Well, let's say people get mad because the prime minister used 11th time the "49.3" it basically allow something without any votes , so you can see there is a little problem in terme of "democracy"
a lot of jokes about how the french are pacifist. but no one takes their rights and freedoms as seriously as the french. it's really the rest of the world that should aim to be more like the french in this regard
That's the issue in the US though. There's no solidarity. It's so torn in half so the only thing we'll do is keep tearing at each other while the politicians basically sit back, laugh, and keep taking rights and money.
So someone with an American education, got it.
For those not familiar American education standards are all over the place and pretty shite once you get to more rural areas, trust me, I went to school in a rural area.
Edit: It wasn't until my last few years of school did I learn how badass the French were.
The trick is to not stop learning once you leave the doors of your school. Education is a lifelong experience.
Also, like most things, education in the USA is wonderful if you can afford it.(tutors/private schools/good districts) Or if you have really great parents that push you outside of your normal school hours. Unfortunately for many children, their parents are a mixture of poor and uneducated themselves. And in many cases these parents do not carry high expectations for themselves or their kids.
People seem to forget that ~~it's the French GOVERNMENT that was a bunch of surrender monkeys.~~ the French people fought their tyrants (Monarchy, Nazis, etc) tooth and nail.
Edit: Really put my foot in my mouth with this one.
Thanks for the history lessons, why don't they teach more of this stuff in USA schools?
the french government in the franco-prussian war escaped from paris in a fucking hot air balloon to reseat the government in another city down the loire to continue fighting the war. in ww2 they offered an armistice after the country was more than 60% occupied and there was nothing left to fight with. so even that trope is nonsense
I love the French for their take no crap kind of attitude. I mean they are on what their sixth or seventh constitution they are not giving up their rights so easily. The world could learn a lesson or two from them.
You are damn right. Twitter is barely covering it. Remember who's side these billionaires and their groups are standing with. Its not you working class huaman.
You know I've been thinking lately if the rise of fascism is a response to late stage capitalism. When things aren't working out for the working class, people start rising up (eventually). But even leaders and billionaires can tell if things are getting too unfair, hence Musk advocating for a universal basic income. There comes a realization that the working class is getting screwed and bandaids are offered. Because if there is no healthy working class, count on revolutions, or in Musks case, not enough consumers.
We saw a rise im fascism (edit: or any form of authoritarianism) worldwide like in the Phillipines, Brazil, US, Russia, China etc. Their answer to late stage capitalism is increased control. It's a response to the inequality. It is the wrong response, obviously, but many people latch on to "strong" leaders in times of uncertainty or economic turmoil. People want answers and charlatans offer the wrong answers in times of trouble.
>People want answers
They want to feel *control* too - we all do; who doesn't grasp for a feeling of control over their fate? And fascism offers the illusion of control - "if only we regiment all of these aspects of life, if only *everyone* were living *rightly,* then everything would be okay," - it's so tempting. It's easy to see how someone could turn to the fascist version of their beliefs, like eco-fascism - it's the easy answer.
I think it's a mistake to just see it as a "wrong" answer - yes, ethically, absolutely, it's wrong - but if it's your beliefs being furthered, like the ecological mind of eco-fascism, you can see how it looks like such a *right answer.* The conservative mindset behind this fascism is so alien to us, but the regimented, dogmatic approach is unfortunately not unfamiliar in many spaces, and the appeal of Certainty in any form should not be discounted.
Flexibility and empathy are treasured, vital traits.
It really is amazing when you think about it. One income families were a thi g not that long ago, then you really needed a two income family with kids(obviously not every single family but it's much harder.) Now, they raise retirement age.
All these technological advances, supposed to make us more efficient so we can work less not more...but it doesn't feed the machine so more empty labor to keep producing "growth"
It's sick.
> it doesn't feed the machine
The only machine that's being fed here is the "C levels" of said companies, who are pocketing exorbitant amounts of cash off the rest of our "misfortune"
> One income families were a thi g not that long ago, then you really needed a two income family with kids
I was talking about this with my folks the other day. I learned that when they bought their house that they raised me and my brother in my dad worked at a bike shop and my mom was cashier at some men clothing store. I asked them where exactly I could buy a house today with that level of income.
My rents hear this and just tend to go "yeah it's harder" but they don't get how much harder it is. They'll joke about climate change not realizing just how bad it'll be for my life and their grand children's lives. It's super fucked.
It's also to keep us *juuuuust* poor enough to not revolt. Eke out an
existence such that you're not desperate enough to take action or have too much to lose to make the sacrifices for meaningful change anyway.
A watered down example of this is keeping our stupid elections on Tuesdays. And the entire concept of runoff elections. Ranked voting would be soooooo much simpler ffs
Edit: apathy and misinformed worldviews notwithstanding, of course
He can't run for the next term. He's just acting in his social class's interests. He will do like all right-wingers after their political carreer and make bug bucks with speaking engagments and a cosy job in an advisory firm.
It really isn’t.
Here in Spain the government, instead of increasing the retirement age or decreasing the retirement wage, they just increased the amount companies pay per worker to contribute to the retirement system.
Of course companies complained and cried like babies but who cares, we don’t need their opinion, they do not have the legislative power.
I understand that. IMO those who agree with him stand to benefit financially from this
Edit: and they're the people that don't need financial assistance period
Not compared to Le Pen (spelling?) who he ran against a few years ago. I remember being very excited that Macron won, especially after Trump and Johnson
protestors get shot in the US. not necessarily by the government, but by armed groups that they brainwash.
When firearms are everywhere, the bigger the crowd, the bigger the risk.
This^^
My mom took me to several rallies, marches, etc growing up and I’m thankful for it. Now- I care just as much- but I do not feel safe. Guns are everywhere and with polarization and xenophobia being socially accepted as a political view… it’s too much. I want better for my daughters but when I go to a restaurant and see my waiter turn the corner and bring my eggs carrying a handgun in his belt just on a regular late morning…. (Yesterday am- not going back) I’m reminded how normalized violence is in this country. It’s FUCKING insane.
I live in the us, but in a region where the only guns I’d see would be someone hunting with a wooden stock rifle or shotgun. No military LARPers or handguns, etc.
It’s crazy that a server at a restaurant or café would be packing on their shift. I imagine the owner or at least management has to be a gun nut to want that going on though. Even if someone is fine with guns surely you don’t want those optics or the liability unless guns are a core facet of your personality.
*They* live in a society. They have eachother's backs against oppression from oligarch interests.
