Escalating school protests in France: violence, external interference and systemic failures

In the land of revolution, protests are getting out of hand more quickly than east of the Rhine. This is part of France's political DNA. However, the outbreak of violence in schools represents a new level of escalation even for the robust French culture of conflict. Dozens of injured teachers, more than 5,000 arrests, around a hundred badly damaged schools: the word “student protests” is out of place here.

The riots are made even more explosive by the fact that, according to the security authorities' findings, there was apparently help from outside. If this is true and supporters, even elected officials, of the left-wing party LFI have incited the students, this would be a new dimension in the destructive politics of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his supporters.

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The LFI presidential candidate rejected the accusation. But his denial was revealing enough. Instead of unequivocally condemning the violence, he accused the government in Paris of repression. Instead of appealing to the students to end the blockades, he declared it his party's goal “that our youth comes out of this episode with their heads held high.” Mélenchon himself has blocked his way out of “this episode” in such an attitude.

But even the most talented radical left-wing demagogues and the most militant rioters would probably not be able to plunge France's schools into chaos if their condition were not so disastrous. And that is a failure of French politics. It is no coincidence that the protests began in socially disadvantaged areas with a high proportion of immigrants, where a shortage of teachers and dilapidated school buildings have a particularly strong impact on everyday life.

The disadvantage of schools in the banlieue has been known for many years, as has the desolate condition of schools as a whole. But so far no government in Paris has provided lasting relief. In any case, the French Education Minister's appeal to parents to keep their children away from the school blockades is not enough.