By this, of course, I mean rioting and burning buildings.
asserted
I → mean → buildings
When you get right down to it, what else is an education really good for anyways?
asserted
education → get → what
the alleged cause are proposed cuts to education funding as part of wider budget cuts by President Emmanuel Macron’s government to rein in France’s out of control public expenditures.
asserted
cause → allege → expenditures
Projected to rise to 5.4 per cent of GDP in 2026, the €43 billion ($68.7 billion) in proposed cuts for 2027 are designed to reduce the deficit to five per cent of GDP next year.
asserted
billion → project → GDP
For context, the Canadian government general deficit stands at around 2.5 per cent of GDP.
asserted
deficit → stand → GDP
All this is to say that France has a spending problem it must control, and the proposed budget is a first step down that road.
asserted
budget → say → road
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Unions and the students were, however, having none of it.
asserted
Unions → have → it
On Tuesday, 300,000 protesters across France took to the streets to protest for higher wages for public sector workers.
asserted
protesters → take → workers
Things got ugly quickly, especially at the high schools.
asserted
Things → get → schools
The numbers are staggering by any measure: 1,027 buildings vandalized, 1,949 young people arrested.
asserted
people → vandalize → measure
Images of burning dumpsters and schools in flames are dominating media coverage.
asserted
Images → burn → coverage
The Minister of National Education said on X that the violence committed was “of an extremely serious nature,” and called on those responsible to be prosecuted.
asserted
violence → say → those
He further added that “Everyone needed to consider their responsibility in calling for this mobilisation” in what was surely a thinly veiled reference to French leftists who have distributed guides on how to blockade universities and schools, as well as the socialist France Unbowed party, who have been accused of fueling the violence.
asserted
who → add → violence
The minister ended by saying that “violence will not stop the fundamental right our students have to education.”
asserted
students → end → education
All this is occuring in the context of a France that is preparing for presidential elections in May of 2027.
uncertain
that → occur → 2027
The mood is heated and polarized and the student riots have poured gasoline on an already raging fire.
asserted
riots → heat → fire
On the right, presidential candidate Marine Le Pen of the National Rally was swift to condemn the rioting, saying that when violence becomes a political tool, “everyone’s liberty is threatened.”
asserted
liberty → condemn → rioting
Her message and movement seem to be resonating with a French public fed up with what they view as a society out of control.
asserted
they → seem → control
Prior to the rioting, Le Pen was widening her lead in early presidential polls.
asserted
Pen → widen → polls
Clearly, however, not everyone agrees with Le Pen.
asserted
everyone → agree → Pen
Her possible presidential opponent from the left, firebrand Jean-Luc Mélanchon of France Unbowed — who has never seen a protest or riot he didn’t want to join — has come down on the side of the student vandals, who he believes were “provoked” by the government.
asserted
he → see → government
On X he spoke of his concern for the “police violence” against “young people” as though the police had randomly attacked students out for a stroll.
asserted
police → speak → stroll
Not content with simply supporting the burning of French schools in the name of his imagined democracy, Mélanchon went further, accusing Le Pen of causing the problem and getting her “friends in the police” to beat up the students.
asserted
friends → support → students
The France Unbowed mayor of Saint-Denis, just north of Paris, Bally Bagayoko, echoed the Mélanchon’s general sentiment and expressed his sympathy for the student protesters’ “legitimate violence.”
asserted
mayor → echo → violence
Le Pen, for her part, has shot back, accusing Mélanchon and other members of France Unbowed of fomenting and organizing the violence.
asserted
Pen → shoot → violence
If you think the United States has divisive and fiery rhetoric, you ain’t seen nothin’ compared to Mélanchon and his band of communists wannabes.
asserted
you → think → wannabes
The 2027 French presidential elections have the potential to be of seismic importance for Europe.
asserted
elections → have → Europe
Following the German state electoral success of the AfD, Europe has been gripped with fear of a “far right” resurgence.
asserted
Europe → follow → resurgence
More centrist French politicians have tried to pretend that the populist movements they abhor are a phenomenon of other countries.
asserted
they → try → countries
As in many other western countries, there is a sense that governments are not serving the average voter and something needs to change.
asserted
something → be → voter
In France, on top of the debt, economic growth is nearly non-existent, projected to be only 0.4 per cent in 2026.
asserted
growth → project → 2026
Voters want something, anything, different.
asserted
Voters → want → something
Right now, that is manifesting in voters breaking either right to Marine Le Pen or left to Jean-Luc Mélanchon.
asserted
voters → manifest → Mélanchon
That highly polarized and volatile scenario will define the 2027 presidential race.
asserted
scenario → define → race
Expect more political fireworks as well as fires in the streets of France as election day nears.
asserted
day → expect → France
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