Le quotidien qui Mark

Rather than grabbing a banner and lending his voice to the nationwide outrage against plans to curb the right to retire as early as 52, Mr Vial’s attitude was one of calm – if somewhat un-Gallic – acceptance. If he and the rest of France’s younger generation wanted to have any kind of pension at all, he argued, they had to learn to work both harder and longer.

“People must realise strikes hit them in their wallets and they are the victims,” said the 35-year-old university researcher, as protests rocked Paris and dozens of other French cities, and union-led strikes at oil and fuel installations threatened to paralyse its airports. “It’s a sad indictment of our country, but it is not all French people who think this way.”
Until recently, such a stance has been unthinkable in France, where ever since the student-led protests of May 1968, the practice of demonstrating against unpopular government decisions has been regarded as a youthful rite of passage, indeed a duty.
But now, more than 40 years after the “Soixante Huitards” ushered in a dawn of freedom, modernity and Gallic swagger, they are being seen as part of the problem rather than part of the solution, accused of bequeathing an unproductive political culture of militancy and industrial unrest. Hence Mr Vials’ decision to found a movement that few might ever expect to find in modern France – Stop La Grève (Stop The Strike).
“Only in France would 15-year-old schoolchildren go on strike,” said Mr Vial, who was appalled at the move last week by trade unions to urge schoolchildren as well as students to join their current series of nationwide stoppages. “We love our country but people have to be responsible, and realise we cannot go on like this.
“The 68-ers, with their nostalgia of the barricades, need to grow up. Everyone in France needs to be more mature and realise the problems the country faces.”
As of last night, Mr Vial again appeared to be in a minority, as crowds of protesters engaged in sporadic clashes with riot police.
Public and private sector employees and students began marching in dozens of cities, with the biggest crowd assembling in Paris. The mood was upbeat, with disco music blaring and horns honking.
The French interior ministry put the attendance at yesterday’s protests at around 1.25 million, although trade unionists said they were hoping for a similar turnout to their last major weekend rally on Oct 2, which they said drew nearly three million people nationwide.
“We have several million people in the street who support us and believe in us,” said Francois Chereque, the CFDT union leader, at the main protest in Paris. “The only one blocking the country is the government.”
The demonstrations, along with a rolling programme of strikes that have been going on since September, are part of a long-running and as yet unresolved stand-off between the government and France’s trade unions, which still wield huge power relative to their counterparts in Britain.
In what is seen as a key test of nerve for Mr Sarkozy’s centre-Right administration, the labour movements are attempting to force the government into backing down on what it says is much-needed pension reform. Just like David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, Mr Sarkozy insists that the retirement age needs to be raised if France is to clamber out of the €32  billion pension deficit brought about by the global economic crisis. However, even his most basic proposal – a raising of the general minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 – has brought widespread howls of protest.
“We’re prepared to demonstrate under the snow if it takes that long,” said Stephane Thibault, 37, an airport worker, in a demonstration in the southern city of Toulouse yesterday. “We’re mobilised, everyone seems motivated. With Right-wing governments, we know you have to resist.”
As he spoke, lack of fuel forced the shutdown of a pipeline to Paris’s two main airports. The main Paris hub, Roissy Charles de Gaulle, has enough aviation fuel to last until Monday evening or Tuesday, transport ministry officials said. But with 230 French service stations out of 13,000 already dry of fuel, there were queues at petrol stations before dawn, with diesel in particularly short supply.
Railway operator SNCF said that only two out of three high-speed TGV trains were running in and out of Paris, and only one TGV in four outside the capital.
Christine Lagarde, the French economy minister, urged people not to panic over fuel. The government has said it has ample stocks that can keep the nation running for at least a month. “We have reserves,” she said in an interview on French radio. “People mustn’t panic.”
Mr Sarkozy has vowed not to back down on pension reform, which is the pivotal measure of his first term of office and which is aimed at reducing France’s onerous public deficit.
Recent polls of 18-24 year olds in France, though, reveal massive support for the strikes; Viavoice claimed its survey showed 71 per cent of the age group was in favour of the protests, while an Ifop survey found 84 per cent support.
Mr Vial, however, believes young protesters are being manipulated. He says the aim of Stop La Grève is to “defend the liberty of everyone to work”, and claims support for his stance – measured by activity on the organisation’s website – has doubled since the strikes began in September.
“I have the impression there is a change of attitude and a growing return to reality,” he said. In a section of the website titled “Fed up with Selfish Public Servants”, visitors also accuse the unions of trying defend extremely cushy working conditions.
One writes that staff working for EDF and GDF – the French electricity and gas suppliers – have an average retirement age of 55.4 years; and those on the SNCF train network 52.5 years. “How shameful! And they are striking.”
Mr Vial added: “Of course the French don’t want to work for longer, but it has to be done. These 68-ers are leaving us debts and deficits and bills to be paid. There is a real difficulty financing pensions and we are the first generation who will not only have to finance our parents’ retirement but also our grandparents’.”
Ever since 1968, when France was brought to a standstill by students protesting at the “conservative nature” of French society, French governments have tended to back down when youngsters have taken to the streets.
As such, the reappearance of school blockades and marching pupils has the capability to strike fear into Mr Sarkozy’s government, which had given the impression the pension reforms were a done deal.
“Since 1968 politicians have taken to watching the mobilisation of youngsters like one watches boiling milk,” said Frédéric Dabi, a political analyst with the opinion pollsters Ifop.
“There have been numerous bouts of industrial action in the past where the involvement of youngsters has made a difference.”
The president has had a rough few months that have seen his popularity plummet to an unprecedented low over three issues: the expulsion of Roma migrants, sleaze allegations and the pension reforms. His public standing first took a hit before the summer when allegations that his 2007 presidential campaign was boosted by illegal donations from France’s richest woman, L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.
One of his key ministers, Eric Woerth, the employment minister, who is spearheading the pension reforms was also accused of turning a blind eye to alleged tax evasion by Madame Bettencourt.
Since August, he has also been under pressure at home and abroad after sending gendarmes and police into Roma camps and expelling the inhabitants. Various opinion polls show a majority of the French population – up to 70 per cent – support the strikes, boosting the unions who this week called for open-ended rolling strikes in certain sectors. Another national strike will be held on Tuesday. However, other polls show an equally large majority accept that pension reform is inevitable.
The government hopes the reform will have final parliamentary approval by the end of the month.
As Mr Woerth told French senators: “It’s difficult to tell the French they have to work more, up to 67 years, but it has to be done.”