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Absolutely fantastic. Once you get over the initial chuckle at how novel a concept it is, its a god damn power play.
An army marches on its stomach.
If you’re gonna protest, might as well eat good while doing it.
Let them eat sausage.
You can’t do that in USA. You don’t have the public transport infrastructure.
Middle aged American here, and when I was a kid the culture around me regarding france was basically “lol they surrender.” And that whole stupid thing probably peaked in 2003 with Freedom Fries.
But now?
I honestly wonder if any other nation’s population has their heads on straight as much as the French. The only place in Europe where I have spent much time though is up in Sweden, and the nords seem pretty good at life-ing too.
Historically, the French really only surrendered once, unfortunately evocative of the “but you fuck a goat one time …” joke. It didn’t help that they surrendered to one of the biggest monsters in history, at a time where they arguably didn’t need to surrender. TBF, the main reason their biggest ally (Britain) didn’t surrender at the same time was the fact that they were able to run away.
Freedom Fries
As an European, I still can’t believe you guys did that
They’ve been flirting with far-right government like most everyone else, but their protesting game is on point. The whole country being smaller than Texas helps, too.
Yeah, the average population density of the US is a lot lower than many people realize. Protests are seen as city-based things, both geographically and culturally.
And then you have eu-nation-sized red states that can hold many many trumpers who are unable to play nice with others because they don’t have to have neighbors.
How on earth the fact that your country also has was swats of empty land stops you from doing effective protesting? Or any, actually.
It’s only one factor. The bigger factor is that our police are insanely militarized. If my black ass tried to barbecue at a protest, I’d get gunned the fuck down, then I’d be unnamed in the news stories (if there were any), and the cop would get a medal for killing a “terrorist”.
It does seem they’re suffering from the same rightward-slide that many other countries are facing though, unfortunately.
Middle aged American here, and when I was a kid the culture around me regarding france was basically “lol they surrender.”
Copied from my earlier comment elsewhere:
Have an extensive history of military might, from rampaging barbarian hordes, to a continent-conquering emperor, to a foreign legion famed as being one of the most badass fighting forces in the world, and nobody bats an eye. But get embarrassingly outflanked one time, and you never hear the end of it!
explanation since the comm isn't History Memes this time
- “rampaging barbarian hordes” – the Gauls
- “continent-conquering emperor” – Napoleon
- “foreign legion” – the French Foreign Legion
- “embarrasingly outflanked” – the failure of the Maginot Line in WWII
One post that I read somewhere else on fedi was in the lines of, you can’t reasonably think French are cowards, they made snails into fine cuisine.
The French have been refining protesting since 1790.
Guys, take lessons, take lessons!
For what. To utilize all the rail lines in my city to grill.
Excuses incoming in 3, 2, 1…
“But, but, but the us country is huge. We can’t be expected to protest about something all the way over there…”
“But, but, but, wait for the midterms. We’ll sort it then.”
“But, but, but, the protests are gaining steam now. It’s not easy to coordinate these things and we need time…{also we’ll conveniently ignore you when you point out that we live in a world of instant communication and that protests and strikes were coordinated decades ago when we didn’t have today’s technology}”
Here in Minnesota we’ve still been protesting every week…
With regard to point 3, ‘today’s technology’ is very much a double edged sword. Yes, you can communicate instantly but surveillance has modernized just as much.
As reductive as it sounds, I think part of the issue is it happens all the time in other countries because it happens all the time in other countries. The connections to each other already exist. The networks already exist. All the instant communication in the world doesn’t make a lick of difference if you have no idea who else to call. At this point, I feel like that’s the real benefit of protests. You gotta meet like minded people somewhere to get any real momentum and third spaces are pretty fucking dead.
I don’t think the issue is necessarily a lack of will to organize now, I think the issue was a lack of will to do so years ago. Hell, decades ago for that matter. So now the people that genuinely do care have to build their entire network from the ground up while under heavy surveillance which yes, is going to be fucking slower.
You really get involved in France, if you want it or not. Great for democracy IMO.
I mean in a certain sense they are a bit true, the French protested for so long that Paris has created the Rue in order to have some control over the crowds
The rue?
It’s a sauce used for thickening, but that’s not important right now
I don’t know the exact name but it’s these large streets
Boulevards? Grand boulevards?
I’m confused because “rue” in French is literally “street” in English 😁.
Yeah those
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True…
Easily the most genius thing I have seen in my entire life.
French people are very serious about 2 things:
La Liberté et La Cuisine
Yeah, you stop believing in the first part when you see what they vote for.
But is it Standard-gauge?
This comment prompted me to check the gauge of my city’s streetcar, and I am happy to report that it is standard gauge as well. Too bad it only goes down two streets so it’s relatively unlikely that a protest would march along it.
(I kinda need a new barbecue anyway, so it’s still a design criterion to keep in mind, just in case.)
Main thing that keeps me from fitting in in England is how much I love the French. 🇫🇷
Do French protests always follow tram tracks? Otherwise, it seems like you could just use normal wheels.
If I just saw the picture and I knew it was a protest, I’d have figured that these people work for the tram and are protesting the tram company.
They don’t specifically follow the tram tracks, but in major European cities, tram tracks are simply everywhere. As the route of the protest has to be registered in advance, it’s very easy to plan for this.
With standard wheels on the barbecue, it would be far too bumpy to barbecue properly. And the risk of everything tipping over is 100 times greater.
I think it’s a brilliant solution.
the route of the protest has to be registered in advance
Wow, that’s dystopic. Very “you protest because I allow it” vibes. Nice for emergency services though
Registering a protest in advance is standard practice in the US and Canada, too. Cities can and do enforce basic rules for crowd control, rerouting traffic, etc. For example, you might be allowed to organize a protest in a public park during daylight hours, but if you do it at 2am in the streets of a residential area the cops are going to arrive and shut you down.
https://www.aclu-wa.org/know-your-rights/know-your-rights-guide-protests/
It’s not dystopian, just democratic. Any democratic constitution reserves a very universal right to protest. You still have to notify the police beforehand so that they can reroute traffic. Of course the police also ensure that the protest doesn’t turn violent, but first and for all they provide for the safety of the protesters.
Lol you can definitely tell you’re European XD
The police here in the US are nothing like that. If you call the police to let them know you’ll be protesting you’re just asking for trouble, it’s like taunting them before trying to fight them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they show up at your house to harass you, or somehow set it up to where your planned protesting spot is either unavailable or otherwise impossible to use. They’ve been known to arrest people for giving water to the homeless, those waiting in line to vote, protestors, and pretty much anyone the government or specific officers dislike. It’s commonly stated here in the US that short of a murder occuring, there is no good reason to call the police unless you want a murder to occur.
Are their tram rails powered? If they are, it could be using that power to cook while moving. I assume they aren’t, at least not the rails but maybe overhead power, but it would be cool.
Tram lines are not powered, that would be a huge safety hazard. Most tram systems use power lines that run above the tracks.
In some places they are powered. It’s generally much more expensive to do safely so it’s only done in historic places where overhead wires would ruin the place.
I know It’s the case in the centre of Reims for example.
So glad to come to the comments and not find this debunked
