# Student riots in France **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 19, 2006, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000 "2006-03-19T15:00:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/61 "2006-03-29T15:07:56Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > The ability to fire workers, either for practical reasons that the employee is not doing a good job, or for economic reasons that the company must alter it’s workforce, is absolutely essential to grow an economy. My cite would be _The World is Flat_ where Friedman has a section on this, and makes a compelling case… Absolutely essential? I don’t think so. There is no ‘at will’ firing in Ireland and we’ve had enormous growth over the last two decades. There are many other reasons for growth. Ireland is one of the most economically free nations in the world ([cite](http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/country.cfm?id=Ireland) ) but we don’t need ‘at will’ to achieve it. In fact most of our growth is due to US companies profiting off the Irish system. They still make lots of money even after dealing with our mandatory 4 weeks holidays + bank holidays, no ‘at will’ firing and all the other EU stuff that comes down on the side of the wage slave. I can totally understand why the French youth are so angry with this. If it’s such a good idea why not open it up to the whole population? I really find it hard to believe that this action will have any effect on unemployment. France has many problems economically and there has to be very hard decisions made by the politicians that will make them unpopular with the electorate but I still find it hard to see how this will actually help them other than make the young people second class employees open to abuse that their elders are protected from. This is the usual BS IMO. Politicians making quick short sighted decisions that make them look like they are actually doing something positive when in reality they are just causing problems for others further down the line. ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/62 "2006-04-03T19:39:45Z")
It all starts over (or continues) tomorrow. Another general strike. Somewhat out of the ordinary, my university was blocked today. Up until today, it had only been blocked on the days when there was a large strike or protest. So that means, at least two days this week it will be blocked, maybe the whole week. I don’t know… I’m curious if anyone wants to take a stab at how long all of this could last. Will I be gone before some resolution is reached? I realize this is a big deal. I feel like it’s sort of none of my business, and I shouldn’t be complaining, but we exchange students are a little more pressed than the French students who can finish (to some extent) whenever they want… ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/63 "2006-04-07T08:13:06Z")
Two questions: Is it normal for people to block train tracks/stations and autoroutes? Crap…I forgot the second one. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/64 "2006-04-07T16:01:59Z")
You should just give up and head for the beach until it all blows over. 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/65 "2006-04-07T16:06:18Z")
The ladyfriend and I are planning on going to Giverny tomorrow…that is if the trains aren’t blocked… ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/66 "2006-04-07T16:14:05Z")
Sounds like a wise plan. I don’t envy you living there and trying to go to school during all this crap. I wonder when it will start to quiet down. Seems to be going on longer than I recall similar riots in the past…but then I didn’t really follow very closely the periodic French erruptions when I was younger so maybe this is normal. -XT ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/67 "2006-04-07T17:59:38Z")
> [@gitfiddle](#): > > Two questions: > > Is it normal for people to block train tracks/stations and autoroutes? > > Crap…I forgot the second one. Blocking autoroutes is normally the domain of farmers and truck drivers. They should sue the students. To each his own, I say! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/68 "2006-04-07T18:24:57Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > I don’t envy you living there and trying to go to school during all this crap. I wonder when it will start to quiet down. > -XT It may takes a long time since the government doesn’t seem to have any interest in the situation, but only be preoccupied by whom will come out as the winner within the majority and hence will be the conservative candidate for next year’s presidential election. Since this issue began to be a serious one, every move, speech and decision made seems to be driven entirely by the objective of scoring point in this kind of “primary” race, employment, students, protests and social issues be damned. Even the direction of the police forces during the protests and riots has been a battlefield for this internal political war (the head of Paris police and the head of the anti-riot police trying to bypass each other since they belong to “opposite camps” within the majority. ). The most blatant recent example beeing Chirac’s address in which he announced the following ludicrous position : I’m going to sign the law, but it shall not be implemented until modifications will have been made (which is completely nonsentical, either the law is in the books or it isn’t) instead of sending it back to the parliament as he could have done, but didn’t because that was the position advocated by the potential conservative presidential candidate he doesn’t support. ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/69 "2006-04-07T18:39:54Z")
