Martin Barnay in Sidecar:
France has a long history of young people intruding on politics. Gaullism, heralded by one youth movement, eventually ran aground on another. In November 1940, thousands of students marched beneath the Arc de Triomphe crying ‘Vive de Gaulle’, at a time when the General and his Free French movement commanded the support of only a small minority. In May 1968, student revolt set off a social crisis from which de Gaulle’s authority never recovered. Less than a year later, after losing a referendum, he was gone. Another youth rebellion is now threatening to open up a crisis of legitimacy for Emmanuel Macron’s beleaguered presidency, as he closes in on his final months in office.
The unrest began in mid-September at a high school in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, where demonstrations by pupils and teachers erupted over staff shortages and deteriorating conditions. Protests soon spread to the rest of the country. By the start of October, roughly a third of lycées had been affected by disruptions or preventative closures. Parents, university students and trade unionists have since lent their support to the movement, with demonstrations in all of France’s major cities. The government’s reflex was repression.
More here.
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