Today as we were packing up, one of my students asked me if I was coming to work tomorrow. Yes, of course, I replied, why wouldn’t I?
He said that a lot of teachers and other workers aren’t going to their jobs tomorrow, because there’s going to be a mass protest. He told me that some of his teachers have already told their kids not to show up for their classes tomorrow, since they won’t be there.
An hour later, I checked my email and saw an alert from the French embassy about it, warning me to stay away from city centers and to make plans that involve staying indoors.
So what are these kooky Frenchies protesting against this time? Turns out it’s something I’ve been keeping up with for a couple weeks now: the age of retirement.
In the States, most people retire at 66 or 67, which is when Social Security kicks in. In France, your federal pension kicks in after you’ve completed 42 years of work, or once you turn 62. Once you turn 65, you get a federal allowance regardless of the number of years you worked.
Sounds nice, yeah? Better than our system, for sure. French people do save for retirement, but it’s not a do-or-die rush like it is for Americans. French people simply expect their government to take care of them comfortably once they are too old to work.
But President Macron and his Cabinet are looking to change that. He’s trying to bring the retirement age up two years to 64… by 2030. Good heavens, the horror!
He tried to pull this same stunt a few years ago, but with an even steeper increase to 67 by 2025. The riots over that measure were enough to get him to shelve the idea entirely. Now he’s back at it with a new proposal designed to sway unions and leaders in social movements to his side. Unfortunately for him, Macron is one of the most hated men in France. The man could propose free puppies and ice cream and folks would still call for the guillotine.
As of this writing, tomorrow is being called “Black Thursday” because of the inevitable blackout of services and businesses. Buses, trams, trains, metros, and airports will be down. Construction projects will halt. Grocery stores will be closed. And I’m still gonna go to work.
I will write the second half of this post tomorrow, after the protests, with any new details.
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First class of the day was cancelled with a text from the teacher: Hi Allison, no class since I am attending the protest!
It was snowing, so I took the bus. The streets were buzzing in the same way they did during the winter festival. I saw clusters of people in yellow vests biking and walking towards downtown, some carrying posters, some carrying flags. Even though the first class was cancelled, I still had other classes to teach, so I put the protests out of my mind.
Halfway through the day we all get text notifications that every single metro line has been shut down, and most of the trains. Across the country, a total of 1.12 million protesters took to the streets. It was around 30,000 in Lyon alone. Of course, they set many things on fire and fought hand-to-hand with the police.
Something I want to make clear is that these protests don’t make the country, city, or neighborhood unsafe. France has protesting down to an exact science. The Friday after this nation-halting strike, the metros were back up and people were going about their lives. There was and is no panic about lost time, dangerous streets, or terrorism. I say that specifically because I saw that the forest defenders in Atlanta were accused of terrorism by the police chief for doing much the same thing that the people of France have done over the past few days.
France is feeling squeezed. What with the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis swooping in to threaten a European recession, and public opinion in the toilet for Macron, everybody has something to be mad about. Something I’ve been hearing a lot recently: “we’ve beheaded your kind for less than this.”
Macron has a get out of jail free card here, and it’s something the trade unions have been requesting he do for a while: raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy. Some of the richest people in the world are French citizens subject to French taxes, and that money would pull the national pension fund out of the red and probably fend off the energy recession. But before Macron was a politician, he was an investment banker for the ultra-rich. The bonds forged in that season of his life weigh him down significantly — he has powerful friends he needs to please.
I don’t see him levying taxes on his owners/friends, but I also don’t see him completely ignoring the will of the people. French politicians are afraid of their voters in a literal and immediate way (which is something I think we should import to the States).
I don’t know how this will turn out, but I do know one thing: somebody will protest about it.
Bises,
Allison
Flan in France 