This is not only about the rising cost of living. The protests are lead by high school and university students demanding better school infrastructure, more teachers and shorter days (French high-schoolers regularly spend 10 hours per day at school, 4.5 days per week).
Not true, this is the appearance they give themselves but it is mostly the extreme left side, kind of Communists like, that are trying to create tensions in wake of next year elections in France.
Just so you have a clear image of what is going on, you have pseudo student demonstrating asking for better infrastructure that are burning down their schools. Even brand new support modern schools...
Not true. There aren't 800.000 "kind of Communists like" in France. That is such an obvious lie.
Also: whole schools went to the demonstrations. Pupils and teachers (because they don't like to work in marode buildings either). And we cannot claim that all the pupils and all of the teachers of a school are communist.
But yes, the communist party in France has about 43000 members. But we nation has 66.7 million people. So we shouldn't give this few radicals more influence than they deserve. If anything, the populist right is way more influential and numerous.
Somehow in France the demonstrations have a way higher likelihood to get violent than e.g. in Germany. Just think of the yellow vest demonstrations. Also, the french police is known to be violent, too. Perhaps they don't follow the de-escalation strategies the german police often (not always!) follow? In France, demonstrators lost a hand, teeth, an eye due to police force. That's certainly not as bad as the 9220 people killed by US police in 2024. But for Europe, it's a quite stark expression of government violence.
We must also understand that the majority of journalists are like the Demonstrators from the Harry Potter universe. They life of emotions. Often they artificially create them. I mean, why show a picture of 20000 people just holding up posters --- in a language you won't often be able to read --- if I can show a picture of 4 people torching down a car?
I'm certain I'm going to be criticized, but President Bukele seemed to solve the situation pretty well in El Salvador. Declare martial law, round up the instigators, the gang bangers, the trouble makers, and now El Salvador has peace and quiet.
But can't do that in France. The right to protest violently seems to be in their DNA: Le droit de manifester — même si cela paralyse la nation ?
"but President Bukele seemed to solve the situation"
It is far from solved. They don't round up all the instigators, but all they don't like. At https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/service/laender/elsalvado... (travel warnings from the german ministry of foreign affairs) Germans with tattoos are advised to cover them. Because the El Salvador police forces will persecute them. They don't need a court or evidence, for them anyone with a tattoo is a criminal.
If that is your definition of "solving", then I don't know.
IMHO such a thing can be a first step of a solution. Social reforms, resocialization etc are mandatory follow up steps to reach a stable, non-violent society.
I agree that we should vote with our wallet, but protesting high cost of living (as opposed to taxes, or some specific policy) seems pretty stupid to me. Down with reality!
In the case of US protesting the increase in costs of living makes total sense: the goal is Dems to take over Congress and use the congressional powers to do whatever it takes to open the Strait of Hormuz (including making reparation payments to Iran and allowing Iran to toll ships going through the Strait).
The problem is much more complex. Yeah, France with it's generous holidays, substantial pensions combined with a young retirement age has allowed their boomer population to live above its means. However, this is true for most of the western world.
The other problem is that the era of cheap money has come to an end, and France, like many countries, hoped that they could kick the can down the road a little bit longer so that, by then, the boomers would be dead. Without the biggest cohort (which is the one that votes the most) you could do reforms to lower lavish pensions, make them pay a bit more for healthcare, ... .
So now, with an oil shock that is slowly spreading to other facets of the economy France is fucked because it can't lower taxes to give their population more breathing room because of the above mentioned problems. Italy for instance, has now a lower yearly deficit than France and can borrow at considerably cheaper rates and It used this freedom to lower taxes on fuel since Hormuz closed.
Plenty of younger french people intend to keep the relatively low retirement age long after the post war generation has passed on. Politicians far from the centre in either direction are of similar views on this.
Funny how this applies to the US government, its spending, and treasuries. An entire economy that lit $40T of other people’s money on fire for nothing. At least the handout is coming to an end.
What other person? The US pays its debts. Or rather it's we young Americans who will be paying our grandparents' debts. But, you know. Nana was worth it.
When your entire intellectual model is based on famous quotes, you eventually run out of ideas.
But besides, it’s not about a unique economic malaise. The USA has plenty of affordability problems too. The French, and in particular their students, are just very good at direct political action.
The community of countries that are "good at direct political action" (i.e. rioting) include places like Bangladesh, where an unholy alliance of Islamists and college students recently overthrew the government. Not a group you want to be in.
Of course the French like protesting more than most others but any country is susceptible to this: if the majority feels like their standard of living is slipping, a lot of them will start to consider proteating and violence.
This is not only about the rising cost of living. The protests are lead by high school and university students demanding better school infrastructure, more teachers and shorter days (French high-schoolers regularly spend 10 hours per day at school, 4.5 days per week).
If they want better school infrastructure, why are they burning schools down?
Because other normal forms of protests have been ignored for years.
Not true, this is the appearance they give themselves but it is mostly the extreme left side, kind of Communists like, that are trying to create tensions in wake of next year elections in France.
