Classe... contre classe

There was a student strike last year at my university against a new law that changed how the French university system works. The students felt that the law took the first step down the slippery slope of privatization; that education is a public good and should be run by the people, not by the market.

The student strike came complete with symbolic barricade of chairs in the main lobby. We just walked around it; that's the advantage of a symbol. But there were less symbolic actions as well, which incidentally caused my colleagues who teach there no end of headaches, both at the time and into the next semester. A pity since the faculty has no more love for the new law than does the student body. But then this is nothing new, there are always innocent victims of strikes.

One day this summer after the end of the academic year, I found myself in the lobby (now quite devoid of chairs and protesters) and saw a number of these stickers:


The large part reads "Struggle is classy..." Then you look closer and see that the whole thing reads "The struggle is class... against class!"