By Ava Donovan
The French word for strike is GREVE. I have lived in France for many years and have always challenged the French with my opinion that if striking became an Olympic Sport they would win gold hands down every time. They can't resist the temptation to down tools and pens the minute anyone mentions that word they dread and revolt against. That word is CHANGE.
It doesn't matter what is being changed: the school syllabus, the school timetable, doctors' fees, the colour of the curtains in the town hall etc.. any change is bad news per se and the knee jerk reaction is always to get everybody out on the streets (but only on a Thursday, so their salary isn't affected) and shout and demonstrate (but not between 12 noon and 2pm when they go home for lunch).
Today we are examining the punishments meted out to France's footballers who dared to go on strike at Knysna in South Africa at the world cup. The captain Evra is banned for 5 games and is considered to be the ringleader. Anelka is the real naughty boy who didn't even turn up to face the disciplinary hearing. He is banned for 18 matches - but doesn't give a hoot as he clearly has no intention of playing for France again.
I recall how the striking mentality was prevalent in the UK in the 70s and I do recall the winter of discontent that set me against strikes forever. A lot of British ex-pats settle in France because the lifestyle in France reminds them of bygone years in many ways. To be sure, the attitude to striking is definitely typical of yesteryear in the UK. So why don't the French move on? Striking is so infra-dig, don't you think? It's so banal because it's so run of the mill. There are other ways to protest and originality is needed in thinking of ways you can get people to sit up and listen. Nobody takes strikes in France seriously anymore and some French people are wholly ashamed of this old-fashioned reputation that they have in the eyes of the rest of Europe. The behaviour of the national football team was an embarrassing reflection of French society as a whole.
What has always stunned me is the way schoolchildren go on strike in France. I recall having to drive 30 kms to a doctor's appointment when I was pregnant some years ago. I got stuck behind a striking crowd of ....... schoolchildren, out on strike because the Minister had suggested that the education system needed reform (heavens, how dare he be so revolutionary!!!) I told the policeman who stopped me that in order to strike one needs to be earning a salary. This comment fell on deaf ears.