Just so you have a clear image of what is going on, you have pseudo student demonstrating asking for better infrastructure that are burning down their schools. Even brand new support modern schools...
Not true. There aren't 800.000 "kind of Communists like" in France. That is such an obvious lie.
Also: whole schools went to the demonstrations. Pupils and teachers (because they don't like to work in marode buildings either). And we cannot claim that all the pupils and all of the teachers of a school are communist.
But yes, the communist party in France has about 43000 members. But we nation has 66.7 million people. So we shouldn't give this few radicals more influence than they deserve. If anything, the populist right is way more influential and numerous.
Somehow in France the demonstrations have a way higher likelihood to get violent than e.g. in Germany. Just think of the yellow vest demonstrations. Also, the french police is known to be violent, too. Perhaps they don't follow the de-escalation strategies the german police often (not always!) follow? In France, demonstrators lost a hand, teeth, an eye due to police force. That's certainly not as bad as the 9220 people killed by US police in 2024. But for Europe, it's a quite stark expression of government violence.
We must also understand that the majority of journalists are like the Demonstrators from the Harry Potter universe. They life of emotions. Often they artificially create them. I mean, why show a picture of 20000 people just holding up posters --- in a language you won't often be able to read --- if I can show a picture of 4 people torching down a car?
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I'm certain I'm going to be criticized, but President Bukele seemed to solve the situation pretty well in El Salvador. Declare martial law, round up the instigators, the gang bangers, the trouble makers, and now El Salvador has peace and quiet.
But can't do that in France. The right to protest violently seems to be in their DNA: Le droit de manifester — même si cela paralyse la nation ?
"but President Bukele seemed to solve the situation"
It is far from solved. They don't round up all the instigators, but all they don't like. At https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/service/laender/elsalvado... (travel warnings from the german ministry of foreign affairs) Germans with tattoos are advised to cover them. Because the El Salvador police forces will persecute them. They don't need a court or evidence, for them anyone with a tattoo is a criminal.
If that is your definition of "solving", then I don't know.
IMHO such a thing can be a first step of a solution. Social reforms, resocialization etc are mandatory follow up steps to reach a stable, non-violent society.
Yes but in France it is the people who send the leaders to the guillotine.
Riots a year before french presidential elections where a convicted populist right-winged candidate has a real chance to mess up European cohesion.
I wonder who will benefit from that...
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I'm not from France but I see the same thing everywhere. We need to vote with out wallet. If a bag of chips is $10, don't buy it.
Where is a bag of chips $10?
I agree that we should vote with our wallet, but protesting high cost of living (as opposed to taxes, or some specific policy) seems pretty stupid to me. Down with reality!
Hopefully the actual protests are more coherent.
In the case of US protesting the increase in costs of living makes total sense: the goal is Dems to take over Congress and use the congressional powers to do whatever it takes to open the Strait of Hormuz (including making reparation payments to Iran and allowing Iran to toll ships going through the Strait).
Is as simple as that.
Airport
Fair point, but that’s not really about inflation or the cost of living.
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When your entire economy is based on government-assisted handouts, you eventually run out of other people's money.
Why do you talk about North-Korea?
Very whataboutist view.
The problem is much more complex. Yeah, France with it's generous holidays, substantial pensions combined with a young retirement age has allowed their boomer population to live above its means. However, this is true for most of the western world.
The other problem is that the era of cheap money has come to an end, and France, like many countries, hoped that they could kick the can down the road a little bit longer so that, by then, the boomers would be dead. Without the biggest cohort (which is the one that votes the most) you could do reforms to lower lavish pensions, make them pay a bit more for healthcare, ... .
So now, with an oil shock that is slowly spreading to other facets of the economy France is fucked because it can't lower taxes to give their population more breathing room because of the above mentioned problems. Italy for instance, has now a lower yearly deficit than France and can borrow at considerably cheaper rates and It used this freedom to lower taxes on fuel since Hormuz closed.
Plenty of younger french people intend to keep the relatively low retirement age long after the post war generation has passed on. Politicians far from the centre in either direction are of similar views on this.
Hatred of work unites the country
Funny how this applies to the US government, its spending, and treasuries. An entire economy that lit $40T of other people’s money on fire for nothing. At least the handout is coming to an end.
https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/historical-debt-out...
https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-debt-does-the-us-have/...
https://www.ustreasuryyieldcurve.com/
What other person? The US pays its debts. Or rather it's we young Americans who will be paying our grandparents' debts. But, you know. Nana was worth it.
When your entire intellectual model is based on famous quotes, you eventually run out of ideas.
But besides, it’s not about a unique economic malaise. The USA has plenty of affordability problems too. The French, and in particular their students, are just very good at direct political action.
The community of countries that are "good at direct political action" (i.e. rioting) include places like Bangladesh, where an unholy alliance of Islamists and college students recently overthrew the government. Not a group you want to be in.
If that’s a good thing, you’d think they’d have better results in their society…
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Of course the French like protesting more than most others but any country is susceptible to this: if the majority feels like their standard of living is slipping, a lot of them will start to consider proteating and violence.