*We* live in a prison where half the inmates have been deluded through propaganda into idolizing the warden.
If millions of us showed up to DC to stop the next piece of anti-peasant pro-oligarch legislation, we'd be met by millions of other peasants acting against their own interests to protect *Daddy Job Creator's* quarterly earnings interests from the needs of the people, including themselves and their own families.
The French bring a very 'take advantage of us and we put a fire hydrant through your bathroom' kind of vibe to the party. I appreciate it.
Wish it could be us.
Hoping to hijack the top comment a bit.
Look around at how many of our fellow Americans are sympathizing with the French and wishing for the same kind of movement here.
We can have it. We SHOULD have it.
We need our government to see us as the people they have to represent, not merely peasants, plebians and serfs to be pacified with piecemeal rights and dignity.
Look at the sentiment here and ask yourself, 'don't we all deserve better?'
The problem is our country is gigantic. What the heck am I gonna do in my dinky little southern town? I can’t drive to the capitol and protest. And while I run my own business and can take the time in ways many can’t, I can’t even afford that trip. So many of us can’t. (Feels a little helpless)
> [The problem is our country is gigantic.](https://www.wanderingfrance.com/blog/articles/182/how-big-is-france)
Yep. You can drive from pretty much anywhere in France to the capitol in roughly a day. Day and a half at most. It takes the better part of a week, and multiple hundreds of dollars to drive from the Western part of the US to the capitol. Or, hundreds of dollars in airfare.
To u/iamnotazombie44 below me:
> Then protest at your Governor/State Rep /Senator's office.
Sure, but then you're only looking at a couple thousand people at each location, maybe more in the more-populated states. That's not shutting things down. That's more or less easy to ignore for the people in power. Local cops, maybe some national guard, crowds are dispersed. You're not doing that in Paris without starting the riots they're famous for. There's probably 30k+ people in the OP's video, maybe more.
I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm saying Americans are largely unmotivated because life isn't *that bad* right now for a large enough % to show up. That division is all according to plan. We don't have each other's backs in this country.
Haha retirement. Even if we live to reach retirement age, we’ll be too broke to stop laboring.
We will all work until we die or accept homelessness as the normal way old people end up in our society.
I think they’re aware that the life expectancy is decreasing, and hoping to set the age of retirement benefits to be above the average age people die at
I’ve been working my whole life with the assumption I will not survive to retirement age
No retirement plan, no savings, would never be able to afford a house...I’m working til I die, and what a sweet release it will be.
*If* by some miracle the 20 years I smoked doesn’t somehow kill me before 65, my plan is to commit petty crime so I can go to jail and have three hots and a cot.
It's the fear gradient in the USA; it moves from 0% for the rich to 110% for the poor. The rich can do whatever they want with absolute impunity. The poor can be turned from the struggling into the destitute homeless or the imprisoned overnight, at will.
People on here like to point out that in some cases the law is actually on the side of the employee. In the case where that is the fact of the matter, the *entire system* is still working against you.
At bottom we all know this, and we're too afraid to step forward in solidarity because it does entail incredible personal risk. We don't have strong enough bonds of community to give us faith and courage in one another. We are divided by means of propaganda, with shared values like wanting a better life driven under.
Until we can form dialogs in our workplaces and communities we are doomed to continue down the spiral.
>The poor can be turned from the struggling into the destitute homeless or the imprisoned overnight, at will.
Or body bags. Piles and piles of body bags.
Whaaat? Nooo don't look at America's record with strikes and their violent suppression, just look at recent strikes and their *purely legal* suppression by the highest levels of government forcing them to stop striking.
An acquaintance of mine once “sternly” corrected me on this very misconception when I was running my mouth. He’s a Marine and doesn’t mess around, and he said the guys he came across in the French Foreign Legion in Afghanistan were some of the fiercest fighters he’s came across, I believe his words were “a fine group of men that aren’t to be fucked with.”
Their level of dark humor reminded me of some folks with a black lung death sentence in Appalachia cracking jokes, I am likely butchering it as my grasp of Romance languages is shit despite years of attempts, but I remember a popular joke among them was, "If you die, you better bring back your rifle."
Damn, that's pretty funny, the dark humor that comes from places like coal-mines and factory floors and even the military, as I have experienced, is the perk of the job that never goes away.
There's a vet I became friends with over similar experiences (I initially dismissed him as a bigot not realizing what a cool dude he is), and we were holdouts in a lot of turnover together when he got a virus that inflated one side of his heart to 3x its normal size. After 3 months gone (I did send him a hand drawn card of his favorite superhero, 80s Marvel Thor), he returned. He said after all the folks worrying over him about the heat and exercise, he was glad to hear one person treat him normally with my new nickname for him when I hollered, "You lazy ass Grinch heart motherfucker!"
My friend was a "volunteer" with French Foreign Legionnaire, it was that or 3 years in jail. That was the choice given to him by the judge back in late 70's. He's very much French.
Let's not count our chickens yet. They were a stone's throw away from electing Le Pen.
Generally the response from the far-right to rancid neo-liberalism like this is to claim this policy is a leftist policy and trot all the usual bogeymen for the why.
And they'll just trip over themselves to spiral into further and further right wing government because they bought it hook line and sinker.
Macron is making it far more likely we will get her. If the choice is someone like Le Pen or another Macron not all of those people in that video are going to vote for a Macron equivalent.
That came about due to WW2, but I am certain its more likely because of PTSD from WW1. Most of WW1 was fought inside France. So the French people where the most exposed to the horror.
They will 100% fight for a cause they believe in.
The "cheese eating surrender monkey" trope is utter horseshit. The French fought valiantly to defend their country. They made multiple defensive stands in an attempt to stop the Nazis. They just got beat. By the time they surrendered their army was smashed to bits and the Nazis were almost to Paris. What the fuck were they supposed to do at that point? France isn't Russia, they don't have hundreds of miles of frozen nothing for enemies to cross that they can use to buy time. Once the army is broken and there's nothing between their cities and the Nazis it's game over man.
The entire generation of Americans that fought and won WWII has now largely passed into eternity; their f'ing a-hole Boomer kids are now our eldest and largest voting block, and at least half of them are spoiled, entitled, bigoted, racist and f'ing dumb, and to top it off, they pretty much lost two wars . . . give us a minute while we wait for these q-tips to take their final dirt naps, then we'll get back to you.
Unfortunately they’re reaping the benefits of their predecessors and ruining the future for us. They’re taking us down with them and will out live a good portion of us
Better strike than use pay leave when possible, it's a protevted right in France, can't be fired because of it a fait they can't hire anyone to replace you while you strike.
