France is in turmoil. Again. Each president takes office promising to reform outdated or arguably unaffordable practices and each runs into France's parallel democracy, the resistance of the street.
Emmanuel Macron has made his upheaval of the pensions system, which he claims is heading for calamitous deficits, the key feature of his second term. But in the absence of a parliamentary majority, has resorted to the controversial 49.3 decree that allows legislation to be pushed through parliament without a vote. This is how I assessed the crisis for The National, which permits the reproduction of my work here ...
In calm, precise tones she might use in lectures at her elite Parisian “grande ecole”, a student explained to a television reporter why she was smashing illuminated advertising signs during riots over President Emmanuel Macron’s contentious pension reforms.
“I think violence is unfortunately necessary,” she said, using a heavy implement to smash glass to cries of encouragement from others, unseen.
“I don’t attack cars or shop windows. I attack advertising.”
Roland Godefroy - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=127943623
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