoir plus sur les origines de ce mouvement.

French: 
En France, plus de 80% des emplois à temps partiel sont occupés par des femmes, 
qui sont aussi six fois plus susceptibles de changer de travail dans leurs vies, 
ayant ainsi des périodes de contributions faibles ou non-existantes 
à leur propre retraite.

English: 
In France, over 80% of part-time jobs are held by women,
who are also six times more likely to change jobs during their lives,
and hence to have periods of no or low contributions
to their own pensions.
I think the reform of the pension system
is a reflection of a patriarchal society.
Because firstly, it's the product of an ultra-liberal
and ultra-capitalist society.
Capitalism is a system of domination,
which is very close to patriarchal structures.
Patriarchy is the first oppression.
It results from an increasingly capitalist system,
which shows less and less solidarity,
and allows the will of a small group of people
to determine the fate of the rest.
Anger and consciousness
is spreading for a large part of the population.
And people want to say no, they disagree,
they want to mobilise,
they feel this reform and this government are no longer valid.

English: 
The pension protests are in addition to more than a year
of yellow vest movements that reflected
intense sentiments of anger and injustice.
The police responded with force.
In just the first few months of the movement,
more protesters were mutilated by the police
than had been in over 20 years.
In January 2020,
independent journalist Lelly Gijabet was hit by a water cannon
while reporting on a firefighter demonstration.
The demonstration started relatively well.
Towards the end, we arrived at Place de la Nation.
A barricade had been erected by the police.
At one point, a man in a wheelchair was in front of the barricade.
I went forward to get him back
and I was hit by a water cannon less than five metres away.
At the moment of impact, I lost consciousness.
The firefighters took me away to safety.

French: 
Les protestations contre la réforme des retraites se sont ajoutées à plus d’une année 
de mouvements des gilets jaunes qui reflète 
un grand sentiment de colère et d'injustice. 
La police a répondu avec force.
Juste dans les tous premiers mois du mouvement, 
plus de manifestants ont été mutilés par la police 
que dans les 20 dernières années.
En Janvier 2020,
la journaliste indépendante Lelly Gijabet a été frappée par un jet de canon à eau
lorsqu'elle filmait une manifestation de pompiers.

English: 
I lost all my equipment.
I realised I had no stabiliser, no phone.
I had cracked ribs and - my face, since they shot me in the face,
my mask had shattered on my face.
The same protest bore witness to many other examples
of extreme police violence.
Taha Gueffaf, an independent photographer, 
was taken to hospital after a grenade was thrown in his direction.
I was hit by a piece of the new GM2L grenade in my leg,
as if they shot me in the leg. I'll show you.
This piece went four centimetres deep into my leg.
At first I didn't realise I had been hit.
I only realised it when I felt the blood dripping down my leg.
My shoe felt soaking wet. 
So I looked down at my leg
and saw my trousers were drenched in blood.

French: 
La même manifestation a fait de nombreuses victimes 
d'extrêmes violences policières. 
Taha Gueffaf, photographe indépendant, 
a été transporté à l'hôpital après qu'une grenade ait été lancée dans sa direction.

English: 
The police should be there to protect us
but I felt like I was really in danger.
 I've been a target for the police many times before and now,
I'm not able to feel comfortable anymore if the police are around me.
I was always told that people in uniform are there to protect us
and I believed it.
The police are there to protect the government.
It's a state police, they're no longer there to keep the peace.
To maintain order in the protests,
the French police have notably used the LBD-40
commonly referred to as the Flashball.
Despite being considered non-lethal,
the accounts of protesters have shown a whole different reality.
By March 2020,
16 months after the beginning of the yellow vest movement,
over 19,000 of these bullets had been shot.
Amidst international pressure,
the French government decided to replace its old grenade
with one that supposedly would not be as harmful,

French: 
Pour maintenir l'ordre pendant les manifestations, 
la police Française a notamment utilisé le LBD-40, 
couramment connu comme le flash-ball. 
Malgré que cette arme soit considérée non létale, 
les rapports des manifestants ont démontré une toute autre réalité.
En Mars 2020,
16 mois après le début du mouvement des gilets jaunes, 
plus de 19,000 de ces projectiles avaient été tirés.
Sous pression internationale, 
le gouvernement Français a décidé de remplacer ses vieilles grenades 
par d'autres étant soi-disant moins nocives, 

