Everybody Loves a Parade
The two most important words to know in French are "greve" and "manifestation". My suggestion is to memorize these two words. Memorize them and respect them.
A "greve" is a strike. A "manifestation" is a protest.
Continental Europe is known for raising food and drink and leisure to the level of art. In truth, as a form of art, nothing surpasses the sophistication of civil disobediance. In the four months that we've been in Europe, we have experienced:
The #5 and #6 entries in the list above are actually kind of a bonus. Since Strasbourg hosts the European Union's Parliament we get people coming to town from all over Europe to voice their displeasure. Both the sugar producers and the dock workers paid a visit because of a beef with the EU. It's a new form of tourism, I suppose.
A couple of weeks ago, Theresa got the following pictures of the sugar producers marching down the street in front of our apartment. Seriously, she stood at the entrance to our building and took these shots. This was an orderly and well-behaved protest.
Last night, Theresa saw signs on the trams that said to expect disruptions today because of protests. Today, the dock workers came to town...something like 6,000 of them from all over Europe. I had to work, but Theresa was out and about in the city. She didn't think too much of it when she saw more police than usual in the town center carrying much larger weapons than usual. The plumes of smoke that developed a little later seemed a little odd, though.
It started becoming inconvenient when the trams stopped running. By stopped running, I mean they just parked where ever they happened to be at the time. It was a bit inconvenient too when, on the walk home, she had to detour around a street because someone had broken about 10,000 wine bottles.
The tear gas was kind of annoying too. On a still day the stuff just kind of hangs in the air. Not dense enough to make your cry, but enough to irritate the eyes and nose. At first, she thought it was her allergies until she saw everyone else walking with handkerchiefs over their noses.
It was kind of incovenient, too, to get past the police buses that were blocking the road near Place de Bordeaux. She figures that these must have been the buses that brought the 100 or so riot police that were lining the street. The riot police with the big Kevlar shields and billy clubs and helmets. She talked to a couple of the policemen, who were nice and reassuring and said that they were just watching the protesters as they wrapped up their busy day. They said everything was over. This seemed confirmed by the fact that the fire trucks were putting up their water cannons for the day. No one left to hose down.
Most of the protesters were headed to their buses for the long ride home. A group of six or so stopped by the corner bar for a couple of beers for the road. The bread store on the corner had done a brisk business. Snacks for the road after a long day of democratic process.
Do not get worried about this and start to believe that things are unsafe here. Seriously. There are places in Indianapolis that pose much more danger on any day of the week. It's like a dance. It's all part of the art form associated with the "greve"and the "manifestation".
Note: The French newspaper Le Monde had a series of pictures of the more serious action going on in front of the European parliament. Try to follow this link to see them.
A "greve" is a strike. A "manifestation" is a protest.
Continental Europe is known for raising food and drink and leisure to the level of art. In truth, as a form of art, nothing surpasses the sophistication of civil disobediance. In the four months that we've been in Europe, we have experienced:
- A baggage handler strike in the Paris Airport
- A public transport strike that shut down trams and buses in Strasbourg
- An inter-city train strike that caused everyone to commute by car and jam the roads.
- A truck driver protest over road-taxes in which semis drove side-by-side down the highways at 10 mph.
- A protest march by sugar producers
- A protest march by dock workers.
The #5 and #6 entries in the list above are actually kind of a bonus. Since Strasbourg hosts the European Union's Parliament we get people coming to town from all over Europe to voice their displeasure. Both the sugar producers and the dock workers paid a visit because of a beef with the EU. It's a new form of tourism, I suppose.
A couple of weeks ago, Theresa got the following pictures of the sugar producers marching down the street in front of our apartment. Seriously, she stood at the entrance to our building and took these shots. This was an orderly and well-behaved protest.
Last night, Theresa saw signs on the trams that said to expect disruptions today because of protests. Today, the dock workers came to town...something like 6,000 of them from all over Europe. I had to work, but Theresa was out and about in the city. She didn't think too much of it when she saw more police than usual in the town center carrying much larger weapons than usual. The plumes of smoke that developed a little later seemed a little odd, though.
It started becoming inconvenient when the trams stopped running. By stopped running, I mean they just parked where ever they happened to be at the time. It was a bit inconvenient too when, on the walk home, she had to detour around a street because someone had broken about 10,000 wine bottles.
The tear gas was kind of annoying too. On a still day the stuff just kind of hangs in the air. Not dense enough to make your cry, but enough to irritate the eyes and nose. At first, she thought it was her allergies until she saw everyone else walking with handkerchiefs over their noses.
It was kind of incovenient, too, to get past the police buses that were blocking the road near Place de Bordeaux. She figures that these must have been the buses that brought the 100 or so riot police that were lining the street. The riot police with the big Kevlar shields and billy clubs and helmets. She talked to a couple of the policemen, who were nice and reassuring and said that they were just watching the protesters as they wrapped up their busy day. They said everything was over. This seemed confirmed by the fact that the fire trucks were putting up their water cannons for the day. No one left to hose down.
Most of the protesters were headed to their buses for the long ride home. A group of six or so stopped by the corner bar for a couple of beers for the road. The bread store on the corner had done a brisk business. Snacks for the road after a long day of democratic process.
Do not get worried about this and start to believe that things are unsafe here. Seriously. There are places in Indianapolis that pose much more danger on any day of the week. It's like a dance. It's all part of the art form associated with the "greve"and the "manifestation".
Note: The French newspaper Le Monde had a series of pictures of the more serious action going on in front of the European parliament. Try to follow this link to see them.
posted by jcweber at 11:42 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home