‘I’m Not Sure I’ll Still Be Alive at 64’: French Protesters Rage Against Macron

PARIS – In normal times, the bookshop workers of Paris’ 20th arrondissement would have been at their stores on a weekday afternoon; but here they were holding banners outside Paris’ Court of Justice instead. One of their comrades in the Bookbloc – a book industry group “in a struggle against Macron and his world,” according to their Facebook page – had been in prison since Saturday after taking part in recent protests. Camille, who the group has chosen not to name fully in public, hadn’t only been arrested and taken into custody; her mother, caught between pride for her daughter’s determination and fear for the unknown, told VICE World News Camille had been placed in Fleury-Mérogis, Europe’s largest prison. 

“She is very involved in feminism,” Christiane said of her daughter, who works at a book store to support her studies, “next weekend she is organising the queer feminist book festival. She is very involved with a lot of political causes, the defence of sexual minorities – she is someone who is deeply non-violent.” 

Christiane believed her daughter had been unlucky, that she had fallen in the middle of a moving crowd before being dragged out by police and then handcuffed. Camille had been kept in custody over the weekend because she had refused to give the police her fingerprints and her telephone number, on top of taking part in allegedly violent protests and wearing a face covering. Later Monday afternoon, after her hearing, Camille was released after the judge said there wasn’t enough information to prosecute her. 

More than 200 people were arrested across France on the 28th of March, the tenth formal day of action against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms, in addition to the 450 people arrested last Thursday which prompted leading human rights groups to condemn the French authorities’ use of arbitrary detention and excessive violence. Security forces have defended their actions, arguing that anarchist groups are taking advantage of the largely-peaceful demonstrations to provoke violent insurrection. Images of the violence have been beamed worldwide, including clips of Bordeaux’s town hall being set alight, or footage of citizens enjoying their afternoon apéro in front of burning trash. 

Parisians made up at least 55 of those 205 arrests. These demonstrations, which began as peaceful rejection of Macron’s wish to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, have become tense; huge police presences and an increasingly infuriated public mean that trash can fires and tear gas have become the norm rather than exception. The vast majority of protestors VICE World News interviewed this week disavowed the violence, as well as police brutality. 

The fresh anger against Macron isn’t just down to the pension reforms, but more the way he has tried to implement them; he has driven it through Parliament through a special provision in the French constitution called Article 49.3 that allows the executive to force through a bill, rather than putting it to a vote (which he was likely to lose).

Strikes and protests were already widespread before the bill became law, and Macron was aware of how deeply unpopular his move to raise the French retirement age was. But perhaps he underestimated how sacred retirement and democratic values are for the French. Despite these reforms appearing in his second-term manifesto, his decision to deploy Article 49.3 has been met with outcry and strikes across unions and political sides. Staff at the Louvre blocked the entrance of the museum this week, singing the protest folk song Bella Ciao in front of the Paris icon. Valérie Beau, an archivist in her 50s who was part of a traditionally moderate to right wing union, told VICE World News from the picket line that “it’s more than the problem of the pension, it is to defend democracy.” 

Macron has another four years left of his second presidential term, but his approval ratings have plummeted since the pension reforms were first tabled in January; the only time it has been worse was after the 2018 protests against a planned rise in tax on diesel and petrol which became the grassroots gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement. Posters and graffiti calling for his resignation and even death were emblazoned over badges, banners and the plinth of Marianne, the Place de la République’s personification of the republic. This is a protest movement that has mobilised unions from all sectors and across party lines, though the lingering odour of arrondissements still waiting to have their rubbish collected after weeks of stinking up the streets shows some of the fault lines in these protests. Some roads, in wealthier areas, are predictably spotless, supported by private waste collectors and cushioned from the fury and fire of the resistance across the city. 

Anti-Macron sentiment was particularly strong with the high schoolers of Lycée Turgot, who ditched school exams for the day to block the school’s entrance. Makeshift cardboard posters read “Smoking kills. Police kills. Macron kills” as well as “I have 49.3 reasons to smoke a blunt.” They erupted in applause every time someone drove by and tooted in support. All were hesitant to share their real names, not for fear of the police but of cyberbullying; not all their classmates were necessarily supportive and some had already had negative experience of the right wing press misrepresenting their words. 

16-year-old “Georgette”, who agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity, was protesting against police brutality and had entirely masked her face. “I honestly don’t know what will happen next. People are angry. I do believe there is going to be more and more anger, and this is going to turn into violence. The shit is really going to hit the fan. It’ll be violent from both sides.” She added that her parents were very scared, and that as migrants their pensions were already less secure, likely due to visa issues. “On top of the new reforms they’ll have even less money, working till very late in life. They’ve already left violence before, and they’re pretty old. They’re scared of being beaten up by the police.” 

On Tuesday, trash can fires erupted once more throughout Paris. According to the union CGT, 450,000 demonstrators marched the streets, though the police said that the number was 93,000; across the county, numbers were at more than 2 million according to the country’s inter-union group. Tear gas was used once more, although fewer public workers went on strike than on Thursday. The 6th of April has been announced as yet another day of strike action. 

A 15-year-old called Natasha who gave us only her first name to protect herself against any disciplinary action from her school said: “We’ve decided to blockade the entrance of our school because it’s the only way for us to be heard. We don’t want to work till we’re 80.” Along with another peer she added that they weren’t only here to protest against the pension reforms but also the introduction of Parcoursup, a website used for students to express their university admissions wishes, criticised for its opaque selection process. 

Originally, she hadn’t heard much about the reforms, but then 49.3 was passed. “Young people were watching stuff on Instagram,” she said, reeling off the names of influencers she had seen discussing it. “They were supporting the withdrawal of the law so high schoolers and college kids started feeling like they should get involved.” 

Despite the increased criticism of the government beyond the pension reforms that has taken hold of France in the past few weeks, the retirement age change remained at the heart of many protesters’ minds. A steelworker who is a member of the CGT union, Jean-Luc Hacquart, said that he had had a motorbike accident and now already couldn’t have the retirement he had planned. “And now you want me to work two more years?” he asked rhetorically. “Fuck no.” 

38-year-old Charlotte Jereczek, a union representative for the train company SNCF who told VICE World News that she has been working on the trains for 13 years said: “Our working conditions have been degrading for years. There’s been a lot of people travelling without a ticket, insulting us, and it’s getting worse day after day. Our days are getting longer. I don’t see myself doing this until 64. I have co-workers retiring at 60 years old who were exhausted. I can’t believe I have to do this for another 24 years.” 

She added: “Just because 49.3 is part of the constitution it doesn’t mean it should be passed. It is the end of life for French people. My job is so physical I’m not sure I’ll still be alive at 64. I’m not sure I’ll be able to enjoy it. This is a morbid bet. Most will be dead before they’re even retired. Just even more money in the pocket of the government.”