> [@](#): > > It may takes a long time since the government doesn’t seem to have any interest in the situation, but only be preoccupied by whom will come out as the winner within the majority and hence will be the conservative candidate for next year’s presidential election. Well, there you go, Clairobscur, some common ground for the US and France… ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/70 "2006-04-10T15:48:30Z")
> [@gitfiddle](#): > > Well, there you go, Clairobscur, some common ground for the US and France… All over now: Chirac scraps law: > **[Chirac to scrap employment law](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/10/france)** > > The French government today bowed to weeks of protests and announced it was scrapping a controversial employment law that made it easier for employers to fire workers under the age of 26. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/71 "2006-04-10T16:32:04Z")
Excellent! A rightous blow was struck for the freedom and security of France by making the evil French government cave in. A blow against all the grasping capitalists and their government lackys! A blow that will ensure economic prosperity and peace in France for a THOUSAND YEARS! 😛 La vie longue la révolution ! -XT ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/72 "2006-04-10T17:18:55Z")
> [@Pjen](#): > > All over now: > > Chirac scraps law: > > [Chirac to scrap employment law | World news | The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,1750776,00.html?gusrc=rss) Yeah…I just saw De Villepin’s speech…I don’t think that necessarily means it’s over though. The CPE, I think, is all that’s been terminated. The problem still exists. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/73 "2006-04-10T17:21:13Z")
Stupid frogs are becoming an embarrassment, not to speak of economic death weight, for the rest of the EU. At least the krauts finally seem to getting their act together. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/74 "2006-04-10T17:48:44Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Stupid frogs are becoming an embarrassment, not to speak of economic death weight, for the rest of the EU. At least the krauts finally seem to getting their act together. You might not be aware of this, but “frogs” and “krauts” are considered ethinic slurs in American English. Kind of like calling an Italian a “wop”. AFAIK, we haven’t thought up a pejorative for Danes yet… ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/75 "2006-04-10T18:06:18Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > You might not be aware of this, but “frogs” and “krauts” are considered ethinic slurs in American English. Kind of like calling an Italian a “wop”. AFAIK, we haven’t thought up a pejorative for Danes yet… DDD’s. Die Dummen Dänen ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/76 "2006-04-10T23:50:21Z")
> [@Pjen](#): > > All over now: > > Chirac scraps law: > > [Chirac to scrap employment law | World news | The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,1750776,00.html?gusrc=rss) France surrenders yet again ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/77 "2006-04-11T00:21:49Z")
I wonder if it’ll make much difference-- I thought the bill was only a tiny step in the direction France needs to take to stay competitive. Perhaps the cave in is more symbolic in that it represents a retreat on the larger front. I recently read an editorial from _The Economist_ with some surprising statistics: 75% of French students want jobs with government. But even more startling is that only 36% of the French populace thinks that capitalism (ie, the free market) is the best economic system available, compared to 71% of Americans, 66% of Britons, and 65% of Germans. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/78 "2006-04-11T00:52:41Z")
Sometimes, rioting works. Americans, take note. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/79 "2006-04-11T00:58:18Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > 75% of French students want jobs with government. But even more startling is that only 36% of the French populace thinks that capitalism (ie, the free market) is the best economic system available, compared to 71% of Americans, 66% of Britons, and 65% of Germans. Doesn’t surprise me that only 36% of French think capitalism is the best economic system. Probably because most of them don’t realize that what they have (fucked up as it is) is a quasi-capitalist/socialist system, and that depending on your definition capitalism runs the gammet depending where on the sliding scale you put things (all the way from full bore, completely open free markets to…whatever the hell the French have 😛 ). By any chance did they ask what people in France DID think was the best economic system? -XT ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000/80 "2006-04-11T01:00:39Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Doesn’t surprise me that only 36% of French think capitalism is the best economic system. Probably because most of them don’t realize that what they have (fucked up as it is) is a quasi-capitalist/socialist system . . . :dubious: What makes you think the French are less sophisticated than anybody else about what kind of system they’re living under? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-riots-in-france/349000.md?page=5)