We have probably all heard news of “the riots”:http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18589425%255E663,00.html that have taken place in France recently — the largest youth and student protest since May ’68. This included the occupation of parts of EHESS (the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales), where some of France’s anthropology happens. A friend of mine recently passed along “these photos”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/gunthert/sets/72057594089350652/ of what the building looked like shortly after the police removed the protestors who had occupied it for three days. I’m not sure what story these pictures tell — of the devastation wrought by the ‘forces of order’ or the students who trashed the place when they moved in. I’m still trying to hear from my contacts inside the republic. Are there any readers who have a better idea what is happening in Paris?
UPDATE: This from the EHESS webpage:
Mercredi 22 mars, à 19h, le bâtiment de l’Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales du 105 boulevard Raspail occupé depuis le lundi 20 mars à 20h a dû être abandonné par la direction accompagnée d’une vingtaine d’enseignants-chercheurs, qui, pendant 48 heures, ont tenté de maintenir la légitimité de l’institution et le lien avec les occupants.
Dès lundi soir, il a fallu prendre acte du fait que la réunion des étudiants qui s’était tenue dans les lieux avait été débordée par l’intrusion d’un groupe d’une trentaine de personnes, extérieures à l’établissement, déterminées et organisées. Craignant pour la sécurité des personnes et des matériels, la Présidente a demandé l’intervention de la force publique. En dépit de la gravité des dégradations constatées dès la première nuit et de la réitération insistante de cette requête, aucune intervention n’a eu lieu. Pour faire face à l’urgence, un nombre très important d’enseignants-chercheurs, de chercheurs et de personnels s’est mobilisé sur place jusqu’à mercredi en fin d’après-midi. Nulle intervention des forces de l’ordre n’ayant été autorisée jusqu’à ce moment et la seule proposition de la Préfecture de Police consistant en une « installation dans la durée » en organisant une permanence nocturne de quatre enseignants-chercheurs dans des conditions de sécurité devenues intenables, la Présidente a dû prendre la décision de quitter le site, en abandonnant celui-ci à la merci des occupants. Cette décision a été approuvée par l’ensemble des enseignants-chercheurs présents et suivie la mort dans l’âme.
Les chercheurs, enseignants, personnels et étudiants de l’Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales se réservent de faire connaître largement l’analyse qu’ils font de cet épisode lamentable, et s’engagent par ailleurs à tout mettre en œuvre pour rétablir dans les meilleurs délais l’usage normal de leur outil de travail.
(sorry no time to translate this atm since I have to go teach — the long and the short of it is that the EHESS people are pissed off at the occupiers)
So we even make the posts on savage minds…
I’m a student at the EHESS (in anthropology) and although I haven’t had most of my classes for a couple weeks, I went Thursday to find out what was going on.
I was surprised to see several television cameras and reporters, as I had no idea that the occupation would get this kind of attention, as we’re a pretty small establishment, one which large-scale protests have rarely affected.
There has been a substantial if not majority student mobilisation effort since the introduction of the CPE, which blocked the doors of one of the main class buildings (these are small, three-story buildings, by the way) on and off starting about two weeks ago. They did not occupy the building, however–the people who did that were from outside of the school, either students elsewhere or none of the above. When I arrived Thursday, they were yelling and throwing things at the journalists and anyone else that happened to be standing on the sidewalk (they were inside of the courtyard, closed in by a gate). It was probably the fact that they hadn’t slept for three days, but when they tried to explain themselves they were incoherent and seemed drunk. They fought a lot among themselves, even, and seem to be the anarchist type. Most people around were calling them “marginal.”
At first, the police refused to interfere. The President of the school asked them to, and they said they couldn’t. I’m not sure why. Several teachers were there on wednesday, at which point they left, carrying out computers and monitors to save them from the damage that had already begun.
Most of the damage in those photos was caused by the occupiers, as it looks about the same as it did on Thursday, although obviously some things might have been knocked over by the police. I don’t know when classes will start again…
Is that an onion in one of the photos? Were they cooking?
Yes, what I’ve been hearing is that in general many of the researchers and faculty were broadly supportive for the actions of the students and other protesters in general, but pretty unhappy about what was done to their building in particular! If you look at the photos there are a LOT of empty bottles of wine, depleted wheels of brie etc. As one person put it, “un psychodrame bien de chez nous… mais c’est notre charme.”
Here is a good post about the riots, as is this linked post.