As a million of his fellow countrymen took to the streets yesterday to vent their anger at President Nicolas Sarkozy, Olivier Vial committed an act that was all but revolutionary by French standards. He stayed at home.
Rather than grabbing a banner and lending his voice to the nationwide outrage against plans to curb the right to retire as early as 52, Mr Vial’s attitude was one of calm – if somewhat un-Gallic – acceptance. If he and the rest of France’s younger generation wanted to have any kind of pension at all, he argued, they had to learn to work both harder and longer.
“People must realise strikes hit them in their wallets and they are the victims,” said the 35-year-old university researcher, as protests rocked Paris and dozens of other French cities, and union-led strikes at oil and fuel installations threatened to paralyse its airports. “It’s a sad indictment of our country, but it is not all French people who think this way.” More...
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