Episode Details

It’s a protest movement that a broke, lame-duck French government did not see coming. Civil servants this Tuesday joined high schoolers who are now in their third week of picketing over long-deteriorating classroom conditions. The usual recipe for wearing down movements in France has recently been to match any violence with a heavy hand, with the escalation turning the silent majority against the protesters, as was the case with the pre-Covid Yellow Vests movement. 

There has certainly been plenty of violence. But those involved are teenagers, not adults, with many pressing legitimate gripes about growing inequality in education. Some organising on Snapchat and other socials are clearly cynical about their own future prospects and ready to have it out. With France in full pre-election posturing mode ahead of polls next spring, some see pigs where others see hoodlums, with the government borrowing the far right's language and the far left focusing on police brutality.

What President Emmanuel Macron's team doesn't have this time around is what's being called magic money; the funds that French governments usually pull out of a hat to make a crisis go away. With France's highest public debt rate in a quarter of a century spooking the eurozone and beyond, no magic money will this time appear to hire more teachers or build more classrooms. So what's the answer?

Watch moreEuro falls to 17-month low against dollar on French debt concerns

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Lucy Davalou, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip and Charles Wente.