MOST.media interview on a topical Issue
Alexander Bikbov has been studying France’s contemporary protest movement since the late 2010s. In his view, it was at that time that the authorities gave the police permission to use violence. The Élysée Palace was frightened by the spontaneous mobilization of the “yellow vests” and chose to suppress street protests rather than to listen to the voice of the street. This fits into the global trend toward strengthening state control over public activity. What distinguishes France from some other countries is that society here continues to resist.
Why is 1935 an important date for understanding the institutions of street rally and democracy itself? Who in France is pretending that police violence doesn’t exist, and why? What are high school students actually demanding, and what do algorithms have to do with it? Which political forces are on their side, and