Looking at the etymology of the term riot brings up rather different threads of meanings; we find the following, that are of particular interest:
- act or move without control or restraint — probably the one that is most common in current debates
- civil disorder, violent disturbance of the peace, public disturbance arising from wanton and disorderly conduct — one that deserves special attention when we look at the protests in the EU, and taking the different parts of this strand seriously
Four concerns in particular mark the protests: • Increasing cost of living; • Public debt • A disastrous state of the educational system but also other public services • A lack of hope to be able to participate economically and socio-politically.
“They talk about us, not with us” a student stated in one comment.
While the protests became increasingly outspoken and also violent, they are dating back at least to September; also, it had been easy to reactivate the Gilets Jaunes (yellow vest protests) and thus it could be said that the protests go in some sense even back to 2018/19.
Having used the term public services, not social services, is of special meaning — especially in the late 1990s/2000s there had been a discussion in the European Union, focussing on the privatisation of the social provisions as especially health and child care, as well as educatiuon. A seemingly terminological question had been in this context concerning the following terms: social services, services of general interest and public services, marinating and generalising the latter seen as essential by France (the result had been the use of the term “Services of General (Economic) Interest”. Linking this to the second meaning of riot, the privatisation of these services must be seen as “public riot”, i.e. pubic act or move without control or restraint:
| Civil disorder | Violent disorder of peace | Wanton and disorderly conduct |
| Acceptance of lacking security and perspectives in regard of education, health and socio-economic perspectives | Closure of public spaces that guarantee the implementation of fundamental rights | Transfer of public tasks to private markets left to their own control |
Terminology matters — in both directions; and requires careful consideration when we use certain terms. In fact, we face here three levels of problems that we must consider in a Human Rights Perspective.
First, investment in services providing public goods/goods of general interest is essential (we must keep in mind that also the term “goods” must be used with consideration); while these may be provided by private service agencies, state control must secure high standards. Essential is as well that such control is in every respect providing safeguards against inequality; increasing inequality is not least a result of well-off parents, sending their children to private schools with better paid teachers who are performing better and that have better equipment.
Second, a central problem is especially in France the crisis of public finances. The finance crisis can be seen with some justification as bankruptcy of the state, at least the state is at the end in a situation where the scope for manoeuvre is more or less non-existent as long as the government is not ready to make a radical policy-cut.
Third, better education is no guarantee for becoming employed, then being able to cope with the increasing cost of living. The development of the means of the production, the change of productive forces, the shifts in the geo-economic order and other factors are resulting in the development of new forms of socio-economic securitisation; the binary form employment — unemployment cannot be maintained for orientation (though it had never been a completely valid pattern anyway). So we face — surely in different ways and to a different extent — the need to revisit the question of employment. For instance, Paul Boccara pleaded for a une véritable sécurité d’emploi et de formation (Une sécurité d’emploi ou de formation. Pour une construction révolutionnaire de dépassement contre le chômage (Le Temps des Cerises, 2002), a radical approach towards employment AND education/training. This must also be seen as critic and interpretation of the universal declaration of human rights and the mainstream reding; theUDHR actually contains both: the orientation on a right to employment but also the right for alternative forms of income generation.
What this, in particular the latter, means is an open question; but is surely is a question that must be asked.