French students vow to keep up protest pressure for better learning conditions

Back in the streets in Marseille, these high school students and protesters have vowed not to give up. Holding signs, chanting, singing protest songs, they've come out to demand a 10 billion euro aid package for France's schools and to denounce police brutality during protests. In Rennes in Brittany, as in other high schools across the country, students gathered to block school entrances, carrying signs that read don't cut the funding for those building tomorrow, or furious but not fascist. While the government has proposed measures including reforming and scrapping Parcoursup, the higher education admissions platform, student unions say that the proposals are far from what's needed. On Monday, at a meeting with the Prime Minister and his education and university ministers, student unions balked at the presence of far-right representatives and also those representing French business leaders. We refuse that the education reforms be based on the needs of bosses and businesses. Young people need to be listened to. And that it's the young people who need to listen. And the presence of the far-right, we've been clear for weeks that we refuse to negotiate with the far-right. Right. Students at the meeting said that they were surprised that Sébastien Lecornu had, in their words, no concrete measures or budgets to propose. All but one student union left the meeting, and it too said talks went in circles. It's been, what, five hours that I've been here? Five hours and still nothing of substance for high schoolers. Nothing for Parcoursup, for buildings, democracy, teachers and class sizes. Since no one is capable of working together, nothing moved forward. All right. The negotiations at a standstill, students have vowed to keep protesting. They'll be joined by workers on November 17th for a nationwide general strike.