Lisa Magnusson: Beyond violence and chaos, the fact remains that the students are right

What is happening in France?

Recently, a rowdy student uprising has grown into a national riot - several hundred schools are now closed. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez dismisses it as "urban violence", which is usually a code word for gang violence.

But he is wrong.

It's easy to get angry at the French's penchant for mob rule over teams. The self-romanticization of the eternal strikes and shutdowns, the street populism of the yellow vests, tractors dumping manure in front of palatial government buildings inside Paris. And who does it help to break up schools? Throwing rocks and bottles at the police, setting garbage cans on fire. Both teachers and police officers are said to have been injured.

Both teachers and police officers are said to have been injured

To many, this looks like the work of bastards. But then they get to take a closer look. Beyond the violent chaos, the fact remains: the students are essentially right.

And the protests are something unique.

They arose not from the conscious middle-class student movements in the city but among suburban youth, and not in response to a political decision but to the lack of teachers at a high school in Créteil - otherwise best known for its international women's film festival, its man-made pond and a 11th-century church that is beautiful, but not so beautiful that very many tourists would consider detouring to see it.

And this is about something more, and bigger. In addition to teacher shortages and substitute stoppages, the students are turning against the general condition of the French school, against inequality and the far-reaching cuts. Against run-down premises that lack protection against the heat that is the new normal, and sometimes also against rain (DN 6/10); where there are hardly any functioning toilets. Against large classes – over 70 percent of state school classes have more than 30 students (Le Monde 5/10). Against Parcoursup, the university admissions system, which is considered unfathomably non-transparent and stressful.

The police response has been brutal. Both against the vandals, and against the peaceful demonstrators. Several young people have been seriously injured. And just last week, 5,000 people were detained. It is a mistake to proceed so hard.

The authorities say that violence is the wrong way, and that is absolutely true - but it also applies to them. Because when peaceful young people exercise their freedom of speech, and are met with batons, tear gas and rubber bullets - what does that tell them about the function of the police in society? What kind of relationship does it give them to the state?

So far, the repression has not worked as a deterrent, on the contrary: Now the teachers' unions and several parent organizations are siding with the students. This is just the beginning.

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