Protests at schools and universities: the French government is responsible for the wildfire

French media describe a government that was completely taken by surprise by student protests that suddenly flared up. And now, out of panic fear of a spreading revolt, sees no other solution than brutal repression. In addition, there is a rhetorical escalation with the conspiracy theory that Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his “ultra-left” mastermind La France Insoumise (LFI) are undoubtedly to blame for the chaos.

But: Nothing is as predictable in French politics as social conflicts in the context of the budget debate. And this is all the more true this fall: Due to national debt of more than 3,400 billion euros and the requirement to limit the deficit for 2027 to 5 percent of economic output, the government wants to make savings of around 50 billion euros. But she rejects appropriate taxation of the richest. On the other hand, compromises are made on all loans. Also at the expense of the alleged priorities such as education, social and health spending.

This threatens to worsen the problems that have been accumulating for years in many schools and universities. The young people also understand this, who must already have the feeling that they are a “génération sacrifiée” (sacrificed generation) who will have to pay for the damage caused by their predecessors in the future. The fact that certain allowances for parents of school children or students were reduced or that teachers were denied cost-of-living compensation had to seem like a provocation.

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But the government acts as if it didn't know that its budget policy was setting the tinder in the schools, which is now turning into a wildfire. Anyone who accuses her of this and shows solidarity with the legitimate protesters is suspected of being an arsonist from the perspective of the authorities. Of course, it is much easier to intimidate young people with massive repression and to denounce the left-wing LFI as an accomplice of the chaos-makers than to present a reasonably socially fair state budget.