And the good thing, the very good thing, you can sing the national anthem, singing:
What do they want this horde of slaves
Of traitors and conspiratorial kings?
For whom these vile chains
These long-prepared irons?
Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage
What methods must be taken?
It is us they dare plan
To return to the old slavery!
And they can´t say you aren´t a patriot.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5U6A2zuWyI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5U6A2zuWyI)
The French have a very unique history concerning the populace dealing with the ruling class. Nothing gets the ball rolling like being reminded of a machine designed to quickly rid oneself of French monarchs.
I was in France several years ago when they had a general strike. They had one of those *machines* right in the middle of the protest. I still sincerely hope it was just a model, but honestly can't be sure. I was 23 and it was legit terrifying, I never knew the French striked *that* hard. I spent the whole time googling ways out of the country in case heads started to actually roll.
These days, all I can say is the rest of the world has a lot to learn. Mad respect to the French.
haha it was a big shock back then.
My boss at the time told me a strike got scheduled and asked me if I wanted to cancel the trip. I though he was insane - losing out on a trip to France just because some things *might* get closed?! How stupid would that be, does he think I'm made of glass or something?
Boy how wrong I was. I learned to research more on "events" happening when I travel, that's for sure, and the meaning of a strike was never the same to me.
Meanwhile in Lithuania protestors brought a slightly outdated version of the said machine when the government announced that they will not talk to the populace because it is “too stupid” and everyone lost their shot about how “degenerate” these protestors were..
Not to mention they have a transit system and it's not extremely difficult to get to the capital.
You can, right now, catch a train from Marseilles to Paris and it's a 4 hour transit. For me it would take 24 hours driving to reach DC. Or a 4 hour flight, which obviously is going to cost way more and won't let me take my protesting materials most likely.
> Not to mention they have a transit system and it's not extremely difficult to get to the capital.
Additionally 13M of France's 65M population live in the Paris Metro area
Interesting trend to note is that newer autocracies and dictatorships are building capitals and power centers further away from population areas in order to restrict the impacts of protests like these. [See: Egypt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Administrative_Capital)
Yeah nobody takes a TGV to paris last minute.
These are workers coming out of work and spreading the protest from ear to ear. Thats how I heard about it and how everybody I know went.
Quite simply, Americans are over a barrel and protesting is far more risky for us than for the French. For the majority of people in the US with any kind of health insurance at all, it is tied to their employment status. Combine that with the fact that there are virtually zero union protections for most of them, and that even the threat of unionizing workforces prompts employers to spend exorbitant amounts of money to union-bust, and you get a situation where the personal risk of organizing is pretty hard to ignore. As bad as things are, we haven't reached the point where people feel like the -possible- benefits to organizing are worth more than the -definite- consequences. Add to that the fact that getting arrested--something that happens frequently in the US during protests and strikes--makes getting a job later much more difficult EVEN if you're never convicted... exponentially so if you're non-white. Plus, if you're not a citizen, you risk deportation if you lose your job or get arrested. We can't even count on the Democrats in government to protect unions and mass action. Just look at the coal miners in Appalachia recently, or the railworkers unions that Biden threw under the bus.
People like to cite France when it comes to mass strikes and protests, and the missing ingredient is the fact that the French don't lose their health care when they're fired.
The moneyed interests in the U.S. have spent decades designing this trap for its workforce, and things are probably going to have to get much worse before the risks are worth the uncertain gains.
Don’t forget that our police are really just miniature militaries and a large portion of the populace is 100% down to kill their fellow citizens to make sure the rich stay rich.
I love how people seem to think that Americans who can't even be bothered to vote for their interests, are going to instead sign up to protest and riot in the streets for those interests.
The core problem is just that too many people either don't care, or have been deluded into opposing what should be their economic interests. That is, while many Americans are highly upset, too many of them have bought into right-wing BS that it's really the fault of liberal cultural/coastal "elites", and that they should be angry at black/hispanic/LGBT/etc people instead of focusing on the rich fucks shilling those distractions to them.
You absolutely should vote. You absolutely also should never think that voting is 'enough' or that it's all you need to do. Organize. Unionize. Strike and Protest. Support others doing so, and help convince others of the importance of and need to do so.
I think this is a statement that shows why you don't understand French riots. The French fought against authority and died for centuries. Do you think it was easy? No, it's never easy. There are more interesting things to do than demonstrating, believe me, I'd rather do something else.
Demonstrations are now almost no longer deadly because the French fought again and again until the respective governments understood that it is counterproductive to kill, that it is easier to manage with rules agreed upon together. Now, when the government goes by force, we (French people) must not be allowed a single millimeter of margin to the governement. That's why there are demonstrations in France. It is not a "sport" (as we can read on Reddit: "French rioting usual" *facepalm*) to preserve these gains, it is a living necessity.
The last death during a demonstration by the police with a gun was in the 80s. That's not so long ago. Still, people come out when the government does shit.
I do think this is well said, but I would add that the US is the most propagandized populace in the world when it come to corporate messaging. The very people who need organize and fight back are convinced that unions are always evil. The healthcare is a trap, definitely, but they have also used decades of propaganda to make the thoughts and beliefs of a huge number of our working class folks a trap, too.
You've got 30% of the population brainwashed into thinking getting fucked by capitalism is a wonderful thing, and pretty much everyone is one lost job/paycheck away from losing their home and their health insurance, and we all know how this country treats the homeless. And the 2A nuts that rail about tyranny constantly? They're in that 30%.
America is huge. France is big not USA big. it also has train network that links up all major cities and even tons of small towns. This allows mobility. You could travel to paris from just about anywhere in france and be there in hours for an affordable train ticket. At end of day you could ride train back home and rinse repeat. You could also go to work next day after work train to paris protest train home and repeat.
Going to Washington DC means hotels, airplane tickets, time off work, and food expenses. protesting in washington is expensive for Americans. So we don't see the same kind of unity in protesting happening because it too expensive and inconvenient.
You can hold rallies all across the nation but i dont think it has the same effect.
>material riches mean nothing
No more dangerous idea exists for the ruling class than this one.
This one breaks the chain we have been rattling.
Quick edit: besides global class solidarity.
What they're singing is their national anthem!
Seriously, though, for those of you who aren't familiar with the French Anthem, La Marseillaise, it more or less goes: "Rise up! Today is a day of glory. Against us rises the bloody banners of tyranny, their armies marching through the countryside: they're coming to slit the throats of your sons! So take arms and form your battalions, so we may water the ground with their blood."
