Aux barricades!

By Hosni Abdel-Rehim

The Paris march included a large number of teachers and was directed by peace-keeping groups formed by the unions. As a result of this broad-based demonstration, Minister of Education Claude Allègre promised to listen to student demands and proposed to establish a dialogue with the students, the teachers and the unions. Meanwhile, the leftist parties have tried to strengthen their hand by attempting to join the ongoing negotiations.

The students' rage only subsided with announcements made by Allègre, conceding to certain of their demands and calling on the National Assembly to increase school budget allocations.

The demonstrations had been preceded by a dispute between the minister of education and the Teachers' Syndicate (FNE). The latter opposed the education reform policy of the former, claiming that the project -- which includes reforms of the academic curricula and a reorganisation of school hours -- would cut down on the teachers' overtime pay. Allègre, however, claimed that the opposition of some teachers represented the interests of a conservative trend, which is opposed to the positive development of the French educational system.

The student movement was supported by the entire political spectrum, from left to right. The students, however, steered away from party politics and refused to peddle slogans. Instead, they railed against an outdated system of education which does not adequately prepare them for a tough and highly competitive job market. They also strongly criticised the current baccalauréat system -- the final high school exam -- for being too difficult and too competitive.

The movement began with peaceful demonstrations in the suburbs and provinces culminating in a mass rally in Paris.

On 13 October, demonstrations in Paris ended in street violence and the arrest of 100 students -- accused of theft, vandalism and looting. The students involved were the same people who hit the streets after France won the World Cup, chanting "Zidane for President". They live in impoverished neighbourhoods and are mainly the daughters and sons of poor immigrants who cannot gain entrance to the more prestigious Parisian schools.

These students know their fate is already sealed: what awaits them is unemployment and, at best, a life of crime. They are the ones who are, as a rule, picked up, harassed and sometimes even killed by the police. They took to the streets to express their anger and deprivation and to expose the emptiness of the revolutionary slogans of old: "freedom, equality and fraternity". To the political establishment, the students are threatening simply because they have nothing much to lose and are unafraid -- to them no fate could be worse than unemployment.

Student revolts are a recurring event in France. Allègre already experienced a student uprising in 1990, when he was an advisor to then minister of education, Lionel Jospin. Not much has changed since then, though, and the schools of the poor remain astoundingly ill-equipped.

In the wake of the demonstrations, a national coordination committee was formed and is expected to come up with recommendations regarding educational reforms. Students, however, are unimpressed with the committee's stand and its composition. Many student leaders believe that the committee has already taken a biased stand by condemning acts of violence without referring to police brutality or the relevant social context.

The student leaders also rejected the committee for not being representative, because it is exclusively made up of Parisians. Students from the provinces and suburbs have therefore established their own parallel committees to propose an alternative and more relevant reform agenda.