La Greve

With the late debut of the blog, I have a lot to catch up on. Schools, language, food, malodorous roommates...there's a lot to cover. But I would like to first talk about what's had France in the headlines for the past week - la greve! Across France millions of people (or is it thousands? The news outlets list 2 figures for demonstrations: the number reported by the unions and the number reported by the police) have hit the streets (or simply stayed home) to voice their displeasure at the government's plan to raise the retirement age. In Marseille, the garbage men have been on strike for the past week, resulting in mounds of trash strewed around the city, while in Lyon there have been some minor riots involving high school kids. Oil refineries have been blockaded for 10 days now and as a result there is a shortage of gasoline, with many pumps having run dry.
Though there have been several days of marches through the streets of Rouen, things have been fairly quiet in Normandy compared to the rest of the country. I watched one of the rallies and it was pretty boring. Just a bunch of people calmly walking down the street, chatting with one another, while a few ringleaders used megaphones and others held banners. It looked more like a charity walk than a protest. Things must have heated up a little bit after I left, though, as the next day I saw the banks had been pelted with eggs and paintballs. Stay classy France...

For the most part the protests have had little impact on me - I've had to walk rather than take the bus a few times, a day trip to Versailles with a teacher was postponed because there was no gasoline to be found - and have mostly just been a nuisance. For others who must commute daily I realize the rolling strikes have been much more disruptive. But as the strikes enter their 4th week, I've officially decided that I've had enough. The strikers finally got to me last night when I learned that my flight to Spain to visit my sister had been cancelled do to yet another day of strikes. I was momentarily furious. The retirement reform bill has already been passed by the legislature, it's a done deed. Yet the air traffic controllers (in a telling display of "solidarity" some, not all) stayed at home in protest because the idea of working a day past the age of 60 is too much for them. Really? Working 35 hour weeks with 8 weeks vacation per year until you're 62 is too much to ask? I think most Americans would take that deal in a heartbeat. This whole retirement reform protest/greve saga strikes me as a bit immature. They're like childish high school kids, throwing eggs at the banks and marching around self-righteously. I don't think these strikers realize how good they have it. Now I know it's a part of their history, part of their fabric, to demonstrate publicly and express how they feel about government changes. And honestly I think this is a good thing, a good way for the public to keep the government in check. If nothing else, this affair has shown that the French are certainly involved and aware of political matters. But at this point they need to give it up. Go back to work already.