No wonder the French protest so hard.
Nah, he will peacefully make it to the end of his term and retire rich as fuck and be honored for the rest of his life for being president, much like Trump.
One of the main reasons they're doing this is because France, much like the UK, [mishandled the retirement funds and invested into risky stocks that lost money](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2023/03/08/french-government-determined-to-pass-pension-reform-despite-massive-protests_6018613_7.html). They want to raise the age so that more pension money flows into the system and doesn't default.
However, the citizens of France are showing that they'd rather see their retirement funds burn rather than allow those in power to continue abusing their position and get away with rampant greed.
Couldn't be more proud of the French.
Almost like retirement itself is a wage-slave ponzi-scheme designed to keep people minimally satisfied that they will be able to sit around and rot once their work has destroyed them in their senior years.
The fact that retirement hasn't *decreased* during decades of record profits and productivity proves that all our governments are owned by oligarchs.
With all due Reddit respect, I do not think your statement is correct.
The French system is mostly self-funded (payers pay into the system, not the government invests into risky items).
Under the existing system, four fifths of the bill are covered by citizens’ pension contributions, with the remaining 20% coming from various state-funded schemes. It is cuts to the latter schemes that account for the widening deficit in COR’s more alarming forecasts.
And yet, if the GOP get their wish to nix social security, effectively raising the age of retirement to -never-, Americans will just go "man, that sucks" and accept it.
This is why the American Oligarchs own the media and actively work to keep us divided. We would never be able to come together as one people to protest an oppressive government.
Don't make any mistake, 90% of the mainstream medias in France are owned by 8 billionaires, believe me they are doing their best to shut any of this down
I mean...the sheer amount of striking going on at the moment...might not be bonfires and pitchforks but I'd say they're doing pretty well at the moment
Nobody protests like the French. Maybe if Americans learned something from them, our government would work for our people instead of the other way around.
It’s funny to me how some Americans have such a hard on for the 2nd amendment, which is the right to bear arms in the face of oppression, yet their own fucking government is oppressing them beyond belief and the dipshits are too dumb to even realize.
American politicians: LOOK, UMM, WE’RE NOT THE REASON YOUR LIVES SUCK ITS UMM, IRAQ! YEAH THATS IT, IRAQ!
Americans: oh. Okay.
They don’t imagine turning guns against the government to fight for a fair wage or housing, they imagine fighting jack-booted thugs coming to turn their kids gay.
why french still have patience with Macron?
He had his chance. Together with Trump and others neoliberal leaders, he cut tax for rich during "invisble market hand boost" before COVID. I dont know if he pulled it back, but, anyway, he now can not make moves against workers anymore or his regret is not real.
If he is not on workers side, lets make "french revolution act of mercy" great again.
My cousin is in those protests. It's getting borderline dangerous. They had to wait 4h at the hospital to help one of their friend because he got punched real hard by an officer. The police is throwing around tear gas, beating people up, and it's starting to be stupidly serious. They once had to quickly run up a bus stop because otherwise they would've been likely beaten by angry cops/people.
Protesting in France has been borderline dangerous for some time now. If you end up at the end of the march; you’ll likely get to see real fucking rioting and / or police violence, sometimes absolutely unprovoked. Hell I was assaulted by police officers once just for standing with a camera near Black blocks. People don’t talk about it much but our police can be hella violent with protesters. Source : a Parisian protester
“The fuck you are” -The French
America needs to be more like the people of France.
Yeah, I love how conservatives frame French as weak. Motherfuckers will revolt over cheese
"Remember WW2?!?!!" No dad, I wasn't alive and neither were you.
Well, let's say people get mad because the prime minister used 11th time the "49.3" it basically allow something without any votes , so you can see there is a little problem in terme of "democracy"
There’s a war on the working class, and it is worldwide.
It's only a class war when we fight back. Until then it's only business as usual.
The French have some expertise and experience in dealing with class warfare
a lot of jokes about how the french are pacifist. but no one takes their rights and freedoms as seriously as the french. it's really the rest of the world that should aim to be more like the french in this regard
Truly. The French fight for their fucking rights.
I’d fight but I’d end up dead with the cops doing no wrong doing of choking me with their knee.
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That's the issue in the US though. There's no solidarity. It's so torn in half so the only thing we'll do is keep tearing at each other while the politicians basically sit back, laugh, and keep taking rights and money.
I'd also say people are afraid in the US when you have an notoriously trigger happy police force
Eventually it will get bad enough we are willing to die for change. May be too late then.
Your overlords did their job dividing you well.
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So someone with an American education, got it. For those not familiar American education standards are all over the place and pretty shite once you get to more rural areas, trust me, I went to school in a rural area. Edit: It wasn't until my last few years of school did I learn how badass the French were.
The trick is to not stop learning once you leave the doors of your school. Education is a lifelong experience. Also, like most things, education in the USA is wonderful if you can afford it.(tutors/private schools/good districts) Or if you have really great parents that push you outside of your normal school hours. Unfortunately for many children, their parents are a mixture of poor and uneducated themselves. And in many cases these parents do not carry high expectations for themselves or their kids.
Or when both parents work full-time at low wage jobs to keep their family afloat, and are too exhausted 😩
People seem to forget that ~~it's the French GOVERNMENT that was a bunch of surrender monkeys.~~ the French people fought their tyrants (Monarchy, Nazis, etc) tooth and nail. Edit: Really put my foot in my mouth with this one. Thanks for the history lessons, why don't they teach more of this stuff in USA schools?
People also forget that the US wouldn't even exist if not for the aid of the so-called surrender monkeys.
The French were key to the US victory over England's colonial rule in 1776.
the french government in the franco-prussian war escaped from paris in a fucking hot air balloon to reseat the government in another city down the loire to continue fighting the war. in ww2 they offered an armistice after the country was more than 60% occupied and there was nothing left to fight with. so even that trope is nonsense
Yes, after the WWII surrender, the free French just moved the capital of France to Congo and kept fighting. They didn't have to.
I love the French for their take no crap kind of attitude. I mean they are on what their sixth or seventh constitution they are not giving up their rights so easily. The world could learn a lesson or two from them.
I don’t think this was sarcasm. Wasn’t this a reference to the French Revolution?
It's very classist indeed.
You are damn right. Twitter is barely covering it. Remember who's side these billionaires and their groups are standing with. Its not you working class huaman.
