labour law: from amphi to street, standing youth
/ Aurélien Morissard
With their fist raised, young people have been marching in mass in France since March 2016. Together, they are fighting against the labour law bill El-Khomri (named after the minister who initiated it). At stake: their future, already very uncertain. What they fear? That the new drastic provisions of this law destroy their professional hopes. Then they have been demonstrating for four months, for their voices may be heard. Although determined not to let go even if, on the pavement, the slap is violent. Strikes of truncheons, grenades of disentanglement, tear bombs ... Very soon, to face the forces of order, the students exchange caps and scarves against helmets and masks. These multiple inter-union national events are highly publicized. But would it be so much if the students had not gone to the niche from the start? For in truth, the young people united well before joining the protestors, placard in hand. From Saint-Denis to Nanterre via Tolbiac and Jussieu. On the benches of the faculty, from the end of the school holidays, professors and pupils discussed strategy and organization, a little in the manner of a council. The kind of briefing we know imperative before any great battle.
I chose to follow them at that moment. Because - if they are still unaware of it - what was written there, from the top of their amphi, could indeed be a part of our history.
