The French Students and the "Status Quo"

The commentary on and coverage of the French student uprising continues to revolve around the seemingly paradoxical notion that the protesters are anti-revolutionaries-- that their goal is to maintain, not overturn, the status quo.

Yet this is neither a very clever nor relevant insight. Why should all young people striving for social justice need to be revolutionary in order to be considered authentic? When Congress passed the PATRIOT Act, it was an affront to the status quo. Should students protesting the loss of civil liberties (assuming there are a few out there) be lampooned as anti-rebels standing in the way of progress?

Clearly, the progressive position needn't always be the revolutionary position; sometimes, it's progressive to preserve. The real question is: are these students actually progressive? And that's a tough one to answer.

From an average American perspective, their cause is absurd. We haven't raised our minimum wage in nine years, many of us are thinking, and they want a law that would eliminate the chance of getting fired over two years?

It's also hard--especially after watching the inspiring walk-outs of thousands of immigrant youths in California who are clamoring for basic protections and economic rights-- to discount the fact that Villepin's law will likely help France's direly underemployed immigrant youth population get jobs.

But, as the International Herald Tribune's William Pfaff eloquently points out, these students are fighting against something much less banal than this law. Their real cause is against "capitalism sauvage"-- "the system in the advanced countries" that "has been rejigged since the 1960s to take wealth from workers, and from the funding of government, and transfer it to stockholders and corporate executives."

They are clinging dearly to the idea of France, in which "egalite" truly is a cornerstone of the national political identity. They are resisting a world of weakened social protections and a system that values efficiency over humanity-- they refuse to beleive that the American capitalist model is closer to utopia than what they currently have. Most of all, they are unwilling to submit to the TINA (There Is No Alternative) mentality.

So are these students progressive? I haven't decided where I stand. It is possible that they are simply picking the wrong law to protest-- especially in light of the fact that France has the worst unemployment rate in Europe. They may be fighting a windmill that will cause their countrymen (especially the poor immigrant population) great economic harm, at least in the short run--- and it's hard to consider this progressive. But it's also clear to me that any protest against the suffocating TINA mentality, any collective display of mass popular will in an age of increasingly consolidated power, really ought to be considered progressive.

Now that the consitutional court has upheld the law, another enormous protest is planned for this coming Tuesday. Again, I haven't made up my mind yet, and I want to talk to these kids firsthand. I'm heading to Paris tonight.

Comments (12)

1. It's not the globalization from American shores most Europeans are worried about, Rio - it's the competition from Asia, mainly China. And the United States should be just as worried about it, if not more so, because your manufacturing industry - the traditional backbone of the US economy - is often in worse shape than ours. I remember the WTO summit in Genoa, five years ago. There, president Bush was preaching the gospel of removing all trade barriers but as soon as he'd returned to the US, he introduced a 30% tariff on all foreign steel in order to shelter American companies from European competition.

   Now, while it is true that Western European workers are often over-protected, the way France has gone about changing the status quo is foolish to say the least. The French government proposes a complete lack of job security for a period of two years, but only for the young. This, as SGF is right to point out, runs counter to one of the ideological cornerstones of the French republic: equal treatment of all citizens. These protests were to be expected, therefore, and 'Euro-socialism' has little to do with them, because this particular problem doesn't apply to the rest of Europe - it applies to France alone.

   In a broader context, 'Euro-socialism' has many different faces. The most regulated country in Europe is Norway. This is big government if ever you saw it: the state involves itself with just about everything. Yet Norway, according to many surveys, is one of the best countries in the world to live in - and based on my own experience, I'd have to agree. All education is free in Norway, for instance, and all healthcare is free ('free' as in 'paid for by the government,' obviously). The Norwegians have enough funds to look after this generation and the next - and even the generation after that. Yet despite all the official 'socialism,' Norway is a capitalist country and Norwegians have a tremendous work ethic. True, Norway has oil and natural gas, but the Swedes don't, and they have managed to build an impressive 'socialist' welfare state as well. The same goes for Finland, the most highly developed and well-educated country in the world.

   Most Americans don't realise that there are many important cultural divides in Europe. We have our own Mason-Dixie Line in Western Europe, for instance, and it devides the German cultures from the Latin cultures. In Latin countries like France, Italy and Spain, cronyism and corruption are an important part of (political) life. People are used to take care of their own in those parts, so it's no coincidence that it's the young people of France who should get the short end of the stick - the older generations have the political power and they will look after themselves.

   Posted by Amsterdam69 at 03/31/2006 @ 04:21am

2. Mr Graham-Felsen gets it...and he even admits it....

   "It is possible that they are simply picking the wrong law to protest-- especially in light of the fact that France has the worst unemployment rate in Europe."

   He just can't ACCEPT it.

   Posted by Mask at 03/31/2006 @ 06:28am

3. The point behind this law is not what American media are saying. French bosses aren't going to fire bad workers, they're going to fire everyone. French bosses have decided that training a new worker every two years is worth it. Essentially, entry-level jobs in France will become two-year temp positions. After you age out of the young worker category, you'll have nothing.

   Posted by jhoffman at 03/31/2006 @ 08:10am

4. All education is free in Norway, for instance, and all healthcare is free ('free' as in 'paid for by the government,' obviously).

   Who pays the government, I wonder? Oh, that's right. That would be the tax-payers. I guess, maybe it's not free, except for those who aren't paying taxes.

   Posted by usc1 at 03/31/2006 @ 08:20am

5. I'm curious...

   Just what is the ethnic make up and religion of the "French students" that are uprising?