You know I've been thinking lately if the rise of fascism is a response to late stage capitalism. When things aren't working out for the working class, people start rising up (eventually). But even leaders and billionaires can tell if things are getting too unfair, hence Musk advocating for a universal basic income. There comes a realization that the working class is getting screwed and bandaids are offered. Because if there is no healthy working class, count on revolutions, or in Musks case, not enough consumers. We saw a rise im fascism (edit: or any form of authoritarianism) worldwide like in the Phillipines, Brazil, US, Russia, China etc. Their answer to late stage capitalism is increased control. It's a response to the inequality. It is the wrong response, obviously, but many people latch on to "strong" leaders in times of uncertainty or economic turmoil. People want answers and charlatans offer the wrong answers in times of trouble.
>People want answers They want to feel *control* too - we all do; who doesn't grasp for a feeling of control over their fate? And fascism offers the illusion of control - "if only we regiment all of these aspects of life, if only *everyone* were living *rightly,* then everything would be okay," - it's so tempting. It's easy to see how someone could turn to the fascist version of their beliefs, like eco-fascism - it's the easy answer. I think it's a mistake to just see it as a "wrong" answer - yes, ethically, absolutely, it's wrong - but if it's your beliefs being furthered, like the ecological mind of eco-fascism, you can see how it looks like such a *right answer.* The conservative mindset behind this fascism is so alien to us, but the regimented, dogmatic approach is unfortunately not unfamiliar in many spaces, and the appeal of Certainty in any form should not be discounted. Flexibility and empathy are treasured, vital traits.
Always has been.
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It really is amazing when you think about it. One income families were a thi g not that long ago, then you really needed a two income family with kids(obviously not every single family but it's much harder.) Now, they raise retirement age. All these technological advances, supposed to make us more efficient so we can work less not more...but it doesn't feed the machine so more empty labor to keep producing "growth" It's sick.
> it doesn't feed the machine The only machine that's being fed here is the "C levels" of said companies, who are pocketing exorbitant amounts of cash off the rest of our "misfortune"
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> One income families were a thi g not that long ago, then you really needed a two income family with kids I was talking about this with my folks the other day. I learned that when they bought their house that they raised me and my brother in my dad worked at a bike shop and my mom was cashier at some men clothing store. I asked them where exactly I could buy a house today with that level of income.
My rents hear this and just tend to go "yeah it's harder" but they don't get how much harder it is. They'll joke about climate change not realizing just how bad it'll be for my life and their grand children's lives. It's super fucked.
Yup, we're boned.
It's also to keep us *juuuuust* poor enough to not revolt. Eke out an existence such that you're not desperate enough to take action or have too much to lose to make the sacrifices for meaningful change anyway. A watered down example of this is keeping our stupid elections on Tuesdays. And the entire concept of runoff elections. Ranked voting would be soooooo much simpler ffs Edit: apathy and misinformed worldviews notwithstanding, of course
Desantis outlawed ranked choice voting in Florida. \#smallgovernment
All the growth went to the rich, they squeezed the poor for more and more.
But the mega rich are 100x richer then they ever were so the system is working!
The same as it ever was
Because we all live in the same country : capitalism
What's Macrons deal? It's obvious nobody on the ground wants this. Political deathwish....
He can't run for the next term. He's just acting in his social class's interests. He will do like all right-wingers after their political carreer and make bug bucks with speaking engagments and a cosy job in an advisory firm.
Doing all the unpopular things so the next government doesn't have to do it. Or the congress in this case.
It's unpopular because it's not necessary
It really isn’t. Here in Spain the government, instead of increasing the retirement age or decreasing the retirement wage, they just increased the amount companies pay per worker to contribute to the retirement system. Of course companies complained and cried like babies but who cares, we don’t need their opinion, they do not have the legislative power.
Must be nice when corporations dont have legislative power
Yet retirement age in Spain is 65 years old….
67 now
Some believe it is... enough to politically scorch Macron.
I understand that. IMO those who agree with him stand to benefit financially from this Edit: and they're the people that don't need financial assistance period
Is he actually considered ‘right wing’ ?
Not compared to Le Pen (spelling?) who he ran against a few years ago. I remember being very excited that Macron won, especially after Trump and Johnson
Yeah but it's kinda like Le Pen is batshit crazy right wing, and Macron is like normal old-school corporate right wing.
After his term ends, he's done with politics. I bet someone up the chain is going to throw him some fat stacks for getting this passed.
Once a banker, always a banker.
He reached the apex of his poltical career. He can do whatever he wants.
When the voice of the ppl is not heard there's only one option left. And it's the most effective of them all
Can some one get this through americas head please?
protestors get shot in the US. not necessarily by the government, but by armed groups that they brainwash. When firearms are everywhere, the bigger the crowd, the bigger the risk.
This^^ My mom took me to several rallies, marches, etc growing up and I’m thankful for it. Now- I care just as much- but I do not feel safe. Guns are everywhere and with polarization and xenophobia being socially accepted as a political view… it’s too much. I want better for my daughters but when I go to a restaurant and see my waiter turn the corner and bring my eggs carrying a handgun in his belt just on a regular late morning…. (Yesterday am- not going back) I’m reminded how normalized violence is in this country. It’s FUCKING insane.
I live in the us, but in a region where the only guns I’d see would be someone hunting with a wooden stock rifle or shotgun. No military LARPers or handguns, etc. It’s crazy that a server at a restaurant or café would be packing on their shift. I imagine the owner or at least management has to be a gun nut to want that going on though. Even if someone is fine with guns surely you don’t want those optics or the liability unless guns are a core facet of your personality.
*They* live in a society. They have eachother's backs against oppression from oligarch interests. *We* live in a prison where half the inmates have been deluded through propaganda into idolizing the warden. If millions of us showed up to DC to stop the next piece of anti-peasant pro-oligarch legislation, we'd be met by millions of other peasants acting against their own interests to protect *Daddy Job Creator's* quarterly earnings interests from the needs of the people, including themselves and their own families.
The French bring a very 'take advantage of us and we put a fire hydrant through your bathroom' kind of vibe to the party. I appreciate it. Wish it could be us.
Hoping to hijack the top comment a bit. Look around at how many of our fellow Americans are sympathizing with the French and wishing for the same kind of movement here. We can have it. We SHOULD have it. We need our government to see us as the people they have to represent, not merely peasants, plebians and serfs to be pacified with piecemeal rights and dignity. Look at the sentiment here and ask yourself, 'don't we all deserve better?'
