Inside the French student revolt

What started as high school students striking for better learning conditions has now become a widespread revolt against austerity, racism, and neocolonialism. Looming over the protests are the threat of an electoral victory for the fascist Marine Le Pen in next year’s presidential election.

The following interviews are a result of collaboration between U.S. revolutionary socialist Janette Zahia Corcelius and French Marxist Jane-Léonie Bellay. They were concluded on October 16, the day before major protests nationwide, when well over half a million faced a ferocious police response featuring explosive weapons and mass arrests.

French trade unions such as the CGT, CNT, CFDT, UNSA, Solidaires, & FSU, FO & Solidaires have announced that they will launch a nationwide general strike on Thursday, November 5.

 

Jane-Léonie: To set the stage, it is important to note that the high school student movement began in Mayotte, an island in the Indian Ocean near Réunion, which became a French department in 2011. [The protests] then spread to French Guiana, a former French colony that became a French department in 1946. In fact, the high school student movement began on August 31 at the Lycée de la Cité du Nord in Mayotte and then spread across the entire island— with students and teachers acting together in most cases until the school break on October 10. The movement then spread to the Félix Eboué High School in French Guiana on September 7, followed by the Melkior-Garré Comprehensive High School and the Bertène-Jumine High School in French Guiana, and then—as in mainland France—to Martinique, Guadeloupe, Réunion, and Tahiti. Police violence was just as widespread overseas, but as with the high school strikes—and as is customary—not a single word was mentioned in the mainland French press, which remains deeply colonial in its outlook, regarding these events for several weeks. Subsequently, the movement in mainland France took root at the Saint-Exupéry High School in Créteil on September 21, which was the first to be blockaded.

The interviewees are:

• Smael Afnaï, a 16-year-old high school student activist in Montreuil (a Paris suburb).

• Léon, a senior at the Louise Michel vocational high school in Grenoble (France), specializing in health and social technology. At his school, there is no student union; the students have organized themselves. This is generally the case in France.

• Hamet Nimaga, a high school student and representative of the Lycée Jean Macé in Vitry-sur-Seine in the 94th Department, just southeast of Paris.

• Julia, a 23-year-old woman living in Lyon who is preparing for the entrance exam to become a primary school teacher.

Tempest: How did the student movement begin, and what are its main demands?

Smael: The student movement began with the blockade of Saint-Exupéry High School in Créteil (a Paris suburb). The demands centered on a lack of resources at the school and a resulting shortage of staff (teachers, nurses, etc.). This was followed by videos on social media and a wave of blockades at other high schools, as students observed the same lack of resources within the national education system.

Léon: The student movement began at a disadvantaged high school in Créteil, then spread to other disadvantaged high schools, and now all high schools are mobilizing around demands that include more resources for suburban high schools neglected by the government, the end of Parcoursup [a web portal that manages admission to higher education nationwide], the hiring of new teachers, etc.

Hamet: The movement first began at Saint-Exupéry High School in Créteil, then spread to other schools in Val-de-Marne (94th Department), the Île-de-France region, throughout France, and finally to several European countries.

Julia: The movement began at a high school in Val-de-Marne, in the Paris region, at a school where learning conditions are very difficult. The students are calling for more resources for education, more teachers, school psychologists employed by the Ministry of Education, and nurses. Very quickly, a large number of high schools across France joined the movement, demanding not only additional staff but also financial resources to bring a number of schools up to standard and renovate them. Finally, some demands challenge the current learning conditions by criticizing overly packed schedules and selection systems like Parcoursup, which cause anxiety for high school students throughout their high school years.

Pretty quickly, college students joined the movement by organizing through general assemblies and staging their own blockades of their campuses. In Lyon, various campuses were blockaded, including buildings where blockades are very rare. The same was true in Nice, where the College of Arts is in a state of serious disrepair. And surely the same is true in many other cities.

Tempest: How did the French government react?

Smael: The French government responded with heavy-handed police repression (more than 7,000 people taken into police custody to date, 96 percent of whom are minors). Several students were notably injured.

Léon: The government initially resorted to police repression and continues to do so. The only real, concrete measures announced since the movement began have been the allocation of 3,000 substitute teachers.

Hamet: The French government responded with severe repression, deploying law enforcement officers who engaged in acts of violence (beatings, people having their eyes gouged out, broken teeth) and physical assaults against French youth.

Tempest: Why are unions and social movements getting involved, and how? What is the relationship between the student movement, the unions, and the Left?