French: 
mais étant toujours officiellement reconnues comme des armes de guerre.
La même grenade qui a été retrouvée dans la jambe de Taha Gueffaf.
Et dans la grande majorité des manifestations, le gaz lacrymogène est devenu courant, 
comme a pu l'expérimenter un de nos producteurs lors du tournage
de l'acte quatre du mouvement des gilets jaunes.
En Janvier 2020, les pompiers et la police se sont impliqués 
dans des affrontements majeurs avec des images qui ont choqué le monde entier. 
Nous avons parlé à l'un de ces pompiers, 
qui a décidé de rester anonyme 
par crainte de répercussions potentielles. 

English: 
yet it's still officially recognised as a war tool.
The same grenade that was found in Taha Gueffaf's leg.
And in the vast majority of protests, tear gas has become common
as one of our producers experienced while filming
the fourth act of the yellow vest movement. 
In January 2020, firefighters and the police engaged
in major clashes with images that shocked the world.
We spoke to one of these firefighters,
who decided to remain anonymous
for fear of potential repercussions.
We find ourselves face-to-face with people we work with regularly.
It's only been 30 minutes since the procession left.
A rain of teargas grenades fired in every direction.
Between those and the two water cannons set up in front of us,
we suffered a lot of injuries.
It's unacceptable that today
we see firefighters being beaten up by the police.

French: 
La répression de la police sur les conflits sociaux n'est pas une nouveauté. 
Ce qui a cependant changé est la capacité pour tout le monde 
de pouvoir exposer le comportement violent de la police.
Nous avons parlé à Erick Acoulon, ancien agent de police 
et porte-parole du syndicat "Policiers en colère", 
à propos des manifestations en cours 
et de la violence qu’elles ont engendré dans les dernières années.

English: 
We felt like people they do chemical tests on.
Police repression of social uprisings in France is not new.
What has changed though is the ability for everyone
to expose violent behaviour by the police.
Since the pension reforms were discussed all over the news,
the videos of police violence very quickly went viral on social media.
The government couldn't ignore it because everyone saw the videos.
We spoke to Erick Acoulon, a former police officer
and spokesperson for the police union 'Policiers en colère',
about the ongoing protests
and how violent they have become in the past few years.
That was filmed in the pension reform protests in December. 
I mean, that's just one moment.

French: 
En réalité, sur les 337 cas de violence policière 
qu'a reçu la police interne (IGPN)
entre Novembre 2018 et Mars 2020, 
230 ont été envoyés en poursuite. 
Et d'ici début 2020, seulement deux agents de police ont été condamnés 
avec des peines de sursis n'excédant pas 4 mois.

English: 
What happened before that? What led to that? Why?
The police are human beings.
If the police are going to be brutal...
well, brutal? What has happened just before?
There is brutality here, especially repeated blows.
You have to ask yourself, is there any justification for that?
We don't know what will happen as a consequence.
Are many police punished?
Yes, a lot, a lot. 
In fact, out of the 337 cases of police violence
that the internal police watchdog received
between November 2018 and March 2020,
230 were sent to prosecution.
And by early 2020, only two officers had been convicted
with suspended sentences that did not exceed four months.
It was essential for the government to restore order.
And it was the police who were made responsible for doing so,

French: 
Et alors qu'Acoulon rejette toute responsabilité individuelle 
et tient le gouvernement pour responsable, 
le gouvernement a longuement nié les violences policières.
La réalité dans la rue
diffère complètement de la vision utopique de Macron. 
Dans les 16 mois suivants le début 
du mouvement des gilets jaunes, 
891 cas de violences policières ont été reportés, 
incluant 2 morts, 27 personnes ayant perdus un oeil 
et 5 ayant perdus un membre.
C'est seulement en Janvier 2020, 
après qu'un chauffeur-livreur père de 5 enfants décéda suite à un contrôle de police, 
que le ministre de l'intérieur a enfin reconnu 
que la brutalité de la police suscite des inquiétudes légitimes. 