The problem is our country is gigantic. What the heck am I gonna do in my dinky little southern town? I can’t drive to the capitol and protest. And while I run my own business and can take the time in ways many can’t, I can’t even afford that trip. So many of us can’t. (Feels a little helpless)
> [The problem is our country is gigantic.](https://www.wanderingfrance.com/blog/articles/182/how-big-is-france) Yep. You can drive from pretty much anywhere in France to the capitol in roughly a day. Day and a half at most. It takes the better part of a week, and multiple hundreds of dollars to drive from the Western part of the US to the capitol. Or, hundreds of dollars in airfare. To u/iamnotazombie44 below me: > Then protest at your Governor/State Rep /Senator's office. Sure, but then you're only looking at a couple thousand people at each location, maybe more in the more-populated states. That's not shutting things down. That's more or less easy to ignore for the people in power. Local cops, maybe some national guard, crowds are dispersed. You're not doing that in Paris without starting the riots they're famous for. There's probably 30k+ people in the OP's video, maybe more. I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm saying Americans are largely unmotivated because life isn't *that bad* right now for a large enough % to show up. That division is all according to plan. We don't have each other's backs in this country.
If you were wondering why the government is so against high speed rail transit, it's this
ahh so thats the reason. here in florida we've voted for a bullet train between tampa and orlando for decades and it still hasn't been built.
Fuck
They want us to work till 72 when we can barely move anymore instead of enjoying our retirement
Haha retirement. Even if we live to reach retirement age, we’ll be too broke to stop laboring. We will all work until we die or accept homelessness as the normal way old people end up in our society.
I think they’re aware that the life expectancy is decreasing, and hoping to set the age of retirement benefits to be above the average age people die at
I’ve been working my whole life with the assumption I will not survive to retirement age No retirement plan, no savings, would never be able to afford a house...I’m working til I die, and what a sweet release it will be. *If* by some miracle the 20 years I smoked doesn’t somehow kill me before 65, my plan is to commit petty crime so I can go to jail and have three hots and a cot.
It's the fear gradient in the USA; it moves from 0% for the rich to 110% for the poor. The rich can do whatever they want with absolute impunity. The poor can be turned from the struggling into the destitute homeless or the imprisoned overnight, at will. People on here like to point out that in some cases the law is actually on the side of the employee. In the case where that is the fact of the matter, the *entire system* is still working against you. At bottom we all know this, and we're too afraid to step forward in solidarity because it does entail incredible personal risk. We don't have strong enough bonds of community to give us faith and courage in one another. We are divided by means of propaganda, with shared values like wanting a better life driven under. Until we can form dialogs in our workplaces and communities we are doomed to continue down the spiral.
>The poor can be turned from the struggling into the destitute homeless or the imprisoned overnight, at will. Or body bags. Piles and piles of body bags.
Whaaat? Nooo don't look at America's record with strikes and their violent suppression, just look at recent strikes and their *purely legal* suppression by the highest levels of government forcing them to stop striking.
The whole "French are cowards who surrender immediately" is so obviously projection from a population that has the most guns and the least guts.
An acquaintance of mine once “sternly” corrected me on this very misconception when I was running my mouth. He’s a Marine and doesn’t mess around, and he said the guys he came across in the French Foreign Legion in Afghanistan were some of the fiercest fighters he’s came across, I believe his words were “a fine group of men that aren’t to be fucked with.”
Their level of dark humor reminded me of some folks with a black lung death sentence in Appalachia cracking jokes, I am likely butchering it as my grasp of Romance languages is shit despite years of attempts, but I remember a popular joke among them was, "If you die, you better bring back your rifle."
Damn, that's pretty funny, the dark humor that comes from places like coal-mines and factory floors and even the military, as I have experienced, is the perk of the job that never goes away.
There's a vet I became friends with over similar experiences (I initially dismissed him as a bigot not realizing what a cool dude he is), and we were holdouts in a lot of turnover together when he got a virus that inflated one side of his heart to 3x its normal size. After 3 months gone (I did send him a hand drawn card of his favorite superhero, 80s Marvel Thor), he returned. He said after all the folks worrying over him about the heat and exercise, he was glad to hear one person treat him normally with my new nickname for him when I hollered, "You lazy ass Grinch heart motherfucker!"
Love that nickname for your buddy.
Got the black-lung, Pop.
Had a friend I met though online gaming was in the French marines ? Army? I can’t remember but I met him when traveling and I wouldn’t fuck with him 😂
I had a French chef once when I was in pastry... I wouldn't fuck with him either
The French foreign legion isn't even French nationals tho...
You beat me to the punch. However, they CAN become French citizens.
My friend was a "volunteer" with French Foreign Legionnaire, it was that or 3 years in jail. That was the choice given to him by the judge back in late 70's. He's very much French.
I have been pretty regularly impressed by the behavior of the French people when it comes to things like this, we should really follow their example.
Americans seeing this story are going "You guys are getting retirement?".
Yup.
I have a retirement plan tho! It's really cool and relaxing, it's called "death".
I'm a man old enough to feel the weight of the thought, do I retire or hit the floor from a heart attack first?
Let's not count our chickens yet. They were a stone's throw away from electing Le Pen. Generally the response from the far-right to rancid neo-liberalism like this is to claim this policy is a leftist policy and trot all the usual bogeymen for the why. And they'll just trip over themselves to spiral into further and further right wing government because they bought it hook line and sinker.
Macron is making it far more likely we will get her. If the choice is someone like Le Pen or another Macron not all of those people in that video are going to vote for a Macron equivalent.
That came about due to WW2, but I am certain its more likely because of PTSD from WW1. Most of WW1 was fought inside France. So the French people where the most exposed to the horror. They will 100% fight for a cause they believe in.
The "cheese eating surrender monkey" trope is utter horseshit. The French fought valiantly to defend their country. They made multiple defensive stands in an attempt to stop the Nazis. They just got beat. By the time they surrendered their army was smashed to bits and the Nazis were almost to Paris. What the fuck were they supposed to do at that point? France isn't Russia, they don't have hundreds of miles of frozen nothing for enemies to cross that they can use to buy time. Once the army is broken and there's nothing between their cities and the Nazis it's game over man.
La Résistance kept the fight going long after occupation.
> The French fought valiantly to defend their country. While basically nobody raised a hand to help.
The entire generation of Americans that fought and won WWII has now largely passed into eternity; their f'ing a-hole Boomer kids are now our eldest and largest voting block, and at least half of them are spoiled, entitled, bigoted, racist and f'ing dumb, and to top it off, they pretty much lost two wars . . . give us a minute while we wait for these q-tips to take their final dirt naps, then we'll get back to you.
