If there’s one thing the French are good at, that’s revolutions. Recently there has been an uprise of protests in France. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, passed a law which raised the pension retirement age from 62 to 64. This had the citizens of France responding in quite a negative manner, all for the purpose of endorsing change. These protests range from starting fires to going on strike, and they don’t seem to be dying down until something is done about this law. 

     With Macron’s nudge on passing this law, the French people are angered. Additionally, the fact that he had used constitutional power to help issue this reform just added fuel to the fire, literally! This constitutional power that Macron had used could essentially be marked as abuse of power, as the process to pass this law was not followed correctly. With this, according to npr.org, “Macron’s popularity has plunged to its lowest level in four years.” Macron actually has a history of creating laws regarding the working conditions of citizens, doing this by cutting taxes and loosening labor market rules. This had contributed to Macron’s goal to make the French economy “more competitive.” 

     These protests aren’t just simply limited to Paris, the capital and largest city in France. These activities have actually webbed out to various cities throughout the nation, including Nantes, Lyon, and Marseille, which are just some examples of many other places that are holding pension protests. Since January, the intensity of these events has escalated, and even now ongoing, as citizens are fed up. Citizens have started fires in the streets, and workers of various occupations (transport workers, refinery workers, teachers etc.) have gone on strike, which has an economic impact on the whole community. There are also even people gathering to verbally and physically show their dismay for this law.  For example, some people are ridiculing Macron, by yelling out slogans such as “Macron resign!” or “You will fall soon, you’ll see.” during their protests.

     Ultimately, it is important to keep informed on what events are occurring throughout the world. Who knows, this event could spark something much larger, and with how flamboyant the French have been with their protests, I wouldn’t jump to conclusions, in terms of what impact these continuous protests will have on other countries.