“We are really trying to find solutions to continue”: in Paris, high school students are preparing the continuation of the movement

After days and days of blockades and demonstrations, how can we keep the high school students' movement going? This is the question currently occupying those who are mobilizing. Students from establishments from all over France met on Saturday October 10 for a general assembly at the Paris Labor Exchange, near Place de la République.

There were a few hundred of them reflecting and discussing how to continue to sustain and expand the mobilization next week, but also in the following weeks. With a lot of motivation and ideas for the future.

“There are fewer and fewer of us”

Marie came from Nancy on purpose to attend this general meeting in Paris. A determination that this second grade student considers vital for a movement which, she admits, is starting to tire a little. "In our high school, things get stuck every day. Afterwards, we notice that there are fewer and fewer of us, but that's why we really try to find solutions."

“We really try to meet as often as possible, to really find solutions to continue, to stay motivated because we know that it is the only solution to be heard by the government.”

Marie, high school student in Nancy

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Coming with her, Maxime is in the same high school, in first grade. For him, relying on the most motivated students will not be enough: we must also seek support from others. “We have to try to convince as many people as possible and not necessarily just high school students. We also have to bring workers back into the struggle, but also for us, we have to go to other high schools, we have to go to companies to bring back as many people as possible and coordinate in assemblies,” he believes.

General assemblies, meetings and organization: these are also the crux of the matter for this high school student. “We saw that since we had structured ourselves a little into an assembly, there were still people coming back,” he notes. “From the moment there is a small structure, people come back because it is no longer as vague as before. That motivates.”

Find new modes of action

Others believe that we need to innovate in our modes of action to make the movement last. “The question we face is: are we blocking something else?” asks Giovanni, a final year student in Montreuil.

"I know that there have been attempts, for example the court of Vincennes to block a street. Do we go to the rectorate? Do we start a dialogue or do we really continue the mobilization? I think that it can last. I think that we just need to organize ourselves a minimum and that is totally what we are doing."

“At this general meeting, there is Nantes, there is Montpellier who are there, there are lots of other cities. Finally, it becomes a bit of a national thing.”

Giovanni, final year student in Montreuil

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"We are going to try to hold general meetings. We have already set up general meetings which will take place. We will try to coordinate precisely for the holidays, to continue the movement, potentially block things other than high schools during the holidays and see how it can really last over time. I know that we will continue the mobilization next week. I know that there is a call on the 17th, and it is certain that at least until the 17th we will continue."