More student blocs in France, towards possible 'convergence' with yellow vests
Quick Look
- Student mobilization continues in France against school policies.
- Anticipation is growing for Saturday, where the aim is for convergence between students and the 'yellow vests' movement against the high cost of living, with over 1,000 initiatives planned.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The yellow vest movement profoundly affected France in the two-year period 2018-2019. The current student protests focus on school construction and university orientation.
Student mobilization in France continues, albeit to a lesser extent, with some schools still blocked ahead of the third meeting today between student organizations and the Minister of Education, Edouard Geffray, while a possible ''convergence of struggles'' between young people and the yellow vests is being prepared for Saturday. At the center of the discussion with Géffray this afternoon were issues related to school buildings, the university orientation platform 'Parcoursup', accused of entrusting the fate of young people to an algorithm, and lesson times.
For the first time, students from Hec, the prestigious school of advanced commercial studies in Paris, also joined the mobilization, whose access to the Jouy-en-Josas campus was blocked in the morning. Meanwhile, on social media, over 1,000 protest initiatives are being reviewed on Saturday, as part of a new mobilization that aims to bring together student demands with those of the ''yellow vests'' against the high cost of living. An attempt perfectly summarized in the slogan 'Jeunes et jaunes' (Young people and detectives), relaunched by the French media.
As of this morning, the 17octobregiletjaune.net website has over a thousand ''actions'' across the country, including demonstrations, rallies and actions at roundabouts, bridges, service stations, motorway toll booths, railway stations, ports, refineries and oil depots. The number of initiatives registered on the portal has skyrocketed in recent days: from 279 on Monday, it went to 768 yesterday and 1,025 this morning. Since the beginning of September, calls have been circulating again on social media for a return to the streets on 17 October of the self-styled 'yellow vests', the protest movement that profoundly marked France in the two-year period 2018-2019. Eight years later, symbolic figures of the yellow jackets such as Jérôme Rodrigues, Maxime Nicolle, Eric Drouet and Priscillia Ludosky, have already expressed their support for the new protest.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Meeting between student organizations and Minister Geffray
Very likely · Within hours
Open Questions
- What will be the outcome of the meeting with Minister Geffray?
- How many people will actually participate in Saturday's demonstrations?
