BY PAULA AKAKPO
STAFF WRITER
During the most tumultuous year for the United States—problems with Iran, an election year, and a presidential impeachment—France is dealing with its own conflict, a protest that is brimming with history.
Reforms on the Pensions plans are causing the tension. In the last few years there were 42 pension plans; however, now President Macron is going to replace it with a single pension plan. The problem with this is that every pension plan existed to be tailored to the needs of different careers.
Each pension plan had different retirement ages. Now there will only be one: 62 years old. Historically, this is very similar to the 1789 Revolution that caused people to storm the Bastille because of economic inequality and how out of touch their leaders were.
This elimination has caused many to strike on Parisian streets. Starting from late December until now, the Protestors have been on the streets causing problems for Parisian commuters. Train services have been reduced and have cut off Paris from the rest of the province. This has caused loss of millions of euros for subway companies. By January, support of the protest has decreased. The protest may be dying down, but one thing that isn’t is the political waters that President Macron is riding on.
At the moment, many citizens feel the same as people did during the 1789 revolution. Many believe that President Macron is out of touch and does not care about their interests. One protestor, Sebastien Preauda, said, “There’s Macron’s vision: He’s always about making profits, but we’re not here to make money. We’re here to provide a service to the public. And those people [—President Macron’s government—]they come from the world of finance. We’re fighting just to say, ‘We’ve worked all our lives, and now we have the right to rest.’” At the moment President Macron is seen as a banker, not the rebellious reformer he was viewed as during the campaign.
The French government is still pushing against the protestors, even going as far as threatening them with arrest. However, the Protestors will not back down against the inequality—one that they have been fighting for since the start of their republic.
SOURCES:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/world/europe/france-strikes-pensions.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/world/europe/france-strike-macron.html
IMAGE SOURCE: Benoit Tessier/Reuters
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/24/world/europe/france-yellow-vest-protest.html