Arrive in Paris the day after a general strike over pension reform disrupts all the public transport, spend a few weeks driving around, then leave just before more strikers disrupt the fuel supply.  It’s much easier (though never fun) to work around a general strike when you’re at home surrounded by your support system – trying to do it while travelling is horrendous. This is not meant as a criticism of strikers – those of us who have the option of changing our horizons through travel have no right to complain against people protesting against government or employer policies that they find unjust. Petty personal considerations aside, the strikes in France illustrate a conflict that will be repeated across many nations who have had a raft of strong social safety net policies over many decades who are now struggling to finance those policies.

The Interior Ministry estimated some 825,000 people marched in cities across France, calling for the right to retire at 60. (Source: Global Times)

Of course, if our Western governments generally hadn’t become so tangled up in corporate welfare loopholes that allow these constructed legal entities far greater financial entitlements than their actual citizens can access, perhaps all their citizens could look forward to a more equitable and dignified old age. It would behoove our politicians generally to entertain the possibility that there just might be a few other government support systems that need to be reformed as well.

Categories: Life, social justice, work and family

Tags: activism/charity, social change, welfare reform