For two hundred and fifty years the French have been revolting. Still today, hardly a week goes by without some group somewhere coming out "en greve" (in dispute). And having voted in a President with a mandate to "reform" France, the streets once more have become the battlefield of the Syndicalists - organised labour unions - and the Left generally who don't much like the smell of reform. CGT union leader Bernard Thibault sports a 1960's student haircut, which says it all. So its out with the red flags, on with Che Guevarra T-shirts, charge up the bullhorn and start the Bob Marley tape.
For visitors this is not quite the harmless fun it might seem. The CGT, CFDT and FO unions regularly halt public transport. Frequent "Days of Action" like the one pictured here, stopped most trains running for a day, and the cancellation of many flights. The students were protesting too, but exactly who that harms is difficult to say, as in Douglas Adam's wickedly satirical national philosophers strike - "ouch! that'll hurt".
These are unashamedly political strikes, aimed at the government. "Job insecurity", the "suppression of public sector posts", protecting public sector pensions, maximum working hours, everything is on the agenda, and direct action is seen as the way forward. After the street protests, TV airtime galore to spokesmen for the big unions, comments from the PS (Socialist Party) the PCF (French Communist Party) still going strong, and if that's not left enough for you there is the New Anti-Capitalist Party. Oh yes, and the Greens. And the Environmentalists. And the Anti-globalisation lot. And the nurses and doctors, the firemen, the postmen, the university "Profs", its hard to find anyone who isn't protesting. Protesting is what it means to be French.
Notice is a legal requirement for these street protests so newspapers and TV are an essential check to ensure your travel plans don't end up in tatters. And nowadays they have to provide at least a "service minimal", meaning that maybe one in three or one in four trains will run. Unless its May 1st, inaccurately referred to as "labour day", when nothing runs.
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on Mar 26, 2009
