My First French March

Today was the day I've honestly been waiting for since the day I moved to France. My First French March. I missed one small protest a few weeks ago by sleeping in (who protests at 8am?!), but I was determined not to miss this one. It wasn't big, there wasn't any major disruption, it wasn't a proper strike, just a march, but it's the closest I've come to full-frontal French protesting and I was going to make sure I experienced it. At the moment in France there are a lot of changes to funding and how its being distributed - we're all in the same economic crisis - and the French aren't happy about it. I can see why they're upset here. Because of funding cuts, German will no longer be offered as a second foreign language. (In France, pupils are expected to learn two foreign languages, but one is given more lesson time than the other, unless the pupil chooses to follow an academic programme equally weighted between both languages. Most people choose English as their first foreign language and then can choose from German, Italian and Spanish as their second.) This change is a big deal here because of the area's proximity to Germany and Luxembourg: a lot of people who live here work in either of these countries, where they're quite likely to have to speak German (as well as English). There are also going to be cuts to the Italian department, Latin and Ancient Greek are to be cut, as well as one of the technical bac programmes (the French equivalent to A Levels). This will mean that pupils who want the option of these subjects will either have to go private or go to Jarny or Metz, adding a good 20-30 mins to their journey time. Considering that at the moment the school has some pupils who leave their houses at 7am to get the school bus, and don't return until after 6pm, that's a big ask.

So that's what the protest was about. It's widely agreed that it probably won't change much, if anything, but the French would never lose an opportunity to show their displeasure about something. After all, if you let something like this slide, who knows what that thieving Sarkozy and his cronies will try and do next?! You can't let the government think that you approve of something due to your inaction. It's a message which I think us in the UK would do well to heed sometimes, but then again I think this has a lot to do with the national psyche. In the UK, people show their displeasure towards the government through snide remarks and clever TV programmes. Like so many other British habits, it's never about what you say, but how you say it. Here, however, direct action seems to be preferred, even if it's only symbolic. 

I arrived at the appointed time, joining a few teachers and pupils and other general sympathisers. The atmosphere was jovial and we all had a good craic in the sunshine whilst waiting for someone else to decide that it was time to go. I was getting quite excited. Someone appeared with a horse-drawn carriage, another with a big white van blaring music out of the windows, and we set off in a long line up the road towards school. We had a police escort and we were blocking traffic, as well as handing out flyers to anyone who crossed our path. What more could you want from a sunny Wednesday afternoon?! We slowly marched through town until we reached school. There, the van was unloaded and some chairs were pulled out, as well a large coffin-shaped piece of wood, which was placed in the middle. I'm not describing this very well but hopefully the photos will shed some light on that one! The guy in the van started playing a funeral march and we all stood around while someone made a short speech about how uncultured the French were becoming and how disgusting it was that these subjects were being denied to future generations. Then we stood around for another chat before heading in when the sun started to go in.

All in all, it wasn't anything spectacular. Nobody got angry and shouted a lot, nobody was on strike (there's no school on Wednesday afternoons), and there really weren't that many people. There wasn't even any chanting. But I still felt very proud today to stand up and participate in my first French protest, and to support the school that I've really come to love. Now that I've only got a month to go until I finish working here, I'm starting to get nostalgic about the time I've spent in Briey, and I'm glad to say that I was finally able to tick one of the major culturally stereotypical "things" off my list. Vive la grève!


Bises,


Sophia xx

PS On the teeth front, things are looking up! I got my stitches out today and I'm feeling a lot more human, so fingers crossed that's the end of that saga... I also handed in my insurance forms yesterday to get reimbursed for my prescriptions, so we'll see how long that takes to land in my bank account! Wish me luck!