Smael: Relations between the student movement, the unions, and the Left are generally good. The student movement sets the dates for mobilizations following their general assemblies. (It sets the pace.) The unions join in on those dates, and the Left comes out to support the blockades and participates in the demonstrations.

They are getting involved because, for the vast majority, these are the demands they have long championed—it is their cause. And they are getting involved by participating in the scheduled protests and sharing information about the demonstrations on social media.

Léon: I think the other unions are also mobilizing because this is not a new problem, because the French people are fed up with our government, which doesn’t listen to us, and does nothing but erode the purchasing power of the French by making the rich even richer at the expense of the people.

Hamet: Unions and social movements are getting involved to align the high school students’ cause with that of workers. They are taking concrete action by informing students of their rights in the event of police custody, providing free legal representation, and offering logistical support during protests. All of this is of great help to young people.

As for the Left, it provides us with political and organizational support, but it does not interfere with the high school general assemblies. This preserves our genuine independence and prevents us from feeling patronized.

Julia: The social movement is involved in this mobilization in various ways. First, they are filing strike notices and calling for demonstrations based on the high school students’ demands and by expanding upon them. For example, education unions have championed the high school students’ demands by expanding them to include the working conditions of educational staff. Other unions have also come out in support of the high school students’ struggles, both in terms of their demands and in the face of the repression they have endured.

I believe one of the key challenges for the unions was to protect the high school students from police violence by standing by their side and providing them with material support (megaphones, sound systems, signs, etc.) and legal assistance (a help desk for accessing legal rights, referrals to lawyers, etc.).

Unions and left-wing organizations support the high school student movement in various ways and to varying degrees. Sometimes by being on the ground with them and trying to protect them. I’m thinking in particular of certain elected officials—notably members of La France Insoumise (a left-wing political party)—who have tried to dissuade the police from charging or firing on high school students. They also provide material and legal support without interfering with the students’ general assemblies or their decisions.

Tempest: What is the far right saying, and how might these events influence the 2027 elections?

Smael: The far right obviously supports law enforcement and not the students, arguing that students’ only right is “to go to class, sit down, and keep quiet.” And these events could influence the 2027 elections because they are currently a major focus of public debate.

Léon: The far right is quite pleased with the situation because it’s capitalizing on the anger of high school students, who sometimes vandalize things like trash cans, and it uses this to claim that if it were in power, there wouldn’t be these “problems with delinquency.” It also uses this to attack its opponent, La France Insoumise.

High school students are continuing their struggle despite heavy police repression and the violence used by the police.

Hamet: The far right refuses to listen to young people. It insists that the majority of young people simply want to study and work, adding that at our age, the previous generation faced the same problems. Young people respond that just because past generations endured these injustices without speaking out or rebelling doesn’t mean we have to do the same.

Julia: The far right is taking a nuanced stance. First, some far-right groups, such as Action Française (royalists), are trying to co-opt the movement by arguing that the demands made by high school students are legitimate but that violence is unacceptable. They advocate a return to order and a more peaceful approach to the struggle. Others condemn the movement, claiming it has been co-opted and led by La France Insoumise, and downplay the high school students’ demands. One might hear people say, “We used to have tough times too; young people just don’t want to work anymore.” Finally, some racism is directed toward the mobilized high school students because the movement began in working-class neighborhoods where educational conditions are particularly poor.

Tempest: What type and scale of organization have the students managed to establish?

Smael: The students organize themselves through general assemblies. They gather in committees by high school and college and propose and vote on decisions regarding the next steps in the mobilization. Other general assemblies are sometimes convened, but on a larger scale—by city, for example.

High school students are continuing their struggle despite heavy police repression and the violence used by the police.

Hamet: The students have succeeded in providing unprecedented support to high school students: A convergence of this magnitude between high school and college students had not occurred since May 1968. This has given much greater visibility to all of the demands.

Julia: I would say that this high school student movement is an experience for them in collectively organizing a group, a struggle, a blockade. Decisions are made in general assemblies about what they want to do and how they want to do it. The unions and political youth organizations that have traditionally been at the center of social movements are not behind this mobilization, even though they are present and come to support the high school students. I would say that the way high school students organize can vary: Some are driven by political motives, others by union interests, and still others remain within an organization at the level of their high school or local community. But there is a desire among some of them to become more structured. For example, we’re seeing youth action groups form in several cities within La France Insoumise (and this is surely the case in other organizations as well).

