Paris En Greve

Paris -- and in fact all of France -- is not itself today because of an enormous transport strike (la greve). The Metro, commuter trains, buses, and the high-speed TGV that goes between cities are either not working at all or are on very limited schedules. Workers are protesting changes in the government's retirement policy, and have shut down one of the city's basic infrastructure elements to make their point. All this while thousands of English rugby fans are on their way to Paris for the Rugby World Cup final.

For me, it's kind of like a snow day. Everyone knew it was coming and made alternate plans. I cancelled my request at the library. Some things go on as normal, but other things are postponed. Our Institute tea is this afternoon, but if some people can't make it to Reid Hall, everyone will understand. We make do.

Much of the strike is bound up in the specifics of French politics. The new president Nicholas Sarkozy wants to revitalize the French economy -- along lines similar to the US, according to many -- but doing so creates not only an economic but a cultural conflict. Which is most important: working longer and making more money, or working less and having more free time? That's at the heart of the issues related not only to the strike but to why Sarkozy is so controversial. He won the presidency with a majority, but a substantial number of French voters hold onto long-cherished notions of being able to appreciate the "joie de vivre" that comes not with work but with leisure. That's why there is a 35 hour work week and a very early retirement age (in the 50s, I think).

Labor is still strong in France, and anyone who spends much time here has seen it in action. The first time I left France, the people who clean Charles de Gaulle airport were on strike; there were piles of garbage everywhere. Once when I went to do research in the National Archives, a sign was posted on the gate: "Archive on strike." I once saw a protest march by firemen. And now, the transportation strike of 2007. Strikes are a way of life here. Come to think of it, maybe Paris is acutally itself after all.

For more information, here are 2 New York Times articles to read: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/world/europe/18france.html?ref=world
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/opinion/18cohen.html?hp

(I got the picture from the National Public Radio website. I have not been out in the marches myself.)