openmic.social is an uncensored community. You may encounter strong language, controversial opinions, and mature or NSFW material. You must be 18+ to browse. Illegal content is prohibited and removed on sight — please report it. By continuing, you accept that you may see content you personally disagree with.
Unfortunately your question is very hard to answer. Many things are similar : many people in France don’t care, like the US; there are actual legal repercussions, especially given the protesters are young and get tricked into accepting plea deals; violence and property damage are divisive.
IMO you’re onto something regarding fear. The US is very far gone compared to France, which is more or less running business as usual. Virtually no one in France is fearing civil war as of now.
Public transportation is a factor but I’d guess population density more so : many people don’t go to protests so much so as they just live where the protests are. I’m unsure of that but there might also be a kind of proximity to power in which people blame things close to them as responsible, whereas in the US you might blame things that are very far away like Congress. France is both much smaller and much more centralized than the US, so it’s pretty easy to strike at something that unambiguously represents the state.
I think there’s a big difference in national consciousness because the French republic is heir to the 1789 revolution and thus teaches every school child its violence was legitimate. References to that are constant and regularly mobilize huge segments of society that normally don’t get involved in politics. The school system also teaches about protests like 1936 as the reason we have paid vacation days. It is my understanding that in US you get taught the founding fathers pretty much built the ideal society and you should be grateful for living in it.
I’ll have to disagree somewhat with other posters regarding unions and such. It is important that political organizations keep the spark going and spread their know-how, but the current events are not at all driven by unions or parties (those are ultimately geared into the system).
Unfortunately your question is very hard to answer. Many things are similar : many people in France don’t care, like the US; there are actual legal repercussions, especially given the protesters are young and get tricked into accepting plea deals; violence and property damage are divisive.
IMO you’re onto something regarding fear. The US is very far gone compared to France, which is more or less running business as usual. Virtually no one in France is fearing civil war as of now.
Public transportation is a factor but I’d guess population density more so : many people don’t go to protests so much so as they just live where the protests are. I’m unsure of that but there might also be a kind of proximity to power in which people blame things close to them as responsible, whereas in the US you might blame things that are very far away like Congress. France is both much smaller and much more centralized than the US, so it’s pretty easy to strike at something that unambiguously represents the state.
I think there’s a big difference in national consciousness because the French republic is heir to the 1789 revolution and thus teaches every school child its violence was legitimate. References to that are constant and regularly mobilize huge segments of society that normally don’t get involved in politics. The school system also teaches about protests like 1936 as the reason we have paid vacation days. It is my understanding that in US you get taught the founding fathers pretty much built the ideal society and you should be grateful for living in it.
I’ll have to disagree somewhat with other posters regarding unions and such. It is important that political organizations keep the spark going and spread their know-how, but the current events are not at all driven by unions or parties (those are ultimately geared into the system).