Tempest: Are there clearly defined political factions among the students, and do certain adult organizations play a role in the students’ politics or organization?

Smael: Yes, the left-wing faction is clearly at the heart of the student movement. This is because the movement also champions left-wing demands, more funding for the National Education System and public services in general. But the movement has grown so much that even right-wing students are participating, and some of them are shifting to the left as they listen to and come to understand the movement’s demands.

Léon: La France Insoumise has elected officials that have been coming to the demonstrations and blockades to help the high school students and protect them from violent police.

Hamet: Yes, political factions exist within certain high school student organizations. While this may sometimes appear to be political co-optation on their part, it also brings us visibility in return. Their attempts to influence us do not alter our initial demands, and they help us organize.

The high school students involved in the movement are highly politicized. They sometimes hold very materialist views and are acutely aware of inequalities in life, particularly regarding access to education. But they are also aware of discriminatory inequalities based on where they study and their presumed background. There also seems to be an anti-imperialist or decolonial perspective. This is evident in the number of Palestinian flags and demands related to international issues. One notable connection is the belief that all children should have access to school—which is not the case everywhere, particularly in Palestine. However, I think the movement is diverse, with varying levels of politicization and different political stances. And it seems important not to essentialize high school students.

I believe that “adult organizations”—such as associations, political parties, and unions—provide support. Their role is not so much to help high school and college students organize themselves but to provide support and experience. However, there has been a call for a general strike by the CGT (General Confederation of Labor) on November 5.

Tempest: Is it mainly high school students, or has the movement spread to colleges and universities?

Smael: Initially, it did indeed consist mainly of high school students, but the movement has spread to higher education institutions and universities. On Tuesday, October 6, 90 percent of universities were blockaded.

Léon: Yes, the high school students’ movement has also been joined by college students and others, who are now setting up roadblocks themselves because they’ve experienced the very issues we’re denouncing right now. There are also students coming to help with the high school students’ roadblocks.

Hamet: The movement has gradually expanded to higher education institutions and universities, which has allowed us to increase our visibility and draw much larger crowds during protests.

Julia: The movement began in high schools but is continuing in institutions of higher education. Numerous general assemblies are taking place on college campuses in an effort to organize the struggle. Many blockades have occurred. Students are mobilizing for more funding for higher education, the renovation of a number of buildings, against the elimination of housing assistance, and against the admissions processes via Parcoursup and “Mon Master” [a web portal for admissions to masters programs nationwide].

But some are also adopting an anti-imperialist stance. In fact, this morning at INSA [a network of public graduate engineering schools], only the buildings that have partnerships with arms manufacturers were blockaded. A connection is being drawn to the month-long campaign against the arms industry led by a number of organizations, such as the Stop Arming Israel collective.

Tempest: What impact will all of this have on the elections?

Smael: All of this has a real impact on the elections because this movement is raising awareness and politicizing a huge portion of the youth, who are now aware of the issues at stake and the importance of voting in 2027. And this increase in youth voter turnout in 2027 will play a major role in the victory of the radical Left, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s candidacy.

Léon: The impact this movement will have on the upcoming elections will be a double-edged sword. Because people who have seen the problems will, I think, be more inclined to vote for the Left, but there are also many people who will have seen only what the media reports—and since the media shows only the most striking and violent images—they’re afraid and think this high school movement is just a pretext for causing chaos.

Hamet: The images of repression seen by all French people are making people realize that change must happen as soon as possible. The high school student protests are not intended to wait for the election in six months, but to achieve results as soon as possible.

Julia: This movement brings to the forefront the issues of public services, education, discrimination, and equality—all themes championed by the Left. Furthermore, the support from La France Insoumise and other left-wing political groups for the high school student protests may lead these young people to vote more toward the left. Moreover, this mobilization is creating a dynamic of engagement and politicization among young people, which is positive for the radical left. And as we’ve seen, this is also reflected in the formation of political organizational branches, such as the “Insoumis” action groups. However, the anger on the streets does not always translate into votes at the polls, so it seems to me that we must undoubtedly remain cautious and continue to mobilize without assuming that victory is already assured. And, in my view, we will need to be vigilant against the far right co-opting the movement and against rhetoric that could exploit the movement for racist electoral purposes.

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Featured Image credit: Guallendra, Aurelio Cárdenas, Patxi Beltzaitz; modified by Tempest.