The news exploded. Cars were burnt, shops looted, petrol ran out, trains were cancelled, airports shut down. Workers barricaded refineries, protestors took to the streets and the country ground to a halt — all because French president Sarkozy is raising the age of the pension entitlement from 60 to 62.
One can't help but laugh — the French still think they live on a separate planet to the rest of us. In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis and the Greek bailout, and in light of a healthy aging population, the government doesn't have much choice but to cut back France's generous welfare state.
Despite these economic pressures Le Figaro reports that more than 69 per cent of the French population support the strike, but the support relates to dissatisfaction with the direction Sarkozy is taking France rather than the retirement age. Sarkozy's 'Lucky Luke in a shiny suit' style is not the statesmanship the French are used to. His policies trample on human rights, he dismisses civil society and is pushing France towards increased integration in the global economy by dismantling many elements that distinguish French life, such as their reluctance to work longer hours.
This lifestyle might be unsustainable in the current global climate, but strikes and protests serve to question the current climate, and sometimes new answers can be strangely born.
Strikes and protests connect the French to their ancestral selves and call citizens to 'wake up and smell the history' of collectivism and resistance.
Public conversations about strikes in France are never limited to current demands but expand into taking the nation's temperature and examining future possibilities. Politics expands because everyday disruptions demand engagement. This strike, however spoilt the protestors might seem, is not solely about the age of retirement. It is one spark from the ongoing public conversation about what constitutes life under the global economy.
In Australia a mass strike, let alone a French style strike, is unimaginable. Changes to industrial relations legislation in the last 20 years limit unions' links with civil society. The bureaucratic hoops required before a strike can be considered a legal 'protected action' are Kafkaesque, and trade unions and individuals can be held liable for financial losses resulting from illegal strikes. Therefore strikes have become