Some More News on the Strikes in France

Bonjour !

So I told you I’d give you an update on the strike sitch, so voilà !: the blockage is over! Well… at least no one’s tried to block the campus since last Tuesday, and that makes almost one week since there’s been no blocking happening… soooo… I would say we’re in the clear Still, I thought I would add a few more pictures of “blockage” related happenings on campus to wrap up the story on that. Also, as my last post had lots and lots of writing in it, I’ll make up for it with this post by keeping it short and sweet with lots of pictures

Me and some other American students on the morning of the 3rd Tuesday that we arrived to school at 8am in the morning only to have the campus blocked again. We were pretty frustrated even though we don’t really seem mad in this picture, but it’s supposed to be a “what the heck?!?!” kind of picture, as it was déjà vu for the third Tuesday in a row!

A picture of the infamous “Bâtiment B” with the phrase “VIVE LA COMMUNE!” written on it during the blockage.

I took a picture of this because I had originally approached this door hoping to get into the building, having forgotten that it was completely blocked. Pretty hilarious…

And now I must at least briefly touch upon some of the other strikes that have been going on in France. Well, let’s see… SNCF, which is the company that operates the railroad throughout France, has several times now gone on strike, which for them basically means not running the majority of the trains throughout France or at least between certain destinations. This is a huge inconvenience, and they know it well, because many French people rely on the railroad to get them back and forth between cities either for work, for travel- who knows what else! Anyways, they are doing this because the government has taken away their special retirement-type-plan-thing where now, instead of only having to work for the company for 37.5 years before being able to retire, they must work 40 years. The bus company in Rennes, STAR, has also gone one strike at one point, causing major inconveniences for the Rennais as well. Let’s see, who else? Oh! I can’t forget the “general strike” that happened all throughout France one day. Tons of people- even high schoolers!!!!- went on strike (pictures below), protesting against the government and their policy changes, which I find pretty cool. Governments definitely aren’t perfect, and I think it’s great for people to exercise their right to protest against what the government is doing, but not to the point of hurting the economy of the country (though that’s probably what they are trying to do to get the attention of the government…).

Inside “Bâtiment L” during a sit in of the students who were against the blockage. Basically, the blockers arrived back on campus after a manifestation so the security was going to close down all the buildings again, but the students against the blockage protested and did a sit in in the building so it would impossible to close the building. Unfortunately, we were eventually told we had to leave, but this did make an impression on the strikers- it showed them just how many students were against the blockage.

Two American friends and one Russian friend sitting down during the sit in.

Downtown during the “General Strike” day.

Need I explain? Baby on a stick... I don't really know what this represents. Your guess is as good as mine.

Strikers protesting throughout the streets- a very peaceful manifestation, mind you.

Special military police blocking the entrance to the railroad station against the approaching strikers. They were doing this because before the strikers would come and literally protest on the railways, thus preventing the trains to continue on a normal schedule.

Closer shot.

Strikers in the distance… I think they had been planning on entering the railroad station, but after seeing the special military police, thought better of doing that… I mean, wouldn’t you?

And to finish this post, I’ll add another of my “slang” English conversations that the French students in my class are learning since I didn’t add it in the last post like I said I would (it was already too long, wouldn’t you say?) and to give you all another good laugh:

Conversation n°2

- Arthur is in a jam. You remember he wanted to buy a TV set?

- So what? It fell apart?

- Exactly. He bought a lemon. It’s been on the blink ever since he took it home. The shop set him up, no doubt. I had always thought those guys were not on the level.

- Fly-by-night, eh? Could he get an agreement with them?

- Not a snowball’s chance in hell! They say it’s his fault. They want him to cough up a hundred more euros for the repairs.

- That’s nothing to sneeze at. He should have double-checked, shouldn’t he? Unfortunately I can’t bail him out. I’m hard up these days.

- So am I. Maybe we could fix the set for him?

- Not me, good God! I’m all thumbs when it comes to electronics.

- Peter’s always handy. Let’s ask him.

…. Bizarre, huh?

Happy December!

Au revoir!