Despite structural differences between countries, protests are a reminder of what makes demonstrations so powerful Since mid-September, students in metropolitan France have been mobilizing against poor conditions in public high schools. The mouvement lycéen has spread from a single campus in a Parisian suburb to include high schoolers and university students nationwide, with public sector workers, climate activists, labor unions and everyday people joining in solidarity. The unifying concerns have largely c…
“Those who make peaceful protest impossible make violent revolution inevitable.”
I can assure you the actual liberals in America don’t want violence either. Don’t look now, though, because the violence is already happening regardless of what the liberals want. Looks like the kids in France saw that they were headed for an American situation and decided they would make sure the powers that be know they won’t stand for it. They also looted supermarkets to feed the homeless in the process.
When you are sold on an idea and words that quickly turn out to be little more than bait to sucker you in, how long are you willing to take the words of comfort while things around you actively get worse? Everyone has a breaking point. The French happen to be on a hair trigger all the time, sure, but I don’t think these kids are wrong for demanding what they were promised.
The vocal support may be going to Le Pen, but clearly there’s a significant plurality who actively won’t stand for that authoritarian bullshit. Only time will tell where France lands.