What a riot

I know we're not supposed to stereotype. Here at the most super-duper diverse campus ever, we should never pigeonhole someone based on his or her beliefs. \nBut what am I supposed to do when French students protest and French unions strike? Seriously, folks, this is more than a little ridiculous. As soon as young Muslim français took to the streets last year, everyone said France needed to increase youth employment. As a result, France tries to pass a reform law helping jobless youths, at which point, young non-Muslim français promptly protest. \nOstensibly, the students and unions are marching against the new labor law that would loosen restrictions on hiring under-26-year-old employees. What kind of restrictions? Well, if you're a French company and you want to hire anyone, you can't fire this employee without a good case and a substantial severance package. And if you're hiring some kid right out of college, oftentimes the risk is greater than the reward. So, invariably, French employers pass over young employees. \nThe new law would give the employer a two-year trial period during which they could fire under-26 employees without significant restrictions. You know, just like we do here. Every student here at IU will inevitably have to find work and keep it through performance. Yet, the majority of the French people have come to expect lifelong employment and, so, they protest. \nHow ironic that the French protesters, who pride themselves on their radical liberalism, are decrying reform laws and asking for a return to the good ol' days. They want the government to provide more jobs, but socialism already shows its cracks. Everywhere, governments have found themselves needing to reform programs and cut spending. "Job creation" costs money and productivity, and more bureaucracy stymies growth, something with which France has enough problems. \nThough commentators have noted France's addiction to socialism, I find France's addiction to revolution more distressing. Every time a problem arises, a host of protests, strikes and riots appears as the solution. Last year's riots immediately come to mind, but massive general strikes and protests are regular occurrences in France. And here, at the intersection of these two addictions, the situation has grown quite ludicrous. French students have gone from protesting for human rights to protesting for a pension and the promise of a free job. On top of that, most of these protesters go to universities and will remain largely unaffected by the law. \nThe cries of "To the barricades!" might ring on the Champs-Elysées, but this is hardly "Les Miz." It's a nation at a critical point, frustrated with its inability to sustain its socialist system. The misguided protesters who call for revolution don't understand that the revolution has already been won by the revolutionaries. With a 35-hour work week, extensive benefits and a massive bureaucracy, the revolutionaries have gotten exactly what they asked for. Yet, this system has proven itself untenable, and it needs change. \nToday, the well-educated elite who protest the new laws don't realize that they are France's next generation of leaders, rather than extreme revolutionaries. Protesters are standing up for the status quo, while the government desperately cries for change, without any options. France threatens to become an anachronistic joke unless its youth exchanges Romantic "revolution" for realistic change.