la rue [qui] dicte sa loi à la République?
So life in Paris has somewhat come to a standstill. Its a strike again. Nothing unusual about that. I learnt in my student days at Sciences Po that that is the way in which people get the government to listen to them. Anban hui nahin ki streets mein utar aaye juloos ley kar, aur kar di shuru zoron shoron sey naareybaazi! As far as les affaires interieures go, it seems to work fairly well. The country's foreign affairs policy is a different matter though that we shall not go into here.
The topic of discussion is the latest strike that's holding the Villepin government hostage these days. They say its been one of the biggest mobilization du peuple in a long long time. The Guardian quoted a union official saying it was one of the biggest since France's fifth republic was founded in 1958. I thought it was important to tally that with another newspaper. So I turned to le Monde, to be regaled by almost a week's frontpage news on les manifs contre le CPE. I thought I should check how the Indian newspapers were covering the story so I went over to the Hindu website to find them saying similar things as The Guardian and Le Monde. Now you could say that I've been reading only Left-leaning newspapers and so my views may be biased. Fair enough, I don't deny that.
What I do want to point out is something slightly different though. It is not so much about how many people came out in the street this time as compared to the last time or the time before as it is about the dilemmas that it throws up in my head. When I first started reading reports about the strike over CPE, it made me think of the May day celebrations in France. 1st of May is a big thing in Paris, at least that's how I remember it, sitting at a McDonald's window (pardon my political incorrectness at the choice of location) facing the Place de La Republique when I was twelve and thirteen. It is this whole rituel politique of getting out into the streets to clamour for your rights and/or against laws that fascinates me. This is not to say that I have not complained about the many metro strikes when they did happen. Yet there is something about the people in Paris (of course, I don't mean all of them) and the way they are able to pressurize the government enough to get a law passed/ withdrawn. Even if at times it is not in their best interests ( I am thinking of the pensions issue here but it is very very complex and with no easy solutions and so I'd much rather refrain from getting into that here).
The protests over the issue of CPE also made me think of the Rozgar Adhikar Yatra that happened last year in India. It was again a group of young students and an alliance of Left parties and mostly left-affiliated people of various hues who travelled across rural North India (if I am not mistaken), talked to peasants and workers and campaigned for the Employment Guarantee Scheme Bill that was to be taken up by the Parliament. They also had sit-in strikes/ dharnas and mass rallies and marches to the Parliament. It was quite a big thing and newspapers did give it coverage, I'm not saying that they didn't. But somehow it never acquired the proportions that a labour isue like CPE has with young people in France. I wish I could see more young people coming out in the streets in India, in solidarity, or even feeling that such issues matter to them. And why don't they matter to them? Okay, very big question, I'll leave it in question form for now.
It also made me ask myself: is it time to celebrate? While here I am saying things like wow, this is so amazing, look at all these people protesting in the streets, this is real democracy (very very provocative/ loosely framed, I know), la voix du peuple, there are people for whom the battle is not won. My question is: what is the point at which a person separates her roles as researcher and individual with Left-leanings? Or is that all gibberish about researchers needing to have "distance" from the matter of their study. Portelli would say it is. I don't know yet. Then again for someone who mostly sits and reads about such things as people's protests in newspapers or in books or researches on other people's activist activities but doesn't much protest or participate in activist mobilisations herself the issue is perhaps a non-issue. Do you sometimes feel guilty of not getting out and joining the crowd? I think I do.
Okay, in all this brouhaha about activism and politics, in case people haven't noticed enough, what is going on??? Villepin in Sarkozian garbs and Sarkozy speaking Villepin's langage, non mais vraiment, this is the height of political opportunism, who would have thought Nicholas Sarkozy would say lets put the bill temporarily on hold and have a chat with the protestors...and that for Villepin its become a prestige issue, more about the upcoming Presidentielles than anything else, I think. Why does it remind me of Juppe and the near political death he suffered over another such bill that provoked mass protests (different from the scam in which he got caught, of course)? Correct me if I am wrong.
