Cultural moments of resonance

The last time French stu­dents occu­pied the Sor­bonne, it was May 1968 and it star­ted a cul­tural revolution…

This time, they sent in the riot troops early and we only really found out after the viol­ence… Does this mean they’ve aver­ted the cul­tural foment? Or have they merely made it worse?

I know I’ve been a little out of the loop this week­end – haven’t read my usual news sources or any­thing other than the Good Week­end actu­ally – but why didn’t I hear that stu­dents had occu­pied the Sor­bonne last Wed­nes­day when it occurred? 

They have every reason to be furious:

The First Employ­ment Con­tract (CPE) passed by par­lia­ment on Thursday is a two-year con­tract for under-26-year-olds which employ­ers can break off at any time without explanation.

Min­is­ters hope the flex­ib­il­ity will encour­age employ­ers to hire more young people, safe in the know­ledge that they will be able to get rid of them if they have to. 

And we thought our new indus­trial rela­tions laws were bad.

If you read French, there are up-to-the-minute eye­wit­ness reports at Paris Indy­media.

Thanks to subtle_eye for the heads-up.