Manifestation

So the manifestation ('demonstration') today is not limited to my university. Rather, it's a nation-wide demonstration on the part of young people against something the government is trying to do with first-time contracts for jobs. Basicallly, those under 26 will be on a sort of trial period for the first two years of a job, and can be fired on short(er) notice. The government is doing this because unemployment among young people is about 20%, with the figure at twice that among minorities, and the idea is to try to make it more palatable for firms to hire young people. But... the young people aren't buying this. There has been graffiti in the métro stations (on the ads... Parisian youth may be socialist, but they're socialized, too!), and these two days have been full of strikes and manifestations across the country.

I'm sitting working at the Café Le Moderne (where I first met JD :), looking down rue St. Antoine to the column celebrating the revolution of July 1830, in the middle of the Place de la Bastille, and the under-30s have climbed onto it and are standing on the base peacefully in the rain holding signs. There was a bit of a march down rue St. Antoine, but it honestly wasn't huge. I bet, though, that there were marches to the Place de la Bastille on the other streets too.

Needless to say, the Place de la Bastille is a popular location for manifestations, owing to its history.