On the streets of Paris

Press, 26 May 1983, Page 14

On the streets of Paris

The demonstrations and riots by students in Paris have as their principal object a bill which would reform aspects of French tertiary education. The use of tear-gas and water cannon by the police has inevitably led to comparisons with the riots of May, 1968, after which a General Election was held. The comparison does not stand up to examination. In the 1968 riots the country was almost brought to a standstill for five weeks. Classes were cancelled and in some cities students took possession of universities. The present demonstrations are not nearly as widespread. There is no hint of revolution in the Paris air, as there was in May, 1968. The present riots are directed against university problems. The rioters of 1968 objected to aspects of university administration, but they were objecting even more strongly to social conditions. Public support for the students in 1968 was stronger than for the students in 1983. Another important difference is that the 1968 riots came from the political Left. The demonstrations now in Paris come mainly from the Right. Three main issues are at stake in the new education bill. One is that the medical and law schools would be integrated more completely into the French education system. Medical and law students, many of whom are conservatives, are prominent among the demonstrators and rioters. The education bill also seeks to bring representatives of

professions and trade unions into university administration. An attempt is also being made to split the university medical course into two cycles, and to have an examination after the second year of study. These plans have aroused the ire of students; they are scarcely the stuff of which revolutions are made.

The conservative opposition to President Mitterrand’s Government in France is making the most of the demonstrations and riots. Shopkeepers and farmers have also held demonstrations. Shopkeepers are angered by the introduction of new taxes; farmers are attempting to put pressure on the Government over prices for their farm produce, and want restraints on imports of agricultural produce. Neither of these demonstrations lasted long. However, the opposition parties have connected the three lots of demonstrations and hope to make the Government appear shaky. President Mitterrand, after two years in office, has lost much of the popularity of his first months. He has > reversed some of his economic policies and has disappointed many of his Socialist supporters. He does not yet look insecure, though making him insecure is clearly the aim of many of those who are taking part in the demonstrations and riots. The issues behind the demonstrations will need a much wider appeal than such matters as an extra university examination if the Government is going to be seriously embarrassed.