In this episode, we take a look at the ongoing protests which have taken France by storm. After President Macron proposed a policy which would increase France's retirement age to 64 in order to avoid a national pension deficit, French citizens took to the streets to show opposition. Macron has faced national disapproval in raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030, especially after he used a bypass law in an article of the French constitution. However, France has been infamous in spending a large chunk of its GDP on the pension system. The Round Room team debates on whether Macron has done the right thing or not and if French protests have been taken to a level too far. By reviewing American cases, especially events surrounding the height of the Black Lives Matter movement and American police brutality, Monica and Natalie discuss why protesting in the United States is different and how it compares to current French protests.
Sources for this episode:
1. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/28/strikes-protests-france-macron-pensions-clashes
2. https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-school-district-employees-teachers-strike-contract-877636676c3e67075ef784224d6965e4
3. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/17/europe/french-pension-reforms-explainer-intl-cmd/index.html
4. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/10/french-retirement-age-reform-62
5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2023/03/20/heres-what-to-know-about-frances-controversial-pension-reforms-as-macron-survives-no-confidence-vote/?sh=35ad9465675f
6. https://www.ft.com/content/951e49de-69b4-4420-bcae-73a110a57171
This podcast is hosted by Monica Rivera Sosa and Natalie Vasileff. We'd like to thank the rest of our team who helped to create this episode which includes Oliver Glass, Jackson Bailey, Maddie Barron, and Manuel Trujillo. To keep up with podcast updates, please follow @theroundroom on Instagram.
