![\"Share](\"http:\/\/share-international.org\/magazine\/old_issues\/2016\/images\/medi.201605_nuit_debout_paris.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMay 2016 (Share International magazine)<\/p>\n
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A new movement is rapidly sweeping France as protesters occupy French cities calling for change. Roughly translated \u2018nuit debout\u2019 means \u2018night standing\u2019 or \u2018rise up at night\u2019 and was initially a social-media-driven protest movement against labour law reforms that make it easier for employers to sack workers. However, after the first week, now vast nightly gatherings of people of all ages and backgrounds began to occupy large public spaces in more than 30 cities in France. The new citizen-led movement is being compared to the Occupy Movement or Spain\u2019s Indignados.<\/p>\n
It began on 31 March 2016 with a night-time sit-in in Paris after the latest street demonstrations by students and unions critical of President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande\u2019s proposed changes to labour laws. But the movement and its radical nocturnal action had been dreamed up months earlier at a Paris meeting of leftwing activists. \u201cThere were about 300 or 400 of us at a public meeting in February and we were wondering how can we really scare the government? We had an idea: at the next big street protest, we simply wouldn\u2019t go home,\u201d said Michel, 60, a former delivery driver. \u201cOn 31 March, at the time of the labour law protests, that\u2019s what happened. There was torrential rain, but still everyone came back here to the square. Then at 9pm, the rain stopped and we stayed. We came back the next day and as we keep coming back every night, it has scared the government because it\u2019s impossible to define. There\u2019s something here that I\u2019ve never seen before in France \u2013 all these people converge here each night of their own accord to talk and debate ideas \u2013 from housing to the universal wages, refugees, any topic they like. No one has told them to, no unions are pushing them on \u2013 they\u2019re coming of their own accord.\u201d<\/p>\n
As night falls over Paris, thousands of people sit cross-legged in public spaces, taking turns to pass round a microphone and denounce everything from the dominance of Google to tax evasion or inequality on housing estates. The debating continues into the early hours of the morning. It has expanded to address a host of different grievances, including the state of emergency and security crackdown in response to last year\u2019s terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe labour law was the final straw,\u201d said Matthiew, 35, who was retraining to be a teacher after 10 years in the private sector, and had set up an impromptu revolutionary singing group at the square. \u201cBut it\u2019s much bigger than that. This government, which is supposed to be socialist, has come up with a raft of things I don\u2019t agree with, while failing to deal with the real problems like unemployment, climate change and a society heading for disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jocelyn, 26, a former medical student acting as a press spokesman for the movement, said: \u201cThere are parallels with Occupy and Indignados. The idea is to let everyone speak out. People are really sick and tired and that feeling has been building for years…. Personally, it\u2019s the state of emergency, the new surveillance laws, the changes to the justice system and the security crackdown.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Various committees have sprung up to debate a new constitution, society, work, and how to occupy the square with more permanent wooden structures on a nightly basis. Whiteboards list the evening\u2019s discussions and activities \u2013 from debates on economics to media training for the demonstrators. \u201cNo hatred, no arms, no violence,\u201d was the credo described by the \u201caction committee\u201d. \u201cThis must be a perfect mini-society,\u201d a member of the gardening committee told the crowd. A poetry committee has been set up to document and create the movement\u2019s slogans. \u201cEvery movement needs its artistic and literary element,\u201d said the poet who proposed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeneration revolution\u201d, was scrawled on the pavement. The concept behind the movement is a \u201cconvergence of struggles\u201d with no one leader. There are no union banners or flags of specific groups decorating the protest in the square \u2013 a rarity in France. No issue is \u201coff agenda\u201d; social problems such as labour laws, inequality, injustice, climate change, the refugee crisis, racism and more are all debated through the night.<\/p>\n
C\u00e9cile, 22, a Paris law student at Thursday night\u2019s general assembly, said: \u201cI don\u2019t agree with the state society is in today. To me, politics feels broken. This movement appeals in terms of citizen action. I come here after class and I intend to keep coming back. I hope it lasts.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Source: theguardian.com; ibtimes.co.uk; liberation.fr; a Share International correspondent attending Nuit Debout gatherings.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018Nuit Debout\u2019 \u2013 standing up for change (share-international.org) May 2016 (Share International magazine) A new movement is rapidly sweeping France as protesters occupy French cities calling for change. Roughly translated \u2018nuit debout\u2019 means \u2018night standing\u2019 or \u2018rise up at night\u2019 and was initially a social-media-driven protest movement against labour law… Continue reading