The French Revolution

[eskerman]

Headlines today that the French are taking to the streets which will basically cripple the countries infrastructure...and all because they are totally disatisfied with the governments handling of fiscal poilicy, banks, and jobs. OK we all now the French do things the French way, but perhaps the Irish need to start doing things the French way....is it time to bear our teeth and shut the country down for a day or maybe two..Yes the farmers, nurses etc have tried it, and got very little back, pompus politicians/bankers and the big money men feel they are untouchable but what about everybody in the PAYE sector downing tools and brains for a change..if the PAYE workers aint oiling the wheels of what little industry we actually have left here then the lads at the top have nowhere to turn...its something that has not been really tried here...has that time come or are we wasting it.?? Comments appreciated

[Christine Murray]

Europe's winter of discontent - Telegraph

I reckon that the place to go will be the Indymedias on these issues, the kids
bring cameras out. Sarko's policies have peed off many, because his emphasis
is on Foreign/Geopolitical affairs rather than domestic discontents.

Same everywhere really.

Nantes/Marseilles have indymedias etcetera-

[Duth Ealla]

Dot,

Do you mean Indymedia the site or rather (more) independent media sources such as this or any other blog etc.

While France is often regarded as La Republique its worth remembering that it was a monarchy for nearly 70 years of the last 200 odd.

Its a very rigid society and what I have heard from French people and those working under French management is thats its business practices are a bit antiquated with the management being God and everyone else being very much beneath them. True of everywhere I know but in France its seems they have a different class of a-holes in management. Anyone can corroborate that?

I hope the left does bring some change to that country but they will need to be a bit more cognisant of reality this time rather than the airy aspirations of 68 or end up with a whole new round of Daniel Bendit Cohen's an

[zakalwe1]

hilarious!

ze economy is not dozing to well, we are a leetle worried, lets strike!

i have a feeling its less to do with "concern over the financial crisis" and more to do with taking a day off in january. are all strikers marching perchance?

[Bobert]

The French march for everything though.

[jfk2008]

Revolution me arse!

This is just the French way: they love a good old demo.

[jmcc]

Revolution me arse!

This is just the French way: they love a good old demo.

Just like dossers everywhere. What would happen if their cafes went on strike on the same day that they were having their strikes?

Regards...jmcc

[The OD]

The French march for everything though.

Its the anthem, how could you not march to that?

Our anthem is perfect for swaying to just after last orders, but try marching to it at 1.00am after a skinful!

Difficult, to say the least.

[mollox]

Headlines today that the French are taking to the streets which will basically cripple the countries infrastructure...and all because they are totally disatisfied with the governments handling of fiscal poilicy, banks, and jobs. OK we all now the French do things the French way, but perhaps the Irish need to start doing things the French way....is it time to bear our teeth and shut the country down for a day or maybe two..Yes the farmers, nurses etc have tried it, and got very little back, pompus politicians/bankers and the big money men feel they are untouchable but what about everybody in the PAYE sector downing tools and brains for a change..if the PAYE workers aint oiling the wheels of what little industry we actually have left here then the lads at the top have nowhere to turn...its something that has not been really tried here...has that time come or are we wasting it.?? Comments appreciated

We are too passive - the old folks protesting over the medical card budget changes put us all to shame.

When they took down the toll booths on the M50 and introduced barrier-free tolling, I was certain that, if this was France, no one would register or pay and the widespread "civic disobedience" would make it impossible for the NRA to prosecute everyone.
The system would quickly collapse and we'd now have a toll-free M50 - as it should be.

[mollox]

Its the anthem, how could you not march to that?

Our anthem is perfect for swaying to just after last orders, but try marching to it at 1.00am after a skinful!Difficult, to say the least.

We were in Biarritz in October 2007 and watched the Rugby World Cup semi-final between France & New Zealand in a large bar with several big screens.

The place was jammed, mainly with young French people, and the crowd spontaneously broke into La Marseillaise several times during the match. They also belted it out a couple of times after the final whistle to celebrate the French win.

I couldn’t imagine an Irish crowd singing our national anthem in a similar fashion.