Even if they are decreasing in intensity, the clashes between teenagers and police forces in several cities in Greece may eventually inspire many imitators in other European capitals, notably in France. This is less about the violent actions stemming from a specific tradition of anarcho-syndicalism within Greek student movements—a phenomenon much less widespread in France—than about the highly symbolic dimension emerging from the protests of these high school and university students: now “dressed in white to distinguish themselves from others”—the rioters—these protesters are demanding “understanding” and “attention.” In this regard, the intense emotion triggered by the tragic death of young Alexandros is accompanied by a real weariness of the young Greek bourgeoisie against the recurring inadequacies of a Greek political and civil society deemed unfit to reform an outdated model. These criticisms are also directed at a political personnel described by the population as both “notoriously incompetent and corrupt,” having been literally clinging to power for decades. Moreover, in the background, there is a European flag and an economic crisis where the starry promises of the former have shattered on the painful obstacles of the latter. So many signals not to be ignored. Athens is certainly not Europe. Yet, it is its cradle.
Financial crisis, economic crisis, social crisis… identity crisis. An inexorable process in the sequence of its multiple consequences, capable of “liberating” thousands of young people from their traditional allegiances: those of an “obedience contract” that breaks when the authorities can no longer guarantee the reassuring framework of a medium-term existence. In his text “Civilization and Its Discontents,” Sigmund Freud speaks of this “community of law” consequent to the contractually imposed renunciation of the inherent violence in every human being: “compensations and benefits” are obtained in exchange for the constraint and the renouncement of the individual’s fulfillment of instinctual violence. Far from being anarchists or “politically manipulated,” high school students in France who protest in Paris and the provinces are joined by students from the IUTs, who are keen, through their engagement in such vocational training, to find a job as quickly as possible, if not to “work more to earn more.” Will they also be “understood and heard?”
One can always applaud Xavier Darcos’s proposal to start teaching economics and business life from the tenth grade: but what about the foreseeable distortions between theoretical courses and daily realities? Will anyone ever dare to pedagogically interpret the phrase used by the Finance Minister regarding the colossal deficit—more than 40 billion euros—in our foreign trade: “Can do better”? What lessons in Political Science—the Government of the City to remain in the Athenian atmosphere—will our dear “blond heads” also draw upon seeing ministers who are jealous and argue over office locations, others who refuse dazzling promotions for a TGV journey, and still others who prefer to renounce their humanitarian commitments for wavering considerations of “realpolitik?” Not to mention an opposition that is renewing with quasi-Stalinist practices of exclusion: so many grains to grind for a youth already quite shaken by bleak future prospects.
“The civilized man,” the founder of psychoanalysis tried to explain, “has exchanged a piece of happiness for a piece of security.” In times when both are directly threatened, one should be wary of the conditions of the “pact” so that it is not perceived as a fool’s bargain.
