French Elections

I've done the web comic, so now I'm trying my hand at the photoblog. This photo was taken last year in Marseille during one of the many many protests that French people seem to love. I love taken pictures of people and then looking back when I get to my computer and realize that someone was staring right at me while I was taking my shot. It can be creepy though, I took a picture of a man sleeping on some grass, and realized when I uploaded my photos that he was not in fast sleeping, but was staring right at me.

Anyways, I chose this picture because it relates to another New York Times article. Yesterday in the Times there was an article about the upcoming French elections. The article was basically saying that the three top contenders are all fairly poor choices (wow... I wonder what that feels like? having presidential candidates that are only slightly better than the other loser, so you vote for him), and that unlike the last election, there has been no issue to focus on.

Since the last election, I'm sure you heard something about the protests against the C.P.E.. Irony of irony, this round of protests was in response to the solution that the French government came up with to deal with the last set of riots (The more violent ones that took place in the suburbs of Paris). The first round of riots were people in the ghettos of France getting pissed off about "precarite": the lack of jobs available to young people.

Chirac's solution? The C.P.E.. Give employers incentive to hire young people with the guarantee that they can terminate the contract at any time with any reason after an initial trial period of three years, for which the employers received certain benefits. To me, this sounded like a good deal. Finding a job in the Bay Area is not as easy as it used to be, so 2 years guaranteed work seemed like a good deal to me. However, the youth of France - this time the rich kids in the center of town - took to the streets protesting the contradictions with laws that require the employer to state a reason for the dismissal of their employees. The protesters said they would not be treated like "kleenexs" to be tossed out when used.

My opinion is, the C.P.E. could actually benefit those who were not protesting... the poorer kids. The protests seemed to me to be rich kids enjoying an excuse to skip school and party on the streets. Which isn't to say that if it were my country, and my future job, that I wouldn't be out their with them. Hell, I'm a middle class kid who likes to skip school under the guise of improving the world.

over and out
-N