The Other Side of the French Story

These are photos you won't see much in the French or any other press. There were two sides to the recent demonstrations when students blocked entrances to schools and universities to protest the government's attempt to modify an inflexible and heavy work contract for young people.


[Thanks to Liberte-Cherie for the photos.]

While most photojournalists only saw the kids and the unions, there were others carrying signs that read,

"Stop the Strikes"
"Drop the paving stone, pick up your pen"
"Halt the Picket Lines"
"Smashers, picketers, don't touch my university"

Liberte-Cherie is one of the few organized free-market groups in France (website). One of their founders, Sabine Herold, has left the group to become the spokesperson for a new French political party, the Alternative Liberale, that is making surprising progress in a country that is paralyzed by a dysfunctional kind of social democracy, i.e. one that has allowed privileged minorities to attain a position of force wherefrom they can blackmail the public and the government into submission.