France's High-School Protests Swell to 160,000 as Clashes Break Out

Why This Topic Landed in Japan

The high-school protests had been building for weeks, and the 160,000-strong turnout plus a celebrity activist raised the news value. On the Japanese net the story slotted into an existing habit of mocking foreign protest movements as "leftist noise," so the actual issue — the main demand is better education conditions — took a back seat to jabs at the protesters and suspicion of foreign activists and outside powers. The unrest traces to teacher shortages and aging school buildings rather than to immigration.

Key Reaction Themes

• Most mocked the protest and its politics — "the proper democracy the left praises" (said sarcastically), "just a riot," "a festival now," refusing it any legitimacy.
• Criticism and distrust of Greta Thunberg — jeering her participation.
• Skepticism toward the demands and the coverage — "teachers won't be replaced quickly," "I can't tell from the reporting what the facilities were actually like."
• A hostile strand reached for outside blame — a large share of the commentary leaned on conspiracy theories about Chinese capital and foreign activists, and on blaming immigrants and Islam through national and religious generalizations.

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

High-school protests in France draw 160,000, with some turning violent

High-school protests in France drew over 160,000 people in solidarity, some clashed with police, and Greta Thunberg joined.

Sources: Sankei, 2ch

Comments:

• "Apparently this is the proper democratic protest the left praises, lol." [Translator's note: sarcastic.]
• "Education really matters, doesn't it (sarcasm)."
• "Greta doesn't even go to school, so she's got nothing to do with this."
• "That unnaturalness of little Greta Thunberg suddenly appearing across all the media one morning — it was eerie."
• "France is a country living off its past glory."
• "The media's thrilled it's a student movement."
• "French Revolution part 2."
• "Just leave them be; they'll start infighting and burn out eventually."
• "'Solidarity,' lol — activists' favorite word."
• "It's just a riot."
• "It's turned into just an event now — they don't really want to protest, they just want to enjoy the festival."
• "The schools should just run face-on-camera online classes; that would smoke out the ones rampaging at the demos to some degree."
• "The crux — what the actual high-school facilities were really like, which is supposedly the root of their claim — I can't tell at all from the coverage."
• "For a teachers' union it's a total win: more school budget, big pay raises. Schools stay dirty and broken → more budget; can't recruit teachers → big pay raises."