France: A tidal wave of youth

Crushed by price hikes, humiliations, social rollbacks of every kind, and authoritarianism in every sphere, the French people seemed to be ending this decade of Macronism drained and listless. Like a boxer knocked out cold, staring blankly ahead, waiting for the final blow.

Then came this uprising, sparked in high schools in the Paris suburbs; it spread like wildfire, turning the end of the presidential term into a nightmare for the powers that be—and a dream for all those who are still somewhat alive and yearning for a better future.

Tuesday, 6 October, was a test: following the spontaneous high school blockades, would the crowds turn out? Would the high school movement link up with other sectors? The answer is a resounding yes.

The streets were filled with people young and old—students, wage-earners, parents, and teaching staff—all there to show that high school students do not stand alone against state violence and to back their cry of revolt. According to the CGT, at least 450,000 people took to the streets: 100,000 in Paris, 30,000 in Toulouse, 25,000 in Lyon and Lille, 20,000 in Nantes, 15,000 in Strasbourg, 8,000 in Brest… and in dozens of other towns and villages.

State terror was intended to force the youth back into line. It failed. Even more impressive, according to the high school student union, over 1,800 schools were blockaded on October 6—representing nearly two out of every three public high schools. Similarly, 90% of universities were closed; excluding overseas territories and Corsica, 100% of universities in mainland France came to a standstill. This is unprecedented in the last 20 years. The movement taps into something very deep within an entire generation.

A remarkable fact: this movement did not erupt “against a reform” or in “reaction” to a specific event. It has its own agenda, and that is precisely why it has the potential to go far. It is an offensive movement aiming for victory.

Finally, the marches were generally very calm, with the exception of a few cities. This calm is surprising given the extreme brutality unleashed in recent days—violence that could easily have sparked widespread upheaval. For three days, the government and the media had been predicting chaos for today.

In the end, it was a massive yet disciplined wave of protest. Yet now, the government can boast that it has quelled the dissent and that the movement is running out of steam. Ultimately, whether things explode or not, those in power will always have a narrative that suits them: when anger burns hot, it is criminalised; when it is peaceful, it is dismissed as defeated. Our methods of action must therefore be based on effectiveness rather than on our enemies’ opinions of the struggle. High school and university student organisations are calling for another day of mobilisation on Thursday, October 8, to ramp up the pressure.

Machine translation

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