Look, nothing is burning. We’re doing okay, really. Still alive. Protesting is a national pastime, political engagement a true calling and people are genuinely angry, but in between… yeah, we’re just living. There are no hordes of barbarians snatching Chanel scarves and Mephisto moccasins from bourgeois passers-by (too bad, mind you). Boarded up or not, stores are open (and at this stage the plywood is almost for show or maybe for insurance reasons).
Do you want an example? Much to my surprise, the Longchamp store on Place Royale isn’t even boarded up. Yes, Longchamp, the handbags I could totally afford if only I translated an entire library. The store sits between a barricaded lingerie shop and an insurance company, flaunting a lifestyle most can’t afford behind large spotless windows. The leather goods are so overpriced there’s no price tag.
No joke. I checked during the protest. They don’t even have a security guard.
And not a scratch, week after week.
Really, it’s not like everything is getting stolen or destroyed at every protest. The media love focusing on burning garbage bins for some reason. Was it a city bin, a recycling bin, the most loved bin in the hood? Please, let’s all take a moment of silence for the bin who didn’t make it past the first “Aux armes!”
Meanwhile, some people lost body parts to police violence. No, they didn’t ask for it.
This may be the hardest thing to understand from abroad—and occasionally from within France. Images need context.
Protests follow a script written a long, long time ago. Yes, it can be mayhem for a day but protesters have jobs, kids, school, plans, a life, and except for a handful of teens or fringe groups who make starting a fight the highlight of their day (you probably have them back home too, in pubs or behind the wheel, driving way past the speed limit), they want to come home with both hands and both eyes. Chanting “tout le monde déteste la police” is one thing, literally setting capitalism on fire is a whole different story. Like, maybe next time.
Look. I did a few things between protests. I went to Le Mans to explore the medieval quarter. I went to posh La Baule where concerned (and most assuredly far right-wing) locals asked me “how the situation was in Nantes” (to which I replied that “we” were okay: none of us had been harmed by the police the day before). And I went to Angers where the fall foliage always nicely frames the massive castle, the cathedral and the old town.
This is the France tourists want to see. And who knows, maybe some will bring a few protest traditions back home. It’s a healthy habit, really.
The giant LE MANS letters and tram tracks outside the train station, Place du 8 Mai 1945, 72000 Le Mans, FranceCoffee break on Place Aristide Briand, 72000 Le Mans, France, with a tram passing behindWalking through “Rabbit Hole,” a colourful street art installation by Seth, Rue Jankowski, 72000 Le Mans, FranceOld-fashioned streetlamp and chimney pots, Rue du Rempart, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceRue du Doyenné, with the Cathédrale Saint-Julien in the background, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceYellow shutters, old stone walls and afternoon sunlight, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceShadows on the old stone walls, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceCobblestone streets of the Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceRusty drainpipe and mossy stonework, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceView over the city from the steps above the Tunnel Wilbur-Wright, Le Mans, FranceSlate rooftops, chimney pots and a church steeple seen from the old town, Le Mans, FranceHalf-timbered houses and an old streetlamp, Rue de la Pierre de Tucé, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceLooking down a narrow cobblestone street in the Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceSunlight on the old half-timbered houses, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FrancePeeling paint, old shutters and a streetlamp, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceThe coat of arms of Le Mans on a manhole cover, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceA view between the old stone houses, Rue de la Verrerie area, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceRed shoes, cobblestones and a stray feather, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceRue de la Truie qui File (“Street of the Spinning Sow”), a wonderfully odd medieval street name, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceHalf-timbered house with red-framed windows, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceColourful half-timbered houses on Rue des Trois Sonnettes, Le Mans, FranceA little Christmas scene in a window, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceStone steps leading through an old archway, Cité Plantagenêt, Le Mans, FranceThe Roman walls of Le Mans, with an unusual little house perched above the fortifications, Le Mans, FranceThe medieval Pont de Verdun crossing the Maine River in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, FranceThe twin spires of Saint-Maurice Cathedral rising above the autumn trees along the Maine River in Angers, FranceSaint-Maurice Cathedral seen through golden autumn foliage in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, FranceAutumn leaves framing the medieval Château d’Angers and the Pont de Verdun in Angers, FranceThe Pont de Verdun, the Maine River and Saint-Maurice Cathedral overlooking the historic centre of Angers, FranceA French postal worker’s delivery bicycle parked on a cobblestone street in the historic centre of Angers, FranceA close-up of fallen autumn leaves on a November day in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, FranceAutumn leaves hanging from the plane trees in Angers, Pays de la Loire, FranceThe historic Pont de Verdun spanning the Maine River, with Saint-Maurice Cathedral and the old town of Angers in the background, FranceThe Montée Saint-Maurice, a steep cobblestone street and staircase leading to Saint-Maurice Cathedral in Angers, FranceEight sculpted figures representing knights on the western façade of Saint-Maurice Cathedral in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, FranceThe richly sculpted Romanesque portal of Saint-Maurice Cathedral in Angers, France, featuring Christ in Majesty and traces of medieval polychromyThe stained-glass rose window, Gothic architecture and ornate side altar inside Saint-Maurice Cathedral in Angers, FranceSitting on the medieval ramparts of the Château d’Angers with the city’s historic rooftops in the background, Angers, FrancePanoramic view of the Maine River, the Pont de Verdun and the historic rooftops of Angers from the Château d’Angers, FranceOn the ramparts of the Château d’Angers, beside the fortress’s distinctive slate-and-limestone towers, Angers, Maine-et-Loire, FranceSeashells at low tide, Plage de La Baule, La Baule-Escoublac, FranceWalking on Plage de La Baule, La Baule-Escoublac, FranceOn Plage de La Baule, La Baule-Escoublac, FranceSeashell buried in the sand, Plage de La Baule, La Baule-Escoublac, FranceLow tide on Plage de La Baule, La Baule-Escoublac, FranceSeashells along the shoreline, Plage de La Baule, La Baule-Escoublac, FranceSeashells on Plage de La Baule, La Baule-Escoublac, FranceSeashells and seaweed, Plage de La Baule, La Baule-Escoublac, FranceSpiral seashell, Plage de La Baule, La Baule-Escoublac, FranceWet sand and reflections, Plage de La Baule, La Baule-Escoublac, FranceSailboat at Port du Pouliguen, Le Pouliguen, FranceTraditional Breton figurine above the doorway of a building marked “Du Bon Vieux Temps,” Le Pouliguen, France.Very French café furniture, Rue du Centre, 44510 Le Pouliguen, France.Hot chocolate and macaron at Christophe Roussel, 6 allée des Camélias, 44500 La Baule-Escoublac, FranceCoffee at Christophe Roussel, 6 allée des Camélias, 44500 La Baule-Escoublac, France
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