Sunday in the 5th, we crossed paths with some major street closures. It was the rally against reductions in the education budget. Rallies in NY are few and pointless, and those in Washington I've only seen on TV. Those always seem so grassroots. Handmade signs etc.
This one was more like a parade. They troops of marchers, all ages, were organized into what seemed to be schools, unions, parents, students, regions, and other natural groupings. Each group had a flag -- a beautiful logo professionally printed fluttering from a heavy wooden rod. It all looked brand new, and bands of 50 or 70 people would be marching, all holding up identical flags. The FCPE site, a parents union; isn't it so pro looking?
Often, they marched behind specially fitted out vans or cars with speakers attached and banners plastered along the sides. There would sometimes be a man leading a chant at the head of the group.
For good measure, people had some nice hand-painted signs. They said stuff like "Civil society needs education funds". Yahoo News coverage.
Apparently, the government (center-right, PM is Raffarin) wants to cut about 25,000 non-teacher jobs nationwide in 2003 (aids and administrators).
Earlier in the weekend, I saw a debate program (set in a restaurant) on the subject of the recent strikes by the truckers and their confrères. Some guys were saying "it's outrageous that they would close the roads. The roads are not theirs!". And the other guys were just talking right past it "I admire those who have the courage to strike. They have the right to strike. In a disagreement about pay, quite simply, they have the right. And if the roads are closed, as their employers why the pay was not settled!" You wouldn't hear that latter opinion in the US, but the former is fairly common since at least the 1880s Pullman strikes in Chicago.
Posted by amol at December 9, 2002 01:00 PM