No, France is not ‘burning’
Summary
The article argues that media headlines describing France as “burning” overstate the scale of unrest and blur distinctions between property damage, violence against people, and state repression. It places protests in a longer history of French revolt and argues that inequality, discrimination, and hardship can also constitute forms of social violence.Key Facts
- The article describes the current movement as a largely peaceful student protest over education conditions, with some violent incidents.
- It distinguishes violence by social injustice, revolt, repression, and inequality or precarious living conditions.
- It recounts the storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the killing of its governor after the defenders surrendered.
- It says armed groups executed more than 1,000 prisoners in Paris in September 1792 amid fears of foreign invasion.
- It describes the 1871 Paris Commune and the massacre of Parisians by government forces during Bloody Week.
- It notes that labor unrest has included attacks on factories, machines, and employers’ representatives.
- In 1886, miners in Decazeville killed mine official Jules Watrin after a dispute over working conditions.
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