   Todd

   Posted by Oksportsguy at 03/31/2006 @ 08:33am

6. Sam,

   Although most students in France cannot really explain their malaise, a few things are crystal clear : we are all fed up with our archaic and inefficient political institutions, and with their product : an inept bunch of conniving politicians.

   The major problem is that the french youth has been kept deliberately in political ignorance : we are the irresponsibles cretins unable to comprehend the major issues of the world.

   No wonder most of my brethren are against globalization, because it has always been presented to us as the catastrophy preventing politicians from fixing our problems (isn't that an interesting way of keeping power using a handy scapegoat).

   However, most students are aware that reform is necessary, but it caanot come from our actual elites, puffy aristocrats who believe they are right in spite of the people.

   Elias Student of Paris X Nanterre

   Posted by Elias at 03/31/2006 @ 08:43am

7. Obviously a lot of folks in Europe look at how well the U.S. works for the majority of it's citizens (Katrina being a symptom), and say no thanks - we want our social contract. So the French students and unions along with many others hit the streets to say no, and far away across the ocean we in the U.S. grab our ankles and smile and call the gutting of our society the innovation of the market - why can't the rest of the world get on board?

   Posted by Suttree at 03/31/2006 @ 11:03am

8. Who pays the government, I wonder? Oh, that's right. That would be the tax-payers. I guess, maybe it's not free, except for those who aren't paying taxes.

   Posted by USC1 03/31/2006 @ 08:20am

   Try to read a little closer next time, dude. Norway has a wealth of oil and natural gas, as I wrote. Plus, a hefty percentage of the taxes comes from the sale of alcohol and tobacco - which everybody is free to consume (or not to consume) at their discretion. The Norwegians use their resources wisely, for the benefit of all.

   I'm curious...

   Just what is the ethnic make up and religion of the "French students" that are uprising?

   Todd

   Posted by OKSPORTSGUY 03/31/2006 @ 08:33am

   This may be difficult for you to believe, in light of recent events in France, but these protesters really are (mostly white) students and not disgruntled Arabs from the banlieu. Hell, those Arabs are unemployed and living in ghettos anyway, so it's not as if they have a lot to lose. Most of them would probably be in favour of this law, because it would give them the chance of some employment, where there is none now.

   No, these students are worried that this law will make it impossible for them to have a real career and job security. They get singled out for job insecurity, while the older Frenchmen remain safe in their jobs. Then, by the time they reach an age where this law no longer applies to them, they have to compete on the labour market with younger people who can be fired at a moment's notice. It's hardly fair.

   @Elias: good luck changing the French political system - you'll need it.

   The first thing the French (people as well as politicians) have got to accept, is that they have to give up the idéfix of France as an agricultural society. Sure, it's very romantic and nostalgic, but it's only hurting the country.

   Posted by Amsterdam69 at 03/31/2006 @ 11:18am

9. That comment displays a complete lack of understanding of labor dynamics. In the 25 years I spent in Senior Management in corporate America, NO Employer ever thought that turnover was a good thing. It costs you too much in productivity because of the inefficiency of a new employee. That is just the first premise of turnover as undesirable. Yet it by itself is a sufficiently strong motivater, that management books and seminars are filled with strategies on how to reduce or eliminate turnover.

   Posted by LVLIBERTY1 03/31/2006 @ 11:16am

   In theory, sure, you're right. But in my 13 years as a business journalist I've found that most managers don't often behave according to management theory. Yes, turnover is bad, they'll all agree - but, damn, they have targets to meet. That's where business theory and business practice clash. For one thing - and this has become a real management mantra - managers are constantly looking for ways to reduce costs; recruiting younger, less experienced and therefore cheaper employees is one important way to do this, with instant financial effect. As for productivity: with most economies in the West changing from industrial into service economies, measuring productivity is becoming ever harder. And most managers certainly aren't capable of figuring out how well - or how poorly - their workforce is performing, because they haven't got the faintest idea what the people they are supposed to be leading actually do for a living. If it were up to managers to do the work, nothing would get done, because there are hardly any managers who possess the skills to produce things - goods or services - which the market wants.

   Posted by Amsterdam69 at 03/31/2006 @ 11:43am

10. You are right when you talk about the status-quo. One thing that no one seems to notice in France is that the students are really doing a revolution precisely because they are fighting to integrate the system! It's crazy when you think about it. It is the opposite of what it looks like. http://francoamericanviews.blogspot.com/

    Posted by clemxf at 04/02/2006 @ 12:02pm

11. I am disappointed to read Sam G-F uncritically repeat neoliberal economic bullshit.

    In almost all the coverage of the protests (most egregiously at the New York Times), reporters have surreptitiously snuck in neoliberal conventional wisdom about how liberalizing workforce regulations will solve unemployment.

    For one thing, this is in the reporting, not in the op-eds. That is a big problem, because it is opinion snuck in as fact.

    Second, there are many competing analyses from more progressive economists, and we never hear a peep from them. Instead, all we hear smugly repeated over and over is how these protesting students "just don't get it." What they just don't get is neoliberal propaganda.

    I think the best coverage, oddly enough, has been on Fox. The anchors are such unrepentant free trade fundamentalists that they are open about their opinions and actually get expert advice from non-neoliberals.

    Posted by leftbehinds at 04/02/2006 @ 4:13pm

12. With cronic double-digit unemployment figures, and unemployed at 22% for those in their late teens and twenties, France has to do something to lower these numbers.

    Many businesses in France are reluctant to hire people if the law makes it nearly impossible to fire them. If you ran a business, you would want to see the laws changed.

    Posted by Zeddmen at 04/03/2006 @ 10:23am