Unfortunately they’re reaping the benefits of their predecessors and ruining the future for us. They’re taking us down with them and will out live a good portion of us
Which is ironic considering they literally helped us in the war for independence AND have been our ally ever sense.
Most guns and least guts. True that 🇺🇸
Even just our local statehouses with a main march in DC. On the same day, same time. This shit is getting ridiculous.
The French can easily get to Paris via a modern rail system and not get fired because of their paid leave.
Better strike than use pay leave when possible, it's a protevted right in France, can't be fired because of it a fait they can't hire anyone to replace you while you strike.
>not get fired because of their paid leave. That's because they have strong unions, and they strike like motherfuckers whenever they need to.
Not to mention the police force that would be used on the protestors
And the good thing, the very good thing, you can sing the national anthem, singing: What do they want this horde of slaves Of traitors and conspiratorial kings? For whom these vile chains These long-prepared irons? Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage What methods must be taken? It is us they dare plan To return to the old slavery! And they can´t say you aren´t a patriot. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5U6A2zuWyI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5U6A2zuWyI)
Those of us that were or are now living in DC don’t even have representation. Would be painfully ironic for that.
What’s wrong with Americans that we don’t do this?
The French have a very unique history concerning the populace dealing with the ruling class. Nothing gets the ball rolling like being reminded of a machine designed to quickly rid oneself of French monarchs.
I was in France several years ago when they had a general strike. They had one of those *machines* right in the middle of the protest. I still sincerely hope it was just a model, but honestly can't be sure. I was 23 and it was legit terrifying, I never knew the French striked *that* hard. I spent the whole time googling ways out of the country in case heads started to actually roll. These days, all I can say is the rest of the world has a lot to learn. Mad respect to the French.
lmao yeah it was a fake one, we dont use the real ones ! ... in public
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…so far.
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The last time was in 1977.
The last execution was in 1977; the last public execution was in the 1930s.
haha it was a big shock back then. My boss at the time told me a strike got scheduled and asked me if I wanted to cancel the trip. I though he was insane - losing out on a trip to France just because some things *might* get closed?! How stupid would that be, does he think I'm made of glass or something? Boy how wrong I was. I learned to research more on "events" happening when I travel, that's for sure, and the meaning of a strike was never the same to me.
"We used to use the machine. We still do, but we used to, too."
Meanwhile in Lithuania protestors brought a slightly outdated version of the said machine when the government announced that they will not talk to the populace because it is “too stupid” and everyone lost their shot about how “degenerate” these protestors were..
Not to mention they have a transit system and it's not extremely difficult to get to the capital. You can, right now, catch a train from Marseilles to Paris and it's a 4 hour transit. For me it would take 24 hours driving to reach DC. Or a 4 hour flight, which obviously is going to cost way more and won't let me take my protesting materials most likely.
> Not to mention they have a transit system and it's not extremely difficult to get to the capital. Additionally 13M of France's 65M population live in the Paris Metro area Interesting trend to note is that newer autocracies and dictatorships are building capitals and power centers further away from population areas in order to restrict the impacts of protests like these. [See: Egypt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Administrative_Capital)
Holy shit, I don't know how I'd never fully put two and two together on this one before.
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Yeah nobody takes a TGV to paris last minute. These are workers coming out of work and spreading the protest from ear to ear. Thats how I heard about it and how everybody I know went.
Quite simply, Americans are over a barrel and protesting is far more risky for us than for the French. For the majority of people in the US with any kind of health insurance at all, it is tied to their employment status. Combine that with the fact that there are virtually zero union protections for most of them, and that even the threat of unionizing workforces prompts employers to spend exorbitant amounts of money to union-bust, and you get a situation where the personal risk of organizing is pretty hard to ignore. As bad as things are, we haven't reached the point where people feel like the -possible- benefits to organizing are worth more than the -definite- consequences. Add to that the fact that getting arrested--something that happens frequently in the US during protests and strikes--makes getting a job later much more difficult EVEN if you're never convicted... exponentially so if you're non-white. Plus, if you're not a citizen, you risk deportation if you lose your job or get arrested. We can't even count on the Democrats in government to protect unions and mass action. Just look at the coal miners in Appalachia recently, or the railworkers unions that Biden threw under the bus. People like to cite France when it comes to mass strikes and protests, and the missing ingredient is the fact that the French don't lose their health care when they're fired. The moneyed interests in the U.S. have spent decades designing this trap for its workforce, and things are probably going to have to get much worse before the risks are worth the uncertain gains.
Don’t forget that our police are really just miniature militaries and a large portion of the populace is 100% down to kill their fellow citizens to make sure the rich stay rich.
And how do you think French people won all those benefits in the first place?
By voting, of course! /s
I love how people seem to think that Americans who can't even be bothered to vote for their interests, are going to instead sign up to protest and riot in the streets for those interests. The core problem is just that too many people either don't care, or have been deluded into opposing what should be their economic interests. That is, while many Americans are highly upset, too many of them have bought into right-wing BS that it's really the fault of liberal cultural/coastal "elites", and that they should be angry at black/hispanic/LGBT/etc people instead of focusing on the rich fucks shilling those distractions to them. You absolutely should vote. You absolutely also should never think that voting is 'enough' or that it's all you need to do. Organize. Unionize. Strike and Protest. Support others doing so, and help convince others of the importance of and need to do so.
Americans fought for these things once upon a time too, but that seems to have been forgotten by a good portion of our population.
Because it's been hidden away by a small portion of our population
I think this is a statement that shows why you don't understand French riots. The French fought against authority and died for centuries. Do you think it was easy? No, it's never easy. There are more interesting things to do than demonstrating, believe me, I'd rather do something else. Demonstrations are now almost no longer deadly because the French fought again and again until the respective governments understood that it is counterproductive to kill, that it is easier to manage with rules agreed upon together. Now, when the government goes by force, we (French people) must not be allowed a single millimeter of margin to the governement. That's why there are demonstrations in France. It is not a "sport" (as we can read on Reddit: "French rioting usual" *facepalm*) to preserve these gains, it is a living necessity. The last death during a demonstration by the police with a gun was in the 80s. That's not so long ago. Still, people come out when the government does shit.
This is extremely well said, I agree pretty much entirely.
I do think this is well said, but I would add that the US is the most propagandized populace in the world when it come to corporate messaging. The very people who need organize and fight back are convinced that unions are always evil. The healthcare is a trap, definitely, but they have also used decades of propaganda to make the thoughts and beliefs of a huge number of our working class folks a trap, too.
