Regards, Ivan
Posted on 03/29/2006 12:20:51 AM PST by MadIvan
Far from being revolutionary, the students demonstrating yesterday seem to be conservative: they want to preserve the benefits enjoyed by their parents.
American research underlines just how exceptional the French are in the world today. Alone among the populations of 20 countries surveyed by a team of university researchers, they oppose the free market system.
In China, top of the table compiled in the poll for Maryland University, three people in four (74 per cent) believe the market economy is the best way of securing their country's future. Americans come third after Filipinos and the British, Germans and Canadians all appear in the top 10, with approval ratios of between 65 and 73 per cent.
France, meanwhile, languishes in 20th and last place, after Mexico, Kenya and Argentina, with just 36 per cent in favour.
"I didn't know about the poll," said Nicolas, 20, a physical education student covered from head to foot in stickers expressing his hatred of the first work contract, which is at the root of the wave of protests sweeping France. The contract would allow employers to hire people under 26 but dismiss them without reason in the first two years.
"But I don't think of us as having our heads stuck in the sand. Maybe we expect the state to take better care than other countries of the rights of workers and those in difficulties."
Despite the current revolt against the contract, most French people would probably be astonished to realise how out of step their country has become with the march of time.
Most of the students are demanding the same rigid job security of their parents and grandparents. Other opinion soundings suggest that most young people want, more than anything, to become civil servants.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
No, they will be astonished at how out-of-step the rest of the world is. Until there's a cure for La Gloire there isn't much hope for them.
L
If Segolene Royal, Socialist, is their next President, it's time to break out the Last Rites. With Sarkozy, they have a fighting chance.
Regards, Ivan
Anti-Capitalism is ingrained on the French psyche and has always been present on the Left AND Right. Let us not forget that the vehemently anti-Capitalist Honore de Balzac was a reactionary monarchist.
That does it. The French are Communists.
Sounds like a probationary period, albeit a long one. If an employee, for whatever reason, doesn't work out, the employer can let them go. The government should not be able to force an owner of a private company to pay wages and benefits to an undesirable employee. Oops. Forgot this was about France for a minute there.
Luddites the lot of them.
L
I don't like how the French respond to problems. Any particular problem, they riot and demand the state take care of them.
This is a recipe for chronic instability and an inability to reform when necessary. Societies and governments which do not adapt, or worse, don't have enough realism to know when to adapt, die.
Regards, Ivan
Throwing rocks into crowds of people is a pretty good way to kill someone. So is large scale arson. Why these crimes aren't taken seriously by the French authorities baffles me.
You're quite correct about societies which don't adapt. Unfortunately for the French their society is 'adapting' themselves right into global irrelevancy.
Oh well. The French are going to get an object lesson in the maxim that 'one can evade reality, but one cannot evade the consequences of evading reality.'
Take care Ivan.
L
The French have a congenital knack for symphathizing with mob violence, even if they secretly despise the groups doing the rioting.
France is finished.
when is the election?
I believe it's next year.
Regards, Ivan
"We want our rights, and we don't care how,
We want a revolution, now!
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
"France", That's one of those funny little countries that used to be sort of important, isn't it? It's in Europe, I think. Oh well, who cares? It couldn't be important.
No, you need a proletariet and an exploited working class. The threat of work terrifies them. A good Marxist would see them as a degenerate bourgeoisie living off the labor of others -- perhaps the Islamic underclass!
"But I don't think of us as having our heads stuck in the sand. Maybe we expect the state to take better care than other countries of the rights of workers and those in difficulties."
He doesn't sound very confident though. Maybe there's hope.
There are pro-capitalist, hardworking people in France---but so very many of them leave each year. Britain benefits from many of them. The US is impossible to get into for the French due to our new digital passport laws. But these are the types of immigrants we should all be welcoming: people who have educations, work hard and have a desire to succeed. I'm quite pessimistic about the near term future of France.
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