‘This is a crisis of hope’: Echoes of 1968 as France’s students rise up

The scale of protests raging across France over the education system, attracting hundreds of thousands of pupils, teachers and parents, has been described as exceptional by unions and student movement organisers.

“I think this is very historic and unprecedented by how big it is,” Alice Cohen-Morzadec, international spokesperson for France’s Student Union, said on Tuesday, when government sources put the number of protesters at 266,000.

“Some are saying this is the biggest movement since May 1968,” she added.

The student protests at Paris universities nearly five decades ago were initially driven by opposition to an outdated and overcrowded system, limited opportunities and broader political concerns.

The unrest soon spread beyond campuses, expanding into nationwide strikes involving millions of workers that virtually paralysed the country.

Back then, President Charles de Gaulle was in power. Today’s protests come as France heads into next year’s presidential elections, which are being eyed by the far right.

As in 1968, the protests that started on September 21 at an underdeveloped Paris suburban high school are about funding for education, teacher shortages, overcrowded classes, and school facilities.

But those are triggers and not the deeper causes, according to historians and student movement organisers.

“For the young people, this is a crisis of hope. You can see they are bombarded daily with economic problems, political extremes, dangers of warfare in Europe, the threat to their careers from AI, high youth unemployment rates, the climate crisis,” Andrew Smith, historian of modern France and lecturer in Liberal Arts at Queen Mary University of London, told Al Jazeera.

He said students are dissatisfied because of a lack of substantive interaction between the government and student representatives and unions in recent years.

“It has been difficult for the government to meet with interlocutors and try to have dialogue with social partners,” he said.

Robi Morder, a researcher on social movements in France, said the lack of communication reflects the current government’s approach.

“In 1990 and 1998, governments were led by socialists and leftists. Some of the ministers had been in the youth movement. So when there was an issue, the government knew how to negotiate. In 1990, the president himself received a delegation of students,” said Morder.

“We are not in the same situation because the government is not only from the other side politically, but they also don’t have the experience of the old political class,” he added. “They don’t know how to negotiate a social conflict. The government’s first answer is, ‘It is nothing; we will call the police, and everything will be OK.’”

Student organisers say they are frustrated because they feel the government is not taking them seriously.

“This is too much. Enough is enough. We have been making these demands for years. We need more money for education, we need more teachers, we need better facilities,” said Chloe Grunenwald, vice president of the Federation of the General Association of Students (FAGE), the largest organisation of its kind in France, representing some 300,000 students.

When interviewed by Al Jazeera, several students said they had joined recent protests in solidarity with those who first took to the streets. The broadening of the coalition is illustrated by the fact that both Grunenwald and Cohen-Morzadec represent university unions rallying in support of high school pupils.

Smith and Morder spoke of the differences between now and 1968.

“This school year started very differently. The never-ending heatwaves is one thing that really provoked it and made it catch fire. We had classrooms with over 40 people in temperatures exceeding 40 degrees [Celsius;104 Fahrenheit]. That is untenable,” Smith said.

Alleged police brutality

Protest organisers and unions have also complained about what they see as police brutality.

“Unfortunately, the media are talking about how bins are being burnt, schools are being blocked, and how it is a form of violence. The real violence is actually coming from the government side,” said Cohen-Morzadec.

In a sign of conciliation, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Wednesday said, “Students must be heard,” while Interior Minister Laurent Nunez ordered police to suspend the use of stun grenades against protesting high school pupils.

But those moves might not be enough to calm the anger.

“We are going to mobilise until we get our demands, especially because we have October 17 and November 20 – as an international date for the youth in all Europe to mobilise for our future, so we want to continue at least until those dates, if not further,” said Cohen-Morzadec.

Nationwide strikes and antigovernment demonstrations are scheduled for October 17, expected to bring together a large number of unions to air their grievances against soaring energy and food prices, proposed budget cuts, and freezes on public sector salaries.

The strikes are backed by the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) party, led by Jean-Luc Melenchon, and the country’s main labour union, known by its French acronym, CGT.

Critics have accused the LFI and Melenchon of inciting violence to score points against the government, an accusation they and protest organisers deny.

“Our message has been the same. We are fighting for our rights and our demonstrations are passive. We are not working on behalf of anyone else,” said Grunenwald.

Student unions have published a list of 10 demands they say will cost the government 1 billion euros ($1.1bn), and have promised to keep up the pressure until all those requirements are met.

Among the demands are calls for greater investment in schools and universities and more staff and space in higher education. Students are calling for stronger financial and housing support, affordable university meals, and an end to higher fees for international students. They also want an end to what they call “all forms of repression linked to the high school and student movement”.