Will come, won’t come? The arrival of young people – whether they come from high schools, campuses or companies – in the processions against the pension reform is a major issue, seen by many as a potential “rocker” in the movement. An issue of influence within the youth, too. They were clearly more numerous in the street on January 31 than on January 19, thus participating in the record of the largest number of demonstrators in France for more than thirty years – 1.27 million, according to the police. However, there is still room, believe the student organizations which, from Fage to L’Alternative via Unef, are calling for opposition to the pension reform.
The unions ensure that they do not skimp to bring people in: “We encourage people to go to general meetings, we call for blocking from the start of the week”, describes Imane Ouelhadj, president of Unef, the country’s third largest union, ranked at LEFT. “We do leafleting, door to door in the U cities…”, explains Eléonore Schmidt, spokesperson for L’Alternative, the second union in the country, very much on the left. For the moment, the attendance at general assemblies is not that of the previous reform, in 2019-2020, but it is progressing, assure the trade unionists questioned. In any case, the students feel concerned: “Yesterday, I was on a tow in Tolbiac, and people see very well what we are talking about, we no longer even need to explain how this affects young people. “, says Eléonore Schmidt.
Influence Battle
This mobilization of youth in major social movements is haloed by a more or less fantasized legend: it would make governments bend. “This is one of the elements that can tip the movement, believes 22-year-old LFI deputy Louis Boyard. Imagine if, in addition to the mobilization of January 31, the youth really got into it… The project would be withdrawn! “Even if this has been less the case in recent years, the hunting table for young people is indeed well stocked: without going back to May 1968, the Devaquet bill on university selection (1986), the “young minimum wage » (1994), the First Job Contract (2006)… All these reforms fell into the field of honor of an angry youth.
Successfully mobilizing it is therefore a key element of the current social conflict. And the object of a battle of influence. In private, several deputies of rebellious France claim the presence of this public in the processions. Because it is LFI which is at the origin of the march of young people against the pension reform of January 21. The demonstration was officially at the call of “youth organizations”, several unions or youth sections of left-wing political parties. But it is indeed the influence of LFI which “gave a greater scope to the march, recognizes Éléonore Schmidt, of L’Alternative. LFI has a greater logistics force than the others. »
Front not quite united
According to the police headquarters, this demonstration of January 21 brought together only 15,000 people between Bastille and Nation, in Paris. Not really a success. But it was ten times more according to the organizers. Including Louis Boyard, lyrical: “It was incredible, the most beautiful demonstration of my life! There were very young faces, who were doing their first demonstration. Implied: we put their foot in the stirrup. LFI’s influence in this? “The youth organizations told us ‘we need to go out, we want a date’, we heard them! It was normal that we support them”, explains Louis Boyard, also responsible for the “space” intervention in the youth of the coordination of LFI.
If Louis Boyard denies any intention of this kind, in private, among the rebellious, we readily admit that the aim of the initiative was to “get the reformist organizations moving”, professional but also student. Moreover, neither the Unef, nor the Fage (first trade union of the country, apartisant but more with the center left), did not sign the call to express of January 21. “It was not really the right calendar for the students, who were in full partial, was not very effective for a big mobilization”, gently tackles the president of Unef, Imane Ouelhadj. “If there are other initiatives, so much the better, but for us it’s not up to the parties to do it, it’s up to the unions”, pleads for his part the spokesman of the Fage, Félix Sosso, aligned with the professional inter-union.
Double on his left
The two do not feel the least bit concerned by possible pressure from LFI, and refer to L’Alternative, a union which signed the call to demonstrate on January 21. “They are more affected, they are much closer to the rebellious”, slips Felix Sosso. “I know this reputation, smile Eléonore Schmidt, it’s an attack that we are often made, it’s funny. She swears that L’Alternative is no closer to the rebellious than to ecologists or socialists, but assumes “a difference of approach”. “UNEF has always had strong ties with left-wing parties [surtout le Parti socialiste], they could influence a network of elected officials, but it has deteriorated, they no longer have the same strength”, tackles the spokesperson for L’Alternative, who claims to have “taken over”. For example via amendments to the budget drafted with the arguments of the union… “With LFI, but not only”, she insists.
“There was a time when, when the president of Unef snapped his fingers, all the universities in the country were blocked, but it’s over,” explains an anonymous LFI deputy, who sees it as a considerable mobilization lever. A lever in the battle on the left, too: the Unef has long been the nursery of socialist executives. However, like the PS, the Unef has lost its luster. Defeated for the first time (by Fage) in the 2017 student elections, the union was also – narrowly – overtaken on its left for the first time by L’Alternative and its allies in 2021. At the start of 2023, the insubordinate France is not only firing all wood against the pension reform, it is also investing in the future.