I'm getting tired just blogging about it

Now a days, the most common question I receive is about the riots. Don’t you worry, I’m quite safe. Generally speaking the most aggressive protests are in Paris, and there’s nothing really that exciting here in Bordeaux.

Now, the question is: what is getting the French all riled up? Well, like I’ve pointed out in previous blogs, the French love their breaks. This translates beyond the simple coffee/cigarette breaks; it means that they vacation longer, don’t work on Sundays, nothing is open past 7 pm/19 and they retire at the age of 60. (Random side note: some professions actually retire earlier, 55, these are usually the more laborious jobs, but still….)

France’s politicians are quite smart to realize that with this weak economy it’s going to be difficult to pay for everyone’s retirement. Also, people are living longer these days, which means that France will be forced to pay retirement longer. The brilliant way to avoid paying these benefits just a few years longer (and surprisingly enough, keep collecting taxes) is to raise the retirement age. They aren’t even raising it to the world standard (65 years old), they are just raising it to 62 years old. I read an article that described the young people protesting (they’re upset because there won’t be any jobs when they finish school because no one is retiring.) as going through a French rite of passage. It’s funny because the people that are protesting are fighting for the opposite things--the right not to work and the right to work.

The day of the first tram strike in Bordeaux we had a brief discussion about retirement ages around the world because there were many international students in the class. It seemed for the most part retirement age was 65, some countries actually have different retirement ages for men and women, some countries (like France) force you to retire at said retirement age. That one shocked me, I informed the class that most people in the US work past the retirement age, whether it is because they like it, or we just have horrible retirement benefits. This kind of discussion is one of the greatest reasons to be here, I love learning about everyone’s different lifestyles and why they live like that, what a hoot.

Anyway, back to the angry French. If anyone is unhappy about something they strike. I have heard from more than one French person that strikes are their national sport. To Americans it just seems stupid and a waste of time, but this is how they have been solving problems since the French Revolution. I think that we should just be grateful that they aren’t whipping out the guillotines. It actually is quite interesting to ask the French how they feel about the strikes. Most people support the strikers, because it is their right to protest, not necessarily because they agree that the age should stay at 60. Daily life in France is greatly affected by the strikes, but you just figure it out, there’s no point in complaining, you just shove onto the tram with the rest of the population and move on with your life.

Like I mentioned before, there haven’t really been riots in Bordeaux. The biggest issue is the trams going on strike. While it would get the message across if they stopped running the trams all together, the workers understand that it’s not the commuters’ fault that the politicians want to raise the retirement age, so instead they just run on Sunday schedule. This means that the tram doesn’t come very often, and when it finally does it’s completely packed with people. The funny thing about the strikes is that they tell us when they’re going to happen. All I can say is go grocery shopping the day before the strike is planned. Also, some days they plan “demonstrations” (these just look like parades), this can shut down pieces of the tram line, but it’s usually just for a couple hours.

Some other issues with protests around France are the gasoline supplies. People are blocking the use of fuel, so costs are going through the roof, and making gas very difficult to obtain. The trains are running on a completely confusing schedule that involves praying that your train will arrive and praying it will leave. On the other hand, I heard it’s really easy to ride the trains for free because no one checks tickets or really cares, because really, people just want to get home. Because fuel costs are so high, flights have been having difficulties. My friend actually got stuck on the runway, the pilot literally said, “we are at the mercy of that man, who is on strike right now.” After an hour of sitting on the runway, the man decided to stop striking and help attach the plane. Wow. My only hope is that the street cleaners don’t go on strike because there’s enough dog merde already.