Non, non CPE
This has become a familiar chant to hear in the street of France.
For any who are not aware (I don't know how much coverage this has been getting in England) the CPE is a new law that means that under 26s can be hired by a company on a two year contract during which time the company can fire them are any time without explanation.
This law is designed to combat the huge unemployment which exists for the under 26 age group- it's as high as 40% in some areas. However a good proportion of people think that it will remove their job security.
So what are the French doing? going on strike! Some universities haven't been open for about two or three weeks now and many high schools and colleges have also been closed. Most of this is because students are blockading the buildings, going on marches (so aren't in class) and things like that.
Saturday saw the biggest organised march in Caen so far- and what a sight. I knew they were marching because I could hear them from my room. So I wandered down to take some photos, unfortunately with the loss of my USB stick I can't yet post them up. So instead I will describe it to you.
There were hundreds (possibly thousands) of people marching down the main road, many with placards baring slogans such as 'No to CPE' 'Solidarity' 'Social democracy or policed democracy' OK the translation of that last one isn't quite as impressive, however this was written on a huge black tarpaulin which was mounted on the top of a fork lift truck. The driver kept stopping every so often, lowering the banner and then raising it high again to huge cheers from the crowds around it. People had drums, speaker systems to blast out an any CPE song (this one was a bad idea as the guys with the mics couldn't really sing at all), and one guy had a bugle.
Thankfully most of the protests in Caen have been peaceful- unlike the riots they have been having in Paris. However some people have been doing things such as throwing eggs at the trams and one of my friends said that some people started kicking the tram she was on. So please pray that any future protest here are peaceful.
Other than watching the protests my weekend was good. Sunday was an evangelicalism service at church and the place was packed!! The choir were performing and apart from one slip up of words it went pretty good. In fact the word slip up didn't even matter because everyone else followed the mistake and just repeated a section twice- I was rather chuffed because it is one thing that I have repeatedly tried to tell them "If you make a mistake try to run with in rather than stopped looked shocked and giggle at each other" So if you sing the wrong words and no one else joins you make it into an ooohhh etc.
But the best thing about the weekend (well it was monday evening so not technically the weekend but will be included in my 'weekend post' so is) was that my birthday present from my parents finally arrived. They sent it the 27th Feb and it arrived yesterday!! but it was worth the wait- switchfoot album from David and an ipod nano from my parents!!! so I had a good play last night (and this morning). It's sooo tiny. Amazing.
For any who are not aware (I don't know how much coverage this has been getting in England) the CPE is a new law that means that under 26s can be hired by a company on a two year contract during which time the company can fire them are any time without explanation.
This law is designed to combat the huge unemployment which exists for the under 26 age group- it's as high as 40% in some areas. However a good proportion of people think that it will remove their job security.
So what are the French doing? going on strike! Some universities haven't been open for about two or three weeks now and many high schools and colleges have also been closed. Most of this is because students are blockading the buildings, going on marches (so aren't in class) and things like that.
Saturday saw the biggest organised march in Caen so far- and what a sight. I knew they were marching because I could hear them from my room. So I wandered down to take some photos, unfortunately with the loss of my USB stick I can't yet post them up. So instead I will describe it to you.
There were hundreds (possibly thousands) of people marching down the main road, many with placards baring slogans such as 'No to CPE' 'Solidarity' 'Social democracy or policed democracy' OK the translation of that last one isn't quite as impressive, however this was written on a huge black tarpaulin which was mounted on the top of a fork lift truck. The driver kept stopping every so often, lowering the banner and then raising it high again to huge cheers from the crowds around it. People had drums, speaker systems to blast out an any CPE song (this one was a bad idea as the guys with the mics couldn't really sing at all), and one guy had a bugle.
Thankfully most of the protests in Caen have been peaceful- unlike the riots they have been having in Paris. However some people have been doing things such as throwing eggs at the trams and one of my friends said that some people started kicking the tram she was on. So please pray that any future protest here are peaceful.
Other than watching the protests my weekend was good. Sunday was an evangelicalism service at church and the place was packed!! The choir were performing and apart from one slip up of words it went pretty good. In fact the word slip up didn't even matter because everyone else followed the mistake and just repeated a section twice- I was rather chuffed because it is one thing that I have repeatedly tried to tell them "If you make a mistake try to run with in rather than stopped looked shocked and giggle at each other" So if you sing the wrong words and no one else joins you make it into an ooohhh etc.
But the best thing about the weekend (well it was monday evening so not technically the weekend but will be included in my 'weekend post' so is) was that my birthday present from my parents finally arrived. They sent it the 27th Feb and it arrived yesterday!! but it was worth the wait- switchfoot album from David and an ipod nano from my parents!!! so I had a good play last night (and this morning). It's sooo tiny. Amazing.
posted by Sarah at 11:05 AM
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