France is on fire, not in its paper-dry forests, but with its youth on a rampage after decades of neglect
How do I neglect thee: let me count the ways,
Underfunded education. In a complaint common to nations around the world, students see education paying the price of government shortages by a thousand cuts.
Overcrowded classrooms. Too many students, too few teachers, and declining individual attention. All things that accrue when finances run short.
Cost of living. Rising prices for food, transportation, books, and other necessities.
Student housing. If you’re away from home, high rents, inadequate affordable accommodation, and even student homelessness.
Financial insecurity. A soft word for declining scholarships and past student assistance failing to keep pace with available income.
Employment prospects. Real problems finding decent jobs after graduation.
Inequality. Students from poorer families, immigrants, and badly served neighborhoods all face far greater obstacles.
University admissions. Too many entry-level jobs require a degree and entry levels seem unfairly handed out.
Government austerity. Students weary of education spending cuts and reductions in public services, and lastly,
Lack of political representation. No one talks to us, they just meet us in the streets with batons and tear gas.
President Macron, whom I admire (and is married to his former teacher), seems to have given up on his stated purpose being: when I am faced with a problem, I always try to put myself in the place of my opponent, and look seriously at his point of view.
Keep several things in mind.
First of all, the protests began peacefully and, met with batons and no progress, turned ugly.
Secondly, there are hooligans, from inside and outside most countries, eager to join a riot, as well as (in Mark Zuckerbergs lexicon) ready to move fast and break things. It’s not generally in the nature of students to burn down public buildings.
Third (and perhaps most importantly), their elders have not been proper mentors of late, leaving a Russian invaded country to swing out to dry and, in the American version, supporting a genocide against Palestinians, and performing unjustified acts of war against Venezuela and Iran.
And students, with the clear vision and naïve morals attributed to their youth, understand with absolute clarity who is responsible.
We think they are children.
Well, think again. They know fraud, deception, non-compliance, bigotry and greed when they see it, and there has been much to see in their tender years. While the President of France is certainly no better or worse than most world leaders, he ought to damn well take his own advice, and see modern day France from a French youths’ perspective.
Great wealth has raised its ugly head once again in world affairs.
Instead of facing it down (and, at the very lease, taxing it), those in power have bowed down, and lined themselves up at the feeding trough. What they feed upon, is selling out their constituents.
And worldwide, our youngsters know it. They watch their parents take on yet another job to make sure there’s enough money at the end of the month, often failing even that. They are not blind to the billionaire’s laughter at failing to pay their share of taxes.
These students in the streets are the future of the world. They, and they alone, will build a future from what we elders leave behind.
Macron, and Trump, Burnham and Meloni, Putin as well, along with leaders too numerous to mention, think they are somehow in control. The students know otherwise. Does anyone seriously think Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Mark Zuckerberg are titans of the future, rather than mere mistakes of the past?
One need merely peek behind the curtain, to recognize the Billionaire Wizards of OZ.
I’ve seen that movie before.
Adults are (and always have been) those who ‘go along, to get along.’
The modern youth of our world are entirely different animals.