The current student walkout in France is led by high schoolers, not university students, protesting unsafe and untenable school conditions. Class sizes of 30-40, water infiltration in classrooms, not enough teachers or paraprofessionals (no subs so classes just get cancelled), not enough furniture. Fac and staff walked out in solidarity, because civil servants are underpaid and overworked without substantial paid sick leave, etc. University students joined in after the protests were underway.
It’s not French intelligentsia, though the right-wing press and politicians are accusing the left parties and La France Insoumise in particular of fomenting violent riots across the country. Police escalated first by using tear gas against the peaceful high schoolers, and continued to escalate to rubber bullets. Dozens of children aged ~14-17 have been maimed, beaten, and gassed by police in the last week and a half.
Humanite.fr has good coverage if you can read French
Are the French right-wingers blaming it on migrants too? Or is this just fascist onlookers from other countries? I’ve seen a lot of that in comment sections.
Great question. In Paris and its surrounding region in particular, there are large immigrant populations. Often they come from former French colonies in North Africa, and these groups have been racialized, otherized, and ostracized (different language, different religion, different skin color and facial features, etc). There has been a lot more mask-off racist aggression from cops being caught on camera hurling racial epithets, invoking the age-old racist trope of sexual aggression being “normal” in Muslim cultures, and essentially calling everyone else race traitors who “deserve what’s coming to them”. These cops are covering their badges and identification with fascist and misogynist symbols. One local politician who joined the protest was pushed to the ground and clubbed while the cop said “you may have been elected but you’re still a piece of shit like everyone else”.
So to answer your question: yes, the fascists in France are posing it as a racial issue.
They are students yes but the majority are still definitionally proles. Only around 10% of graduates go on to become bourgeoisie, the rest become employed. A solid chunk end up as PMC or professional roles but a surgeon is still a prole, well educated or not.
Aren’t those protests largely made up of ppl from the intelligentsia? How are they “proles”?
The current student walkout in France is led by high schoolers, not university students, protesting unsafe and untenable school conditions. Class sizes of 30-40, water infiltration in classrooms, not enough teachers or paraprofessionals (no subs so classes just get cancelled), not enough furniture. Fac and staff walked out in solidarity, because civil servants are underpaid and overworked without substantial paid sick leave, etc. University students joined in after the protests were underway.
It’s not French intelligentsia, though the right-wing press and politicians are accusing the left parties and La France Insoumise in particular of fomenting violent riots across the country. Police escalated first by using tear gas against the peaceful high schoolers, and continued to escalate to rubber bullets. Dozens of children aged ~14-17 have been maimed, beaten, and gassed by police in the last week and a half.
Humanite.fr has good coverage if you can read French
Are the French right-wingers blaming it on migrants too? Or is this just fascist onlookers from other countries? I’ve seen a lot of that in comment sections.
Great question. In Paris and its surrounding region in particular, there are large immigrant populations. Often they come from former French colonies in North Africa, and these groups have been racialized, otherized, and ostracized (different language, different religion, different skin color and facial features, etc). There has been a lot more mask-off racist aggression from cops being caught on camera hurling racial epithets, invoking the age-old racist trope of sexual aggression being “normal” in Muslim cultures, and essentially calling everyone else race traitors who “deserve what’s coming to them”. These cops are covering their badges and identification with fascist and misogynist symbols. One local politician who joined the protest was pushed to the ground and clubbed while the cop said “you may have been elected but you’re still a piece of shit like everyone else”.
So to answer your question: yes, the fascists in France are posing it as a racial issue.
They are students yes but the majority are still definitionally proles. Only around 10% of graduates go on to become bourgeoisie, the rest become employed. A solid chunk end up as PMC or professional roles but a surgeon is still a prole, well educated or not.
Current protests are public high school students from low-income and/or hyper-dense urban areas. These are oberwhelmingly working class children.
I’m guessing it’s actually much lower than that
I think petty-bourgeoisie is included in that. The figure was very very roughly derived from how many people go on to start or own businesses.