PROTESTERS TIRED BUT UNDAUNTED

PARIS April 4, 2006 (IHT) -The protest movement has brought down the legislation in all but name. But for these young demonstrators, it is not enough that an embattled President Jacques Chirac has asked companies not to apply the new contract. It is not enough that the presidential hopes of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, the main champion of the law, have receded. And it is not enough that lawmakers plan to replace the law with a modified version, pleading with student organizations and labor unions to join talks about how to change the legislation.

But bringing down governments can be exhausting. The article reports one protestor's surprise at the actual work -- hard work! -- involved.

[The protestors] are getting ready to demonstrate, a process involving the strategic placement of protest stickers on one's sweatshirt, a giggly competition for the best slogan of the day and the uncorking of a bottle of red wine. ... "We are all very tired, you know," she says. "It is hard work to demonstrate three times a week - even physically." ... She pauses, then suggests: "Maybe we could all take a few days off and then come back to protest."

Yes. And it is equally hard work policing hard-working revolutionaries. All France is tired.

Headline, April 7, 2006: WE ARE ALL TIRED; FINALLY VACATION!*
The French Multipolar World: Grèves ! Manifs ! Émeutes ! Vacances !

[Hat tip: E-Nough!]

One week later and one day after having accomplished their political objective, revolutionary French students, as weary as they are, continue to reach deep down inside themselves for that little something extra, that above-and-beyond to put the boot in.

FRENCH STUDENTS KEEP UP THE PRESSURE WITH MORE PROTESTS

PARIS April 11, 2006 (AFP) - French students staged a fresh day of wildcat protests Tuesday, vowing to keep up the pressure on the government and calling for further concessions despite the scrapping of a contested jobs contract.

Unions and student groups were celebrating victory after President Jacques Chirac bowed to two months of strikes and street protests by dropping the plan, but said they would remain "vigilant" until a substitute law is voted in.

Dozens of students blocked bus depots in south-western Toulouse, briefly invaded the runways at Nantes airport in the west, and blocked roads in north-western Rouen, while 600 people marched in the southern city of Marseille.

Universities in all four cities remain on strike, despite a call by a national student leader, Julie Coudry, for classes to resume at disrupted faculties in time for students to prepare for their examinations.

* The above headline quote, attributed to Dom, was originally made by Patrice "Typhoid" MacMahon. Like Jack in 1997, MaxMahon, as president of the Republic, tried to end-run his political opponents by dissolving the French National Assembly and, like Jack, failed. When told to "submit or resign" by a triumphant Léon Gambetta, MacMahon replied: "Here I am. Here I stay."

PFFT (What is this?): What's the point? 4 | Rayonnement français 0