France Is on Fire, Again

A friend of mine, who lives in New Zealand, came back to X a couple of days ago after taking a break for a few weeks. She asked, “What did I miss?” The very first response was “France is on fire.” Another response “France is on fire and Macron (the French president) is an idiot.” I chimed in with “France is on fire, the Louvre is surrounded, and the president was at a Celine Dion concert.” Her response was “I see.”

After doing some research, I discovered that France has had riots, strikes, violent labor disputes, minor insurrections, and other forms of civil unrest since the 12th century. (France became a kingdom under the Capetians in 987.) One dataset I read stated that there were 8,516 rebellions in France between 1661–1789. In the last 100 years, there have been 43 riots, rebellions, strikes, etc. Apparently, rioting is something to be expected in France. What does that say about the country?

Interestingly enough, the first bit of civil unrest that I found was a strike, which turned into a riot, in 1229 at the University of Paris, resulting in student deaths and the reform of the medieval university. The University of Paris was active from 1150–1970, when it was split into thirteen separate universities, including the current iteration of the Sorbonne University. (Its history stretches back to 1257.) It seems that student riots are nothing new in France. Rioting and protesting are, apparently, what the population does in France on a regular basis.

My sibling’s best friend’s mom was French. She was from Paris. She met her husband, a G.I., in Paris after World War II. She was a delightful person. It was from her that I read about Babar, king of the elephants, Madeline, and Tintin. Now, the books were in French, so I couldn’t read the dialogue, but the pictures more than made up for that. Their house is also where I first saw Nutella. Mrs. S., as I knew her, worked for the World Bank and would go back to Paris with her daughters to visit family. They would come back with all kinds of exciting things like Godiva chocolate that didn’t cost a fortune.

Unfortunately, Mr. S. died when the daughters were still children. The family had an Afghan hound named Ramses, after the Egyptian pharaoh, and a Siamese cat named Mao. I thought the cat was named Mao because of its meow. It was named after the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party.

When my sibling’s best friend got married, it was, to use a phrase from my grandparents, a very swish affair, with people coming from all over the world. In the days before the Internet, the wedding invitations were mailed in the hope that all of them would actually arrive where intended. The wedding reception was held at the Ivory Coast Embassy with the full dining arrangement of glasses, silverware, and plates.

I have not seen such a formal event since that time. Mrs. S. was determined that her daughter would have the best wedding possible. As far as I know, my sibling’s best friend is still married, close to 40 years later.

Mrs. S. was proud to be French, proud to be Parisian. That she loved her country was quite obvious even to a child like me. However, she was under no illusions about French government and its effectiveness. When France burst into flames again, I texted my sibling and asked, “What would Mrs. S. think of this?” They texted back a facepalm emoji. It’s probably a good thing that Mrs. S. passed on long ago, just as it was with our mom in Obama’s second term.

The main problem with the French government seems to be that it doesn’t have much of a spine in terms of being an actual government. Whatever makes the populace happy seems to be how the government works or doesn’t work.

If the government attempts to rein in the very generous benefits paid for by 1% of the population, there’s a riot or a protest or a strike, and the government backs down. There have been 15 constitutions and five different republics since the French Revolution in 1789. Currently, France is in the Fifth Republic, set up by Charles de Gaulle in 1958. The Fifth Republic replaced the parliamentary government of the Fourth Republic with a dual-elective system that splits the power between a prime minister (the head of the government) and a president (the head of state).

The president of France can dissolve the National Assembly whenever he wants and call for more elections in order to get an Assembly he likes. Macron did exactly that in 2024, just before the Summer Olympics! Does this man have timing or what?

The farther I got into how the French government is elected, the more confused I got, and I stopped reading. People grumble about how confusing the U.S. government is. I promise you, the U.S. cannot hold a CANDLE to the French in terms of confusing government structure. To get the riots to end, they should make everyone read the current French constitution and learn how the government is supposed to run. That’ll stop anyone.

I would say that France is being run by people with the mentality of teenagers, but I’m not entirely sure that’s an apt description; perhaps pre-teens would be better. After looking at how the French government is supposed to run, I’m a bit surprised the country has gotten as far as it has in modern times. I’m not at all surprised by the riots and wonder why they didn't happen earlier.

I can see why Mrs. S. was so proud of her country. It’s gorgeous, with some of the kindest, most pleasant people you will ever meet. There are plenty of French people who still hold the U.S. in high regard because of World War II and how the U.S. came to their rescue. Some of the American military cemeteries in France have local citizens who “adopt” the graves of the war dead and maintain them. On D-Day, the graves at the Normandy American Cemetery are rubbed with sand from Omaha Beach to make the letters stand out. It is a beautiful and moving tribute. The French are lovely, kind people who keep electing total idiots to run their government, kind of like what happens when people vote for Democrats in the U.S. Unless and until the French start electing leaders with backbones, nothing will change and the riots will continue.