The Conseil Constitionnel (the "neuf Sages") has just given its judgment: the CPE is totally legal.
It's a court that decides on the constitutionality of laws. Only a few people can apply to it for a decision-- the President of France, the Prime Minister, the heads of the Senate and Assembly, and since 1974, also 60 senators and 60 delegates. Because of the rather conservative composition of the court, most people expected it to decide this way.
The CPE is more unpopular than ever: 83% of the French are against it.
Jacques Chirac is going to speak tomorrow evening at 20h. He has been strenuously avoiding taking any public position. on it. I'm sure he approves of the CPE and yet wants to stay popular. The Socialists say they will not negotiate but want the withdrawal of the law.
In Paris, within the past few hours, thirty or so students blocked the Périphérique and invaded the Gare de Lyon to harass the TGV, but were "peacefully evacuated by the forces of order."
The whole thing is making me feel very foreign here. Maybe like French people in the U.S. faced by the 54% of Americans who do not believe humans evolved from earlier species. This is the best article I've seen in English on how the students feel. I have a lot of sympathy for them. I think they're wrong, and will lose the battle in the long run; but it's their country.
You hit the main problem in France right on the head. The whole Evolution v. Intelligent Design debate illustrates the main difference between Europe (France in particular) and the US : this debate, among many others, could never have been possible here. Even though the US media were quick to treat it as a Reason v. Jesus Freaks fight, it happened nonetheless and countless people were able to get their point across. At least a few of them were able to bring an interesting perspective. It had at least the virtue of reminding people that the theory of evolution might have some solid evidence to it, but it's still a theory, not a proven fact from beginning to the end, and what some researchers said about it flaws was extremely thought-provoking. And i was amazed at how it reminded me of how close-minded european societies are. Here, the debate would have been shot down at the very beginning. Because we're still in the place where people were executed for saying the earth might not be flat. Have things really changed ? Of course there's no physical torture or physical death, but try to suggest a word like "god" in a discussion over evolution and most chances are that you'll be intellectually tortured and socially killed. Just like suggesting that being poor does not automatically make someone a wonderful person and vice versa. Like suggesting that job security overrides any other concern. In fact, entertaining any idea that's not deeply rooted in the leftist ideology is forbidden. And this problem is the forest behind the CPE tree. From the Iraq war, to evolution, abortion, health care, and many other discussions, you can see that America's a vibrant battlefield of ideas while France and the rest of Europe are more an ideological dictatorship. Man, what i would give to feel foreign too !! Or at least have a french Fox News that would be a nice alternative.
Posted by: Fabrice | 31 March 2006 at 12:44