strike, mon gars, strike!

Quick word association: The French: “arrogant, lazy and un peu slimy?” “Rude, stubborn and un peu slimy?” But for all the disparaging generalisations of our trans-Channel neighbours we Brits love to keep, there’s one stereotype that remains irrefutable, that the French, young and old, love to strike, and like a frog swimming breaststroke, they’re extremely good at it.
Scandalised at working until 62 at 35 hours a week, as proposed by the grand fromage himself, President Nicolas Sarkozy, almost the entire nation has gone into disarray. Oil refineries have had to be shut down and the French public transport system, although admittedly never a model of reliability, has been thrown into chaos by strikes. Even the high-schools are at it, yes they blood them young the Gauls, more active than a pond full of tadpoles, protesting students as young as 16 have been forcing schools across the country to close down. Bit of an effort though isn’t it? At the end of the working day (which is probably shorter over there…lazy continentals) the French are complaining, when they have one of the lowest average retirement ages in the EU and a standard legal limit of just 35 hours work a week.
But this is déjà-vu. Just last year in France strikes against a perceived privatisation of universities and the inherent threat of a rise in student fees, which are currently as low as €174/annum for an undergraduate course, kept institutes closed for months, forcing many students to miss exams and re-sit entire years. Really? Deliberately miss out on an entire year of university for the sake of a hundred or so Euros? Why is it that the French, who in comparison to us here in the UK seem to have it so good, feel the need to strike and protest? Va va voom? A certain je ne sais quoi? Maybe the more pertinent question is why are we so happy to sit back apathetically and accept things unquestioning?
Yes the French can be cocky, pushy and annoying but maybe that is the very reason why they are outraged at the idea of working ‘till 62, whilst we’ve practically accepted, albeit grumblingly-but not in such a manner as to be impolite- the fact that we’ll be working until the age of 70.
With this in mind, I turn your attention to the student protest in London this week against the proposed raise in tuition fees. Even capped at £7,000, as suggested recently by certain Lib-Dems, their puppet strings slightly loosened, the fees would render university elitist and simply inaccessible to many. Spending that much on tuition what do they expect us to eat? Cake?? So sign the petitions, keep on demonstrating, be proactive! Be inspired by our amphibious cousins, because they have  spawned some good ideas over time. And let’s not forget what Sartre taught us: even not acting is a chosen action!