The mobilization against the pension reform is getting a facelift this Saturday afternoon with a march organized in Paris at the call of a dozen youth associations. Two days after the big day of mobilization on Thursday, it is a demonstration today which is supported by insubordinate France, but not by the rest of Nupes. So, this youth is already there, ready to pound the pavement in Paris.
“At 65, potentially I will be dead”
There are already a hundred demonstrators with flags, signs, a few songs, a few minutes from the start of the demonstration. A slogan that comes up a lot: “Macron, that’s enough! The youth is in the street.” Indeed, there is a majority of young people at the start of this march. Many moreover were already in the street last Thursday with the unions. And they come back to ask the government to step back on this reform. Camille, an 18-year-old student, refuses to work any longer.
“It’s already complicated, in fact, as a young person, to establish yourself in the labor market. So if there are even more ‘seniors’ who continue to work, there will be even less room for us. So it has a direct impact on us,” she insists. “It means that we will have to contribute all our life until 64 years old. It is demoralizing to think that I should work all my life. At 65 years old, potentially I will be dead”, adds Camille.
“If this government stays in place, it will be 70-75 years”
For Eddy, 21, there is no question of retiring later than expected either. And for him, 62, it was already too late. So he suggests something else. “I am asking for retirement at 60, or even less if the conditions allow it. 50 years for difficult jobs, that seems to me the minimum. We are being robbed of life expectancy in good health. If this government ever remains in place, if ever the situation stays the same, it could go up to 70-75 years. It’s unbearable, especially in this time of inflation.”
For the moment, it is impossible to say how many demonstrators will be there this Saturday afternoon. Several tens of thousands of people are expected around Jean-Luc Mélenchon in particular.