An Analysis of Protest Coalitions in France. The Fight Against Aids and the Unemployed Movement in 1997-1998The aim of this article is to study coalitions between social movements. It is based on an analysis of the alliance between two organizations active in two different social movements: Act Up and Agir ensemble contre le chômage (AC !). This coalition was forged in the course of two protest episodes in 1997: first, with the rallying of some members of AC ! to the appeal "Nous sommes la gauche" ("We are the left") launched by Act Up when faced with the dissolution of the French National Assembly; and second, with Act Up's joining the unemployed movement in December. While this alliance crystallized around the call for a guaranteed minimum wage, it did not have the same meaning or involve the same stakes for both groups. Consequently, the analysis of coalitions should focus more on the real differences, rather than on the seeming similarities, between such allied groups.
