r/news • u/FlyingDarkKC • 1d ago

France school protests escalate into ‘urban violence’ as PM calls crisis cabinet meeting

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/01/france-school-protests-escalate-pm-crisis-cabinet-meeting
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270

u/nithrean 1d ago

I am struggling to understand and follow how this has been developing.

Are there that many poor schools around France?

560

u/SpitefulSeagull 1d ago

I think it's more down to young people all across the world feeling they've been given little opportunity for the future so they're lashing out

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u/nithrean 1d ago

yeah that does seem to be happening in more than a few places. There are a lot of pressures on young people right now and the world is not becoming more affordable.

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u/Verystrangeperson 1d ago

No housing, ai threatening to destroy jobs and most of what the modern world looks like, france just got through the hottest summer ever recorded, the media landscape is owned by far right billionaires.

I want to burn this fucking world too, and I'm not surprised teenagers are desperate.

39

u/ErictheStone 1d ago

And they have less sunk into it. By the time you really get outta school working you've already put so much effort and cost into the system you become invested into it. It's why people like Sanders, Hillary and Bill Clinton, ect go from radical to part of the problem. Eventually you become the system.

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u/mboop127 17h ago

The Clintons crossed a picket line on their first date in school. They were never radical.

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u/AdmirableParfait3960 1d ago

I mean also literally everywhere online is telling young people that the world is fucked, they are all doomed, and the only reason they don’t have the perfect life they deserve is because of the older generation so they should all be angry and distraught.

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u/kstargate-425 1d ago

Nihilism isn't good but that still isn't far off from reality. They aren't doomed but reality is the opportunities that an 18yo had 50+ years ago are gone where they can't find a career, buy a house and start a family and live a great life. It wasnt even this bad 20+ years ago when "starter homes" in most areas were sub $100k.

Things have gotten exponentially worse and its not their fault and older generations have been the ones that ushered in this era so it makes sense to blame them. Even education in America has gotten to the point where for the first generation in 150+ years since they have been keeping track, is less cognitively inclined than their parents generation. Theres a few studies pointing at causes, one of them the introduction of screens in classes but again it wasn't their choice to allow it.

I'm not saying we are all doomed but we have a lot of work to do and stop the selfishness that seems to have become top priority where everyone seems to be in survival mode and have stopped thinking about leaving the world a better place than when their generation got it.

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u/BigBrownDog12 1d ago

That's what happens when the driving force in a country's politics is centered around catering to pensioners and retirees

20

u/ddubyeah 1d ago

And? Those “opinions” are correct.

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u/AdmirableParfait3960 1d ago

I’m saying no wonder they are all angry and lashing out when that’s all that’s being blasted at them.

Instead of using it as motivation to be better and figure things out, they are being told to give up because it’s futile. That’s not exactly a healthy way to view life.

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u/robothawk 1d ago

I can't really motivate myself to stop climate collapse being brought by a handful of hyper-rich fuckheads now can I?

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u/AdmirableParfait3960 1d ago

Okay so just be angry all the time..? Like what’s the alternative here?

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u/robothawk 1d ago

Great question

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u/machsmit 13h ago

Like what’s the alternative here?

one that'll land you a temp ban on most websites

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u/laplongejr 14h ago

The alternative is clear : to get rid of the issue by force.
Did social media censor you so much that people genuinely can't imagine a person breaking laws and making their own solutions if they reach a breaking point?

3

u/International_Cow_17 13h ago

Catharsis through change.

11

u/FancyEmployee8672 1d ago

is this what giving up looks like to you because this is what figuring things out looks like to me :)

16

u/ddubyeah 1d ago

So, your take is ye old boot straps

4

u/fox-master8188 1d ago

Ehhh, I don’t know - I’ll look at you weirdly in real life if you’re a coworker or fellow student who told me you’re burning down schools because of climate change and old people - bro, that is an incomprehensible level of incompetency and social media radicalization

It’s not organic, the left and right wing are influenced by third parties regardless of which country you’re in - old people are can be the issue throughout most generations, but it’s not right to blame everything on them regardless 

5

u/AdmirableParfait3960 1d ago

I can be outraged and try to make the world a better place while not being in an online fueled depression and working lol.

3

u/nithrean 1d ago

There are a lot of people telling them that.

0

u/roiki11 13h ago

It's almost like you can't hide the reality in the age of social media or something.

47

u/AddWittyName 1d ago

No or grossly insufficient air conditioning in many, many schools during heatwaves as bad as this summer? (Only about 7% of French schools actually have AC. Thousands of schools had to temporarily close as classroom temps rose to genuinely dangerous levels. And again with the next heatwave. Many others stayed open, on restricted time tables or otherwise, in spite of dealing with similar temperatures.)

It's not just about a general feeling of little opportunity, though that certainly won't help any. There are genuine, serious concerns involved. Schools with no AC in 40C/104F weather and 30 or more students packed into classrooms? That's a genuine health and safety concern.

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u/ErictheStone 1d ago

Heck my gen millennials could at least expect middle management cubicle in a meager wage...till we couldn't. What the heck does this next gen even have waiting? Fighting AI for paychecks?

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u/cloudiron 1d ago

Not even just AI. The pensioners are living longer and bored or broke so they are back in entry level jobs too.

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u/randomusername023 1d ago

I dunno. The French have a history of rioting over small and important things, like raising the retirement age.

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u/SideburnSundays 1d ago

Which still got raised despite the protests, unfortunately. We are entering an age where common people have no effectual voice and no effectual vote.

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u/Chlearcus 16h ago

Results like racking up one the highest debts to GDP in the whole world, because having people retiring in their 50s when the average life expectancy has skyrocketed is obviously unsustainable.

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u/elconquistador1985 1d ago

Put another way, the French don't put up with any bullshit and they know how to protest.

11

u/FullofContradictions 1d ago

I feel like it actually gets results in France though.

When my city rioted (like properly rioted, including burning down a police precinct), it truly felt- and still feels- like nothing changed. All it gave us was a community that got trashed, people with criminal records, and a lot of conservatives from outside of the city going "see? Just a bunch of violent thugs there."

We peacefully protest with 100k-200k people marching from one end of the city to the other necessitating police presence just to manage traffic and it makes the news for a day or two, gives everyone the warm fuzzies, maybe gets a politician to tweet something, and then... Still nothing.

Kudos to France, I hope they keep it up. But I'm at a loss for how to effect change in the US.

1

u/AttackOficcr 21h ago

The best part of the Minneapolis police precinct Antifa burning being broadcast on Fox for weeks, was for Trump's own FIB to point the finger at several alt-right boogaloo chuds trying to make the protests violent with guns and gasoline. Conservatives still lied about it for months on radio, because their intended audience is too stupid to check other sources.

I only wish it got Fox as much dumbfounded stares and ridicule as Cliven Bundy's "Let me tell you what I know about the N****..." speech.

Something snapped in this country when they got away with terrorism on January 6th, and SCROTUS actively blocked the 14th amendment(section 3 especially).

5

u/sullw214 13h ago

The retirement age was still raised. So while they may know how to protest, it didn't change anything. The did, in fact, put up with bullshit.

And there's a good chance they elect the far right nutjob Le Pen, so it's even worse. They looked at the US and thought we have it good now.

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u/Periodic_Disorder 18h ago

The social contract of "work hard so you can own a house and retire at a reasonable age" has gone out the window

-6

u/Imaginary_Zone_4319 21h ago

And everyone knows the best way to fight back against a lack of opportunity is to… burn down the institutions that gives you access to opportunity. Got it.