English: 
and who received orders to use LBDs and grenades.
Today we see only the police being punished -
the police who were simply carrying out their orders -
while the people who gave the orders are innocent.
And while Acoulon rejects personal liability
 and holds the government accountable,
the government has long denied police violence altogether. 
Don't speak about 'repression' or 'police violence' -
these words are unacceptable under the rule of law.
You talk to me about repression, I say it's simply not true.
The reality on the ground
differs massively from Macron’s utopian vision.
In the 16 months following the beginning
of the yellow vest movement,
891 cases of police violence were reported,
including two deaths, 27 people who lost an eye
and five who lost a limb.  
It's only in January 2020,
after a father-of-five delivery driver died following a police check,
that France's Minister of the Interior finally recognised
police brutality raised legitimate concerns.

French: 
Toutefois, la manifestation des pompiers s'est déroulée seulement quelques semaines plus tard.
La violence de l'Etat en France n’est pas une nouveauté, 
ciblant toujours principalement les minorités ethniques et la classe ouvrière.
En 1961, plus de 200 Algériens manifestants se sont noyés 
après que les policiers les aient jetés dans la Seine.
Les manifestants protéstaient paisiblement 
pour l'indépendance de l'Algérie.
En 1986, Malik Oussekine -
un étudiant-manifestant Franco-Algérien de 22 ans 
a été poursuivi et tué par la police 
alors qu'il criait "Je n'ai rien fait".
Les mois continus de manifestations violentes 
ont aussi laissé leurs traces sur les autorités. 
En 2019, 59 agents de police se sont suicidés, 
marquant une augmentation de 70% sur l'année précédente.

English: 
Still, the firefighter protest happened just weeks later.
This state violence is nothing new in France,
still primarily targeting ethnic minorities and working class.
In 1961, over 200 primarily Algerian demonstrators drowned
as police officers threw them in the river Seine.
The protestors were peacefully demonstrating
for Algerian independence.
In 1986, Malik Oussekine -
a 22-year-old French-Algerian student protestor
was chased and killed by the police
while screaming "I have done nothing".
The continuous months of violent protests
have taken their toll on the authorities too.
In 2019, 59 police officers committed suicide,
marking a 70% increase from the previous year.

English: 
The few police officers who spoke out
against the government's orders
were silenced by their hierarchy.
In 2020, policeman Noam Anouar was suspended
after publicly denouncing
the ongoing police brutality in France's protests.
When you see a policeman deliberately pushing a young girl
or hitting an old person,
I'm sorry but I can't defend that.
The current government is only able
to hold onto power thanks to the police's actions.
If the police goes out on the street
like they did in 2016, then it's over.
The French have now been on the street for more than a year,
and the often discriminatory catch-and-beat techniques
used by the police to control these movements
are part of a long history of state violence and repression.
But none of this violence has affected
the will of popular resistance
in a country of which entire system was built
on the aftermath of a revolution. 
From year to year, more and more milestones are being set

French: 
Le peu d'agents de police qui ont dénoncé 
les ordres du gouvernement 
ont été réduits au silence par leur hiérarchie. 
En 2020, le policier Noam Anouar a été suspendu 
après avoir dénoncé publiquement 
la brutalité continue de la police pendant les manifestations en France.
Les Français sont maintenant dans la rue depuis plus d'un an, 
et les techniques violentes de maintenant d'ordre souvent discriminatoires
utilisées par la police pour contrôler ces mouvements 
font parties d'un long passé de violence et de répression de l'Etat. 
Mais aucune de ces violences n'ont affectées 
la volonté de la résistance populaire 
dans un pays qui a eu l'entièreté de son système fondé 
sur les acquis d’une révolution.

English: 
for this kind of attack on democracy. 
Freedom is disappearing day by day.
Laws that threaten our liberty are passed day by day.
Despite all these inconveniences,
the population remains strongly against these pension reforms.
In the battle of ideas, the government has lost.
And now we feel like its only weapon left is repression.
