PARIS — It won’t be remembered as the seizure of the Bastille,
or the days of July, 1830, or the days of June, 1848, or the Paris
Commune of 1871, or any of the other anniversaries marking the
tumultuous history of French revolutions, coups d’etat, strikes,
and other upheavals that brought down monarchies and collapsed
governments. But on March 28, an estimated one million students and
workers flowed into the streets of 250 French cities. That is far
fewer than the 10 million students and workers who shut down France
in the days of May, 1968, an event which is frequently compared to
the current disturbances. The events of March 28 will be no doubt
remembered, but perhaps not in the way the student protagonists
envisioned.
As events unfolded in Paris, sporadic violence erupted in the
streets on Tuesday, particularly in the Place de la Republique, but
was contained by the intimidating presence of thousands of French
CRS (internal police) who encircled the “casseurs” (smashers) and
fired paint balls, apparently an innovation in crowd control
technology that allows police to identify in advance those slated
for arrest. One demonstrator whom I could see appeared to get a
shot of tear gas in the face, but otherwise arrests were
accomplished without incident and very professionally. Interested
spectators of the currently volatile French political situation
would be well advised to avoid venues under CRS quarantine.
The protesters aimed to derail the “first employment contract,”
a measure which would permit employers to hire workers under the
age of 26 on a temporary, two-year basis after which they could be
dismissed, or hired, permanently. The government of Prime Minister
Dominique de Villepin views this as a way around France’s costly
labor markets, which require virtual lifetime employment for new
entrants to the labor force. With unemployment among the young near
23 percent, one would think that this modest gesture to open up
jobs for recent college graduates would be greeted as a friendly
assist on the way to a career. But no. French student
demonstrators, some of whom come from France’s elite universities
and are hard-wired into the commanding heights of the French public
bureaucracy, think the new law sanctions legalized insecurity for
life, “slavery” according to one demonstrator’s sign, or worse:
“It’s like facing the guillotine for two years.” I replied to this
young lady that she had far too long a memory for her years, thus
ending a budding relationship.
To those who frequently visit France as I do, the most lasting
impression I take away from the events of March 28 is the seemingly
unshakeable hatred, distrust, and cynicism of these young people
towards the free market system. That is hardly new in the French
political culture and has always found a home among Jacobins and
19th century utopians colluding in unusual ways. But to believe
that a two-year provisional labor contract will lead to insecurity
requires the suspension of all economic logic. It assumes that
employers hire people in order to fire them; that thousands of
euros invested in training an employee can be simply tossed aside
in an ongoing cycle of hire and fire. “My life is full of risks,”
complained one student at the Place d’Italie, the staging point for
the march uptown to the Place de la Republique. “What kind of life
is an insecure life,” he added.
When French political, educational, and media elites — on both
the left and the right — repeatedly characterize flexible labor
practices as “brutish jungle economics,” or “AngloSaxon turbo
capitalism,” it’s small wonder that a generation of brainwashed
students have come to associate “les patronats” (bosses) as a
French reincarnation of Dickens’ Scrooge.
NOT SURPRISINGLY, THE CLIMATE of mistrust is constantly reinforced
by the French media, particularly the three major, government-owned
television channels. Channel Five’s nightly panel of experts
features, as a representative of the student union group (UNEF), a
stylishly dressed and well- coiffed Parisian radical, Ms. Julie
Coudry, who has logged in at least ten years since her student
days; a professor of economics from the Sorbonne with lots of time
on his hands since his university has been occupied by students for
the past three weeks; and a representative of France’s second
largest trade union, M. Francois Chereque. Also present is a
representative of MEDEF, France’s largest association of employers
who supports labor reforms, but is treated with slightly less
respect than the network would accord to al-Qaeda. Left off the
panel is a virtually unknown group (unknown because it’s
under-reported) calling themselves “Students for the Liberty to
Study.” They audaciously proclaim a right to attend colleges that
are now disrupted. They represent students who want to take exams
and start careers. They won’t be heard on Channel 5, nor on any
mainstream, government-owned media outlet.
The discussion proceeds in the normal polite, free form, but
no-holds-barred French manner until Professor Nicholas Barre had
the temerity to suggest that there are other successful welfare
states, citing Scandinavia and the Netherlands, none of which
provides any employment guarantees. The discussion quickly shifts
to other subjects. Professor Barre clearly understands what he just
introduced into the conversation — a dissent from the French model
of solidarity.
Bookstores in France are full of bestselling volumes exploring
the French malaise, the decline of France, and various other end of
the world scenarios — at least for France. Few, if any, of these
writers have the courage to discuss what’s wrong with France, and
offer up shop-warn remedies that skirt the most fundamental issues.
Yes, the unelected Senate should be abolished. French governance is
indeed hamstrung due to the ambiguous division of powers between
the President and the Prime Minister. More power should devolve on
local governments so that not all contentious issues are forced
onto Parisian governmental elites.
France today, however, is far beyond the point of jiggling with
processes and institutional reform. France is now the first country
in the modern world to consciously adopt referenda democracy as its
means of making collective decisions. Referenda in France don’t
necessarily take place in the voting booth; they can also take
place in the streets where results are measured not only by numbers
but by the intensity of those demonstrating for the cause.
The March 28 manifestations are a lesson about what is to come
in France. It was not widely reported (I saw a half-inch column in
Le Monde) that the leading student union mobilizing the
students (UNEF) was voted out of its leadership position by a
confederation of student groups. Some of those student groups
opposed the anti-youth contract position of the organization that
wrongly portrayed itself as the leading voice of progressive
students.
But what matters is what happens in the streets.Vive la
France!
