It's been quite a long time I haven't "updated" my page… But life's pretty chaotic lately. As you may have heard, there are lots of students' demonstrations and strikes going on for several weeks now, in France, and many universities are literally blocked, mine among others, and for the 3rd week now. That's really becoming utterly annoying! We have had an exam and quite a few courses cancelled, and finding days that would suit everyone to postpone all these will be a huge dilemma since all of us have different timetables; and that will undoubtedly infringe upon the time that was kept free for us to revise and write our theses… And most of all, even the library is closed, so we can't have access to books, which is extremely practical when you're making research and writing your thesis!!! (Especially as other existing libraries don't have specialized books at all! That's pathetic)
Anyway, I find these blockades totally unfair and undemocratic, even though the student unionists claim that they "voted" so, i.e. it's a democratic gesture… But they forget to mention that the 1st day they decided on the blockade, no one but the union knew such a vote was planned or what they were up to, and they keep on voting among themselves, so of course, they are pro-blockade… The ones who want to be given the basic right to have access to university (cos, well, we've paid our fees and, hello, the streets are there if they want to protest! If you just think that so many people in the southern countries still don't have access to education, and here we are, acting like stupid spoiled children!), so the ones who want to study freely are in majority but are afraid to show up to these assemblies to vote cos during these sessions the pro blockade are actually ruling everything…and also deciding on the time of the vote so if you don't sleep inside the uni, you don't necessarily know when it's taking place…(Fair, fair, fair…)
I've just been here today, and we were more and morer numerous against the blockade, but literally insulted! That's what they call democracy and respecting your opinion...Not mentioning how they can prtend it's fair to count thousands of votes just by appraising how many numbers of hands are up, in an eyeblick!
And being against the blockade doesn't mean we are in favour of the Prime Minister's bill** AT ALL. Many students are against it but still want to study and get their exams. What's totally irrational is that the ones blocking the university are actually evoking "freedom of expression and of opinion" but they actually exert it against itself, since by blocking universities, they stifle the freedom, not only of expression and opinion of those who may have other opinions than them, or not (since, as I said, many are against the bill too) but basically the freedom of movement, of going to school!
In that respect, the "occupation" is obviously illegal (totalitarian even, since it negates the freedom of others)
Thus, resorting to freedom in order to justify their protest is totally absurd and contradicts that very freedom!
Well, sorry for pouring out all that resentment, but I really needed to, I feel as if I were on another planet, with no timetable, and well, great you may think, but it's not like that at all. I cannot really plan anything 'cos we just know the day before if our lesson will be held or not, and even if it seems to give you much spare time to prepare your thesis &c, but, quite paradoxically, well, at least it's like that for me, when you don't have a fixed timetable anymore, your goals are less foreseeable, and you don't feel that "motivated" to study when deprived of any sense of schedule; it's like when you have a whole day with no class (i.e. vs your expected timetable) you do less than when you have only a couple of well-planned hours.
But I guess that's just me and my need of frames, to structure my stream-of-consciousness-like state of mind; hey how did you guess I was working on Virginia Woolf and British Modernism?!
But enough rambling… Sorry for boring you guys, but you've managed to read that far though! Thanks ;)
**P.S: I haven’t mentioned the bill itself: very briefly, our Prime Minister plans on setting up a work contract reserved for 'the young people' under 26, in order to fight unemployment (reaching an unsettling rate in that category of the population). This contract is rather flexible and enables the employer to "sack" the employee whenever and without motive during a trial period lasting 2 years, and that is the main bone of contention since this period will nourish precariousness and the lack of job security…
