French labour laws trigger immense protests

[Fake Boris]

And to the Sorbonne blockers who sent a dozen cops to the hospital

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
A failure of the french education system?

Now, the argument is that the "higher-ups" don't protest, and that only the "bottom-downs" do? Wouldn't that be the very opposite of what you were arguing at the beginning of the thread?

[Lawrence of Arabia]

Are you for real? I can personally testify that this is exactly the case in my country. Tell me, what do you do for a living?

im a student. I cant get a 'real' job here since unemployment is 7%, and most places do not want to hire students, so I give guitar lessons, and go from one temp job to another (one time things were they pay you to work one night or one weekend)

show me statistics that in your country you have similar levels of temporary employment as the french do, and the same problems that come with it.

what is up with all this pink, block, bold letters?

[Provost Harrison]

I wouldn't know where to find it, but you're welcome to have a dig for it, we have one of the highest levels in Europe...

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
what is up with all this pink, block, bold letters?

I imagine it's the OTBOT, who decides what's interesting and what isn't.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

And to the Sorbonne blockers who sent a dozen cops to the hospital

La fronde de la jeunesse vire à la castagne

Now, the argument is that the "higher-ups" don't protest, and that only the "bottom-downs" do? Wouldn't that be the very opposite of what you were arguing at the beginning of the thread?

the argument is that the system is two tierd, and those on the bottom dont get anything, because 1. they get the shaft from the system and cant get into a good uni, and then 2. shoot themselves in the foot when they are pro 'jobs for life', when it is actually that that is preventing them from getting jobs in the first place.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

I imagine it's the OTBOT, who decides what's interesting and what isn't.

just a random thing right?


you gotta be concerned when 3/4 of france's youth want to work for the state. how can we come to such a lack of ambition?

[Lawrence of Arabia]

how much longer do you think the protests can continue for?

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
you gotta be concerned when 3/4 of france's youth want to work for the state. how can we come to such a lack of ambition?

Because people can be ambitious with things that aren't related to their economic activity?

[Lawrence of Arabia]

Because people can be ambitious with things that aren't related to their economic activity?

which can only be done if the country's economic activity doesnt fall behind. what do you think will happen when the state cannot afford to pay lavish social services anymore because economic growth has been stagnant?

[Provost Harrison]

But that just isn't the case, profits are soaring and with modern technology, look at the rates of productivity...it's about time we all started to reap the benefits of that!

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
how much longer do you think the protests can continue for?

No idea. Chirac's speech, despite being useless, adds something new to the debate:
1. Are the demanded changes acceptable or not? (an attempt to divide the unions)
2. Should the movement continue as it is, or should it renew itself? (which could lead to good or bad results)
3. Will the Easter break kill the student protests?

Everybody is in the unknown about the situation. All politically-involved people (be they on the right or on the left) have had surprises in the past month, and thus we still have no idea about what will happen next.
There's a demo next tuesday. We'll see how it looks. I expect the demo not to be as large as last tuesday's, because I haven't heard of a strike in the planning, and because it isn't as broadly advertised as last tuesday's.

Basically, I expect that both sides will spin the participation of next tuesday's demo to fit their agenda. Unless the demo is actually larger than the previous one, in which case the right will have a hard time spinning it.

[Provost Harrison]

Looks like the next step should be a general strike...sounds like the government needs strongarming a little bit more...

[Lawrence of Arabia]

1973 GPD per capita (from nationmaster):

France : $12, 940 (7th)
Ireland: $7,023 (23rd)

1990 PIB/ hab (OCDE)

France: $17,718
Ireland: $ 12,890

2002 PIB/ hab (OCDE)

France: $27,217
Ireland: $32, 464

Ireland has even passed france in the Human Development Index (HDI) from nationmaster:

France: 0,938
Ireland: 0,946

[Provost Harrison]

Ireland has excelled recently, but that isn't just against France, that is against us as well (the UK). Bear in mind that there is very free flow between Ireland and the UK...it is quite conceivable that in my line of work there is a high probability that I could end up working there...