They Eat Horses, Don't They? by Piu Marie Eatwell

Author:Piu Marie Eatwell [Eatwell, Piu Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781781854433
Publisher: Head of Zeus

François Mitterrand once observed, with characteristic astuteness, that ‘there are two ways to sabotage the right to strike: to regulate it, as does the Right, or to use it wrongly and perversely, as does the Left.’ Many are the French services that are badly broken and in dire need of repair, yet paralyzed by vested interests that hit the streets at any hint of proposed reform. For example, the chronic shortage of taxis in Paris (there are a mere 17,000 licensed taxis in Paris, as against 25,000 licensed taxis and 44,000 minicabs in London),12 is a direct result of the refusal of current taxi drivers to allow new licences to be issued. Every time any French government timidly suggests liberalizing the taxi market – as several have done – the taxi drivers protest en masse, blocking traffic in central Paris and airport routes with angry honking.

There is, however, an odd thing about traditional French street protests and strikes. That is, whenever the government of the day grows a backbone and toughs it out, the protesters tend to grumble for a while, then return to their old routines as if nothing had happened. So it was with the May ’68 revolution, which actually saw the re-election of the Gaullist party the following year (just as Ronald Reagan’s election as Governor of California in 1967 may well have been helped by his commitment to ‘clean up’ the anti-Vietnam War student protests raging in the state at that time). Similarly, the pensions furore of 2010 was essentially ignored by the Sarkozy government, and petered out into a grumpy acceptance of pension reform. Not that the French have much choice in such matters; as we shall see in the next chapter, they have invested so much power in their president that there is not much they could do to rein in his actions, other than protest. It is as though, in France, the traditional, time-honoured strike or mass demonstration is a massive social safety valve, a chance to let off steam, shout and have a tantrum, before returning to the real world. Which is perhaps just as well, because with five republics, two empires and a monarchy since 1789, perhaps the last thing the French need is another revolution.

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