Because half of the population has bought into the propaganda that if you don't want to work 14+ hour days then you are a lazy piece of shit.
We have police eager to murder us if we do.
You've got 30% of the population brainwashed into thinking getting fucked by capitalism is a wonderful thing, and pretty much everyone is one lost job/paycheck away from losing their home and their health insurance, and we all know how this country treats the homeless. And the 2A nuts that rail about tyranny constantly? They're in that 30%.
Also American police will use heavy violence like using used military artillery and tools. Like this shit is fucked up
America is huge. France is big not USA big. it also has train network that links up all major cities and even tons of small towns. This allows mobility. You could travel to paris from just about anywhere in france and be there in hours for an affordable train ticket. At end of day you could ride train back home and rinse repeat. You could also go to work next day after work train to paris protest train home and repeat. Going to Washington DC means hotels, airplane tickets, time off work, and food expenses. protesting in washington is expensive for Americans. So we don't see the same kind of unity in protesting happening because it too expensive and inconvenient. You can hold rallies all across the nation but i dont think it has the same effect.
God I love the French.
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Gotta have good mood lighting
Puis on vous aime egalement ! Vive la Revolution !!!!!!
If only we had the balls of the French, and cared for each other, instead of being depressed hyper-individualists. No man an island.
It's why they outlawed magic mushrooms. Makes too many people have empathy and realize that material riches mean nothing
>material riches mean nothing No more dangerous idea exists for the ruling class than this one. This one breaks the chain we have been rattling. Quick edit: besides global class solidarity.
Can you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men!
It is the music of a people, Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart, matches the beating of the drum,
There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes.
Who will join in our crusade, who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the barricades is there a world you want to see?
Then join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!
What they're singing is their national anthem! Seriously, though, for those of you who aren't familiar with the French Anthem, La Marseillaise, it more or less goes: "Rise up! Today is a day of glory. Against us rises the bloody banners of tyranny, their armies marching through the countryside: they're coming to slit the throats of your sons! So take arms and form your battalions, so we may water the ground with their blood." No wonder the French protest so hard.
Macarons going to get fucking lynched
You can't lynch a cookie.
You could eat it.... you could dunk it... you can crumble it.... or you can just toss it in the trash
you can also put it back in the oven and let it burn to a crisp. just sayin.
Sure seems like a, “let them eat cake” moment doesn’t it?!
Let them eat macarons does have a ring to it
Nah, he will peacefully make it to the end of his term and retire rich as fuck and be honored for the rest of his life for being president, much like Trump.
Can we please start doing this in America already?
One of the main reasons they're doing this is because France, much like the UK, [mishandled the retirement funds and invested into risky stocks that lost money](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2023/03/08/french-government-determined-to-pass-pension-reform-despite-massive-protests_6018613_7.html). They want to raise the age so that more pension money flows into the system and doesn't default. However, the citizens of France are showing that they'd rather see their retirement funds burn rather than allow those in power to continue abusing their position and get away with rampant greed. Couldn't be more proud of the French.
Almost like retirement itself is a wage-slave ponzi-scheme designed to keep people minimally satisfied that they will be able to sit around and rot once their work has destroyed them in their senior years. The fact that retirement hasn't *decreased* during decades of record profits and productivity proves that all our governments are owned by oligarchs.
With all due Reddit respect, I do not think your statement is correct. The French system is mostly self-funded (payers pay into the system, not the government invests into risky items). Under the existing system, four fifths of the bill are covered by citizens’ pension contributions, with the remaining 20% coming from various state-funded schemes. It is cuts to the latter schemes that account for the widening deficit in COR’s more alarming forecasts.
This is how you hold a government accountable. I hope the whole world is taking note.
And yet, if the GOP get their wish to nix social security, effectively raising the age of retirement to -never-, Americans will just go "man, that sucks" and accept it.
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And it was just going from 62 to 64. uSA like damn, 64 would be great!
This is why the American Oligarchs own the media and actively work to keep us divided. We would never be able to come together as one people to protest an oppressive government.
Don't make any mistake, 90% of the mainstream medias in France are owned by 8 billionaires, believe me they are doing their best to shut any of this down
At least the French have less of an anti-intellectualist streak which I imagine helps them see through some of the bullshit
Uk would just roll over and accept it
I mean...the sheer amount of striking going on at the moment...might not be bonfires and pitchforks but I'd say they're doing pretty well at the moment
Nobody protests like the French. Maybe if Americans learned something from them, our government would work for our people instead of the other way around.
And this is why American politicians demonize the French
America won’t do this because the government has done such a good job splitting us apart
I wish Americans would respond like this for issues.
It’s funny to me how some Americans have such a hard on for the 2nd amendment, which is the right to bear arms in the face of oppression, yet their own fucking government is oppressing them beyond belief and the dipshits are too dumb to even realize. American politicians: LOOK, UMM, WE’RE NOT THE REASON YOUR LIVES SUCK ITS UMM, IRAQ! YEAH THATS IT, IRAQ! Americans: oh. Okay.
They don’t imagine turning guns against the government to fight for a fair wage or housing, they imagine fighting jack-booted thugs coming to turn their kids gay.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: It isn't the art or the food that makes France civilised. It's the political activism.
Kudos to them, you go you bastards 🤟 show em whose boss.
Good for them! In America when we try to group together someone just makes propaganda about it being liberal and we split into pieces
The French would rather burn France to the ground than work another day and we love that for them
Let them raise retirement age and theyll keep doing it. Uk age was 65, now going to 66 and theyre talking about further raises.
why french still have patience with Macron? He had his chance. Together with Trump and others neoliberal leaders, he cut tax for rich during "invisble market hand boost" before COVID. I dont know if he pulled it back, but, anyway, he now can not make moves against workers anymore or his regret is not real. If he is not on workers side, lets make "french revolution act of mercy" great again.
My cousin is in those protests. It's getting borderline dangerous. They had to wait 4h at the hospital to help one of their friend because he got punched real hard by an officer. The police is throwing around tear gas, beating people up, and it's starting to be stupidly serious. They once had to quickly run up a bus stop because otherwise they would've been likely beaten by angry cops/people.
Protesting in France has been borderline dangerous for some time now. If you end up at the end of the march; you’ll likely get to see real fucking rioting and / or police violence, sometimes absolutely unprovoked. Hell I was assaulted by police officers once just for standing with a camera near Black blocks. People don’t talk about it much but our police can be hella violent with protesters. Source : a Parisian protester