November11, 2026, editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French.
On Tuesday, November 10, at the call of the National Education Inter-Union Coalition and the national student and high school student coordinating committees, tens of thousands of protesters across the country demanded an end to Parcoursup (French college admissions web portal), as well as pay raises. On the 5th, there were between 600,000 and 1.5 million protesters, and between 150,000 and 250,000 the following Saturday. The government may try to intimidate with its bans on demonstrations and the unbridled violence of its police, but to no avail: the movement is far from dying out. [The government’s] only response has been to launch a “consultation” with the unions and employers that not only excluded young people but also yielded paltry results: a 1.6% increase in the minimum wage, or 23.65 euros—not even the price of a coffee at the counter per day of work! Workers aren’t asking for handouts! As a result, the CGT (a major union federation) and the public-sector union coalition are calling for another day of strikes on November 17.
High school students, the spearhead of the movement
So far, young people—especially high school students—have remained the spearhead of the movement. This is precisely why the government is stepping up its repression: now, all it takes is for high school students to gather in front of their school for the police to charge, whether in the Paris region or in Rouen, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse…
What young people are asking for is the chance to study in decent buildings, with enough teachers to educate them. Above all, they are demanding an end to the social sorting symbolized by Parcoursup—this system that excludes tens of thousands of high school graduates from the higher education they are entitled to, and that forces them into constant competition to be “the highest performers” and hope to be among the cream of the crop.
The young people’s demands are the same as ours!
Demands not so different from our own! Haven’t we suffered through the heat wave? At work, we’re expected to be “high performers”—which means working ourselves to the bone. It’s up to us to ensure our “employability,” as the bosses say—a way of making us responsible in advance for potential layoffs: a lifelong version of Parcoursup, so to speak. For measly wages that are stagnating while prices are skyrocketing: we need real raises across the board—at least 600 euros ($661) for everyone.
CAC 40 (major French stock market index) companies distributed 107 billion euros in dividends (to investors) in 2025, and the pace is accelerating, since French publicly traded companies paid out 61 billion (ranking second worldwide!) in the second quarter of 2026 alone! That’s where a large portion of the 211 billion in subsidies and tax breaks that bosses receive each year goes!
“We won’t get what we want from Matignon (the Prime Minister’s office)!”
Last Thursday, we saw clearly that it is possible to unite our anger: because the high school students stood their ground, the inter-union coalition called for a strike. This initial success should have immediately led to others. Why, apart from the Education Inter-Union Coalition, were the high school students left on their own on November 10? The CGT, CFDT, FO, and the other unions all chose to rush to [Prime Minister] Lecornu’s “social conference,” even though there was no doubt it would provide no answers to the main demands of young and old alike.
Employers and governments will only give in if the strike spreads. On Saturday the 14th, we’ll have another chance to demonstrate and make our voices heard. And on Tuesday the 17th, we’ll need even more people on strike and in the streets than on the 5th. Everywhere in our workplaces, we must discuss how to escalate the strike and the protests, organizing from the grassroots up, just as the young people have done. To build a struggle that wins!
