Posted on 03/20/2006 6:04:18 PM PST by wjersey
It's youth against the establishment in France as university students battle a planned labor market reform. Just like in 1968, the revolt threatens to paralyze the entire nation. With a sluggish economy, though, France desperately needs labor market improvements.
The demonstrations on Saturday began largely peacefully. Over a million people took to the streets of France to voice their disapproval of labor market reforms pushed through parliament and set to go into force in April. Though much bile was reserved for the man most responsible for bringing about the reform -- Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin -- the demonstrators were largely peaceful. At the beginning at least.
By the time the last protesters had gone home, the streets in parts of Paris were once again trashed with cars still smoldering, shops burned out and dozens of protesters receiving treatment in local hospitals. Some 59 were arrested in the French capital -- with police seen beating youths before the famed Sorbonne University in Paris before throwing them into vans -- with others landing in jail elsewhere in the country. On Sunday, France's labor unions began threatening a general strike and others warned that clashes between French youth and police would only get worse should de Villepin refuse to accommodate the students' concerns.
At first glance, the demonstrations recall what happens whenever the Grande Nation tries to catch up with social change. The government enacts a reform, protestors take to the streets to voice their opposition, and in the end, the government backs down from its position. But this time, it may turn out differently. This time, it looks as though Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin may have little other choice than to push through the contentious legislation, even in the face of fierce opposition.
(Excerpt) Read more at service.spiegel.de ...
OMG! The French have a core?!
Although such schemes can achieve some popularity with currently employed people, France is demonstrating that widespread rioting can occur among unemployed young people.
Unions that buy into these schemes need new leadership just as quickly as the Moslem radicals can be brought in to "change some heads".
Folks are worth their pay, or they're not. The entire employment system should reflect that simple standard.
Ribbet
It's a typo or mistranslation,
"Student Riots Shake France to the Cork"
They've gone way past swooshing the whine in the glass this time!
Well that explains that. But who are these "youths" that must be accomodated or else? Could it be those Amish again? Quakers? Who?
They've only just begun...
As I wrote before on another thread, Americans should emailing their resumes to French companies, to get some of these jobs shipped over here.
The unions at GM in the US have similar contract provisions. GM is going to go bankrupt, restructure, and survive. GM is not a country though.
The only important info Americans need to know is if their investments are protected, and if the "white" French youth are finding common cause with the maghrebs youth, or if they are in conflict.
The machinations of the student groups today at the Sorbonne will determine the future of France's leadership cadre. If the Muslim Students don't find common cause with the "white" French, a decade from now there will be open warfare over the high hanging fruit in France.
An employer should be able to fire an employee for any reason. Good, bad, or none. It is your job to make yourself a marketable commodity.
NOTE: I was a member of a French chatroom for several years. Used lots of mother wit and MORE THAN 1 computer translator.
Gad. They actually say that stuff.
It's them darn Albino Aleutians I tell you !
Leftist "white" anti-capitalists finding common cause with muzzies? Could that be a real possiblity?
Yes, this is still late winter/early spring.
Usually the best rioting is on summer evenings. I don't Chirac is looking forward to warmer weather.
The Huegonots risen from the dead to exact revenge!
Or the sprinkled Methodists, one or the other.
...which you predicted last week if I recall correctly.
What seems lacking in all of this is any better plan coming from the trade unionists and the Socialists. If there is one out there I'd love to know what it is. But if this situation has descended to the point where I am compelled to defend the likes of Dominic de Villepin then it's gone too far.
It just happened in municipal elections in Holland. I'll gamble a chance if the last generation of "me first" white French in Paris metroplex require the Muslim vote to maintain the white priviledge for another few election cycles, they will throw away all freedoms of the ancien regime to make sure they can keep the gov. bureacracy in white hands, along with all the gov bennies and summers on the Riviera.
The French are stupid and impossibly arrogant.
I'd rather be a bum living in a cardboard box than work for Frenchies or Canadians.
"A major historical shift is in the air"You bet it is: The Second French Revolution. And it promises to be even more terrible than the first--which is saying a lot!
"Suddenly the French are afraid -- afraid of losing their jobs, their pensions and their social net."To hell with their jobs, pensions, and social net! They're about to loose their heads!
"The country is...plagued by...self-doubt."Well they won't be in doubt much longer!
"First came the voting public's rejection of the EU constitution...and then the...immigrant violence... ...suddenly dead serious...are fears of an uncertain French future.""Dead serious" is right!
In a matter of decades, France will be an Islamic theocracy.
The Second French Revolution is imminent.
Most of Western Civ couldn't handle another 100-year war.
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