In the (long) list of clichés attributed to France – and which we find desperately in each episode of the series Emily in Paris –, we could cite baguette bread, red wine, cheese, French Kiss, laziness or rudeness. But there is one thing that comes up often and in which the French excel: the demonstration. And it is not the foreign press that will say the opposite. For several months now, the eyes of the whole world have been riveted on France, which continues its twelfth day of mobilization against the pension reform, this Thursday.
Compact crowds of demonstrators, police charges and overflowing trash cans… The images parading on social networks are a far cry from the clichés conveyed by American comedy. And some have particularly marked our neighbors, including the presenter of the famous American talk show “Last Week Tonight”, John Olivier.
“The quintessence of France”
At the beginning of April, the journalist devoted one of the chronicles of his show to the pension reform and the mobilization against the text of the law, alternating between humor, mockery and a certain admiration. “So France is lucky to have the kind of generous welfare policy that is becoming increasingly rare these days, but that’s probably why they’re fighting so hard to protect it. And I must say that these demonstrations have brought out moments that are the quintessence of France, ”he explained, before posting a video that has been doing the rounds on social networks in recent weeks.
It shows a couple from Bordeaux drinking a glass of wine on the terrace, in total relaxation. The scene might seem banal if a large street fire had not been lit just behind them, on the sidelines of the demonstrations against the pension reform. “Wow. It’s a trademark, ”reacts John Olivier. “I think that after a nuclear holocaust, the only creatures that will survive will be cockroaches and a French couple sipping wine with astonishing relaxation, completely indifferent to the annihilation of society,” he quips.
Then the presenter continues his column: “The demonstrators themselves have sometimes come close to a magnificent autoparody”, he explains, before broadcasting the video, which has become viral and shared by many foreign media, of the activist activist of Alternatiba Paris, Mathilde Caillard, alias “MC dances for the climate” on social networks. “Retirements, climate, same fight, no pensioners on a burnt planet”, she sings, on a techno sound, all accompanied by a frenzied choreography. “I think I just overdosed on frankness. It’s honestly intimidating for me to watch because she does everything I can’t. Dancing, looking cool with sunglasses and bangs”, continues the American journalist at the end of the extract.
And obviously, the American journalist is seduced by the art of demonstrating in the French way: “It is clear that the French will continue to fight for their quality of life, and if this week is any indication, they will continue to look damn cool while they’re doing it,” he concludes.
The demonstration in “the DNA of the French”
Have the French demonstrations become “cool” for our neighbors? Not exactly, believes Lindsey Tramuta, a Franco-American journalist and author, based in Paris for sixteen years. For her, it is more a form of admiration in “what is part of the DNA of the French”. “In the collective imagination, it is the country of the revolution, it is the country which has risen up against its power. There is a certain fascination, even admiration, for this fiber of protest that exists in France, ”analyzes the journalist. Especially since, as John Olivier says in his column, it is thanks to the mobilizations that “the French have obtained the rights they have today”, adds Lindsey Tramuta.
But even more than the protest itself, it is the length of the movements that fascinates abroad. “The mobilization against the pension reform is already in its third month. For the yellow vests, it was the same. Americans did not understand how the protests could go on for so long. In the United States, we had the Black Live Matter movement, but the population failed to recreate this momentum, this energy, to make it last, it is something that the French do much better, ”explains the journalist.
If the French demonstrations force the admiration of our neighbors, they arouse above all envy, according to her: “Behind, the message, it is a desire to say ‘it is not only the French who must fight to protect their rights. Why don’t the Americans or the British do the same? Why don’t we adopt the energy of the French? “. “At the global level, many want to see resistance, to see people who are mobilizing, it arouses hope, envy. It is an example of struggle, of not giving up,” adds Mathilde Caillard.
#BeMoreFrench
A discourse that has also gained momentum on social networks. On Twitter, a newcomer has appeared in the world of hashtags: #BeMoreFrench (#Be more French), launched by British Internet users at the end of March to praise the perseverance of French demonstrators. While the United Kingdom is also affected by a social crisis, the French mobilization appears as a model to follow among our neighbors across the Channel. “The French are right. They announce that the retirement age is going from 62 to 64 and the population says NO! We, it will climb to 67 years. Why don’t we rise up? “, writes a user.
Even the conservative newspaper The Telegraph seems to envy the French protest. In a column, the editorialist Sam Brodbeck underlined the courage of the French, assuring that “we should all be more French”.
If the French mobilization arouses admiration abroad, Mathilde Caillard nevertheless wishes to underline the violence of the movement: “It is a social movement which has been bogged down for three months. Opposite, by extremism, Emmanuel Macron refuses to withdraw his project. Obviously, we would like to do something else, but we continue the fight. We demonstrate, we dance, we sing, we make noise, we are visible, even on the other side of the planet, ”she concludes.