Are You Happy To Be in Paris?
Image Courtesy: Afar
The French are trendsetters. Fashion, art, music—you name a current cultural storm, and there’s likely to be a Frenchman smirking from afar at their marvelous creation.
Their influence does not seem to be limited only to the arts, and other nations around the world can learn from the French tradition of making global headlines.
Since January of this year, French citizens have been making their voices heard. President Emmanuel Macron recently decided to move forward with his plan to raise the national retirement age from 62 to 64, citing the increased life expectancy of the country as a catalyst. After that announcement, unrest spread across the country, and it has only grown since. In March, Macron and Prime Minister Borne invoked an article in the French constitution to allow them to pass the legislation without a vote from parliament, only stoking the fire of the protestors’ fury.
Image Courtesy: BBC
While numbers seem to be dwindling among those protesting in France, the effects of the strikes and movements are visible even on an international stage. Sanitation workers, public servants, schoolteachers, and everyone in between have pledged to disrupt the country’s ability to survive until their demands are met. The streets of Paris are littered with garbage, and they have been since before Paris Fashion Week. TikTok users all over the world got to witness the brutal effects of a nationwide strike. Scrolling your feed in early March, you were likely to see your favorite influencer gallivanting around Paris, oblivious to the uprising on their way to their front-row seat at Louis Vuitton or Dior.
Image Courtesy: News19
There is something to be said about the stark contrast between the elites (and their visiting friends) and the middle or lower classes, in Paris especially. While the upper class dines at their favorite luxurious restaurants and samples thousand-dollar handbags, the others are fighting tooth and nail for the right to enjoy life rather than labor through it. Just last week, a group of demonstrators set fire to La Rotonde, one of President Macron’s favorite brasseries in Paris. These kinds of protests are, in my opinion, necessary to force those in charge to pay attention to demands. Parisians will make their voices heard, no matter the lengths they must go to.
Americans have had a history of attempting these sorts of protests with no actual action being taken at the end. In 2020, Black Lives Matter protests took a route similar to the pension demonstrations currently taking place across France, but the demonstrators were deemed “violent” and “disruptive” rather than brave or bold.
On April 14, France’s Constitutional Council will vote on whether to strike down the controversial legislation. For the sake of French democracy, I hope they decide to. The yellow vest protests from 2018 were successful in forcing Macron to end the fuel tax, so precedent makes many hopeful that democratic processes will reign supreme again.
Will the French’s bold stand work out in their favor? As an American, I sure hope so.
Strike Out,
Author: Lydia Coddington
Editor: Noelle Knowlton
Tallahassee