Title of the post inspired by "Il y en a assez que la rue veuille dicter sa loi à la République, nous voulons montrer qu'il y a une légitimité dans ce pays, cette légitimité, c'est la majorité, l'UMP à l'Assemblée nationale", a ajouté Guy Geoffroy (Seine-et-Marne) in Le Monde, http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-734511,36-755445@51-725561,0.html
posted by the mad perfectionist @ 12:33 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
nice post! bulls eye!!
It seems to me it's a plus-ca-change, etc... situation (the more things change, the more they sound the same). Yet again, the simplistic assumptions that the protests are from 'the people' versus 'the government', cloud the issue over (I am talking about the title of your post, not what you argued, as a typical example of French media newspeak). The protests are motivated by the interest groups which govern French politics. Like in the US, where lobbies have a far greater role in policy than any democratic procedure, French politics has its Leviathan, namely the so-called Trade Unions and civil servants (fonctionnaires). Sarkozy would never want to be seen to take a hard line against them. They are far more powerful than a bunch of 'yobs' in a banlieue (even if the 'yobs' constitute the majority of the city).
The French media loves to use lukewarm metaphors of the 'people' speaking in 'one voice', when the demonstrations have been organised by a trade union which stands to gain from it. The language used by the press in France dulls the imagination. The streets seem to be talking of themselves. A booming voice which rises out of a street, calling upon The State to respect its Rights.
Everybody is an equal citizen in the French republican model of democracy, but some are definitely far less equal than others. You're equality stands as long as
a) You have some influence in one of the mainstream political parties
b) You are a civil servant
c) You work a job which can easily bring the whole system to a halt within days if you strike e.g. train drivers
d) You have contacts from a Grande Ecole
Of course, to qualify for any of these in the first place, you should preferably live in Paris, have a 'Grande Ecole' French accent, and being Christian doesn't do you any damage. But don't show it openly like the Muslims do, just make sure those around you know about it. Otherwise it would be unfair religious discrimination in a secular state.
The French love to talk about Democracy and Rights till the cows come home, but the country has not changed its fundamental values, developed under Napoleon. It has added other systems on top of this, such as the mafia that is the civil service, which is a power structure of its own, running parallel to the government's.
In 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' the three world powers have to keep a war going in order to keep the people happy with their dire living conditions. Likewise, the public services, the trade unions and the government in France hold an ongoing war (usually the other two against the government) to give an illusion of choice, of struggle, of change. Nothing changes. The bill may pass, it may not. French society will not change, and banlieues will be set ablaze in another ten years from now. As per usual.
A little off topic, but looking at what is happening in France from the other side of la Manche, I am intrigued by the French way of doing things, and the priorities of the people who protest to get their own way, not to mention the successive governments who periodically attempt to change something, only to back down as per usual in the face of protests. For a while it looked indeed as though de Villepin might manage to pull off something quite spectacular - but no, true to form the CPE bill was not taken forward.
Looking at the issue of economic reform itself, an article I find fascinating when comparing the France and the UK is this - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4105412.stm
In my mind, it sums things up very well. We go to France because it reminds us of how things used to be here. And yet the French come here in order to find work. I can find few better examples of why the European Union is such an excellent concept.
At the same time, I wonder - how well is France prepared to current changes which are happening in the world at the moment? How long can the security, the way of life (wonderful as it is) and standard of living be preserved in the face of increasing competition from elsewhere in the world? It is perhaps telling that Peugeot have chosen to close their factory in Coventry, presumably on the grounds that it is cheaper to do so than it is to close a factory at home. How will France cope if – as seems more than likely given the changes which have occurred in the UK in the past 30 years – similar changes start taking place in France, too? What would happen if Peugeot were to close a French factory? Plenty of protests no doubt…but then what would be the end result?
Here is the link again -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/
from_our_own_correspondent/4105412.stm
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