You are young. A student. And you are French. You are all these things, but most important, you are a revolutionary. Being a revolutionary bespeaks audacity -- the single most worshiped and least practiced political virtue in France. It bespeaks élan and fashionable thinking and being in with the right crowd. Though you are but one revolutionary in an anonymous revolutionary mob, you know in your secret heart that you are the indispensable Prometheus upon which events, France, the very world turns.

And in your hand you grip an imaginary ticket for mischief and public annoyance.

STUDENTS DISRUPT ROAD, RAIL TRAFFIC ACROSS FRANCE

PARIS France, March 30, 2006 (AFP) - More than 1,000 students blockaded a mainline Paris railway station Thursday and hundreds more disrupted road and rail traffic across France in protests against a government youth jobs law.

STUDENTS STAGE WILDCAT BLOCKADES OF ROADS, RAILS

PARIS April 6, 2006 (AFP) - French students blocked road and rail traffic in wildcat actions in a number of towns and cities Thursday as they stepped up protests against the government's youth jobs reform.

It's fun being a revolutionary in France.

Until the fun stops.

DRIVER RAMS CAR INTO PROTESTING FRENCH STUDENTS

PARIS April 7, 2006 (AFP) - A driver rammed into a group of French students protesting in central Paris against the government's youth jobs law on Friday, injuring nine people, police said. Four students were knocked down and one of them was dragged along several metres, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.

Students have been carrying out blockades of roads, rail traffic and industrial sites across France to force the government to repeal its First Employment Contract, which makes it easier to fire under-26-year-olds.

And this:

DEMONSTRATOR STILL IN COMA, POLICE DENY RESPONSIBILITY

PARIS March 21, 2006 (AFP) - A demonstrator who was hospitalised after Saturday's disturbances in Paris over the French government's youth jobs plan remained in a coma on Tuesday, as a row broke out over how he received his injuries. Cyril Ferez, a 39 year-old member of the SUD PTT union, was trampled underfoot in a charge by police against rioters in the Place de la Nation, according to the union.

And this:

WOMAN IN COMA AFTER POST-PROTEST ASSAULT

PARIS, April 6, 2006 (AFP) - A 58 year-old Chinese woman is in a coma after being assaulted by a gang of youths shortly after the end of Tuesday's demonstration in Paris against the government's youth jobs law, police said Thursday.

And then there is this:

SPECTATOR SPORT
The Mob In Practice
PLACE D'ITALIE, Paris April 4, 2006

[Hat tip: Carine; photo credits; S. Ortola / 20 Minutes]

We take a moment to salute the French pompier whose every working day is filled with uncertainties and dangers that no labor contract can protect him from. He simply shows up and does his job at the risk of his own life.

PFFT (What is this?): Revolutionary fun 0 | Rayonnement français 0

Bonjour,

La France une République fatiguée ?
Les USA en Irak:un Empire en pleine forme ???
L 'échec des USA en Irak est total:
-Eradication des Chrétiens alors qu'ils jouissaient de la liberté sous Saddam.
-A la dictature a succédé le pire:la guerre civile.
-l' Iran constatant l' échec complet US en Irak est en pleine montée impérialiste.
-Le Proche-Orient s'embrase:les Occidentaux sont maintenant menacés en Arabie Saoudite etc,etc.
-La Turquie s'apprête à entrer en Irak.
et la liste n'est pas close...
Superbe résultat indeed !

Le représentant Walter Jones s'est excusé platement auprès de la France :parions que le successeur de Bush fera de même si Bush lui-même ne le fait pas...

Good luck for your country in Irak.

Walter Jones, the man behind the "Freedom Fries" re-naming? Early pioneer of French-bashing hysteria?

Damian's spiritual father, en quelque sorte.

Bonjour,

OK, since both of you (or as my friends from NY say “Yous twos”) are here in this thread please explain to me why the French youth are so against these reforms?

Please, no Iraq, Bush, blah, blah, (we can discuss later).

I just do not understand the French youth. I’ve read hundreds of articles on this blog, other blogs and in newspapers about this issue, and I'm dumbfounded!

When I finished my studies, I could not wait to get a job and start working. I could not wait to start doing something that interested me and get money for it. I do not understand why the French youth would not have this same excitement.

Secondly, there are very few (almost none I would say) people who start out working for a company in their twenties and work their entire life with the same company. I would not want to still be working for the same company that I started out working for. I don’t understand why this is what the French youth want.

Why would the French youth not want to start working and gain more experience and move on to better jobs with more responsibility and more pay?

Please fellows, help me understand this. I don’t get it...

Bonjour,

A quoi bon "more pay" pour les Yanks si "more pay" aboutit au trou sans fond des dépenses de guerre en Irak ?
Encore cela n'est que l'aspect financier obsessionnel chez les Yankees;d'un point de vue moral à quoi bon "more pay" si "more pay"=plus d'assassinats de civils en Irak … ??

Good luck for your country in Irak !