Berkley Center

During my time in France, I have had the opportunity to evaluate the accuracy of several stereotypes: yes, French people do actually wear berets, but only when it’s cold out, and mostly just the older generation. They also eat baguettes very often, but pastries for breakfast is not a thing (or at least, not in my host family). And they do, indeed, love to complain. There was a Festival of Lights in Lyon last weekend, which is the third most-attended annual festival in the world (right after Oktoberfest in Munich and Carnival in Rio). When I eagerly asked my host brother about a good strategy for seeing the festival, he replied, “I do not even go to it. The tourists are annoying, and the lights are not that great, anyway.” Or, if you think that his response is more a result of adolescence than a French propensity to se plaindre, consider the conversation I had with my host mother last week:

“The weather is so nice today!”

“I suppose, but it will be awful tomorrow.”

The French love of complaining and resulting protest culture has manifested itself in the country’s frequent strikes. Transportation strikes—especially in the railroad and airline sectors—seem to happen every month; in fact, an airline strike that kept British travelers from reaching France occurred a mere week ago. Strikes also occur in the health, law, and education sectors: actually, sometimes students, rather than teachers, are the ones on strike. Furthermore, formal strikes are not the only example of French protest culture. For most of my time in France, I have received emails from the State Department warning me to avoid protests regarding a controversial government dam project. Any number of social and political issues, from the official age of retirement to regulations regarding gay marriage and abortion, can and have been protested in France. Often, these manifestations (which is the same word in French) lead to at least some small concessions by the government.

For several weeks, I have been hearing about and discussing the reality and implications of the protests regarding the rulings on the Mike Brown and Eric Garner cases. Because the United States has a less developed protest culture than France, my host family did not find the idea of protests being organized simultaneously throughout the country impressive in the slightest. They also were unable to understand why I thought it was so unfortunate that looting was occurring. “From what I have read, generally, the people who are protesting are not the ones looting the stores,” I explained, “so the people who are causing problems are taking away from the ones who just want change.” “Well, of course,” my host father agreed. “But that is how it always is, and people are aware of that.” He continued on to explain that looting generally does occur in conjunction with French protests, but the French understand that the protesters almost always denounce the practice. “In fact,” he added, “the protesters often are the ones who go back to help clean up, after their manifestation is over.”

Although mass protests in France are much more common than in the United States, that does not mean that they are calm, or even civil, depending on how you define the word. At a protest in Lyon a few weeks ago, canisters of tear gas were thrown into the crowd; several roads and bridges were shut down; windows were shattered and businesses were looted. However, the French seem to have a better understanding of the realities of these protests. Whether this understanding will carry over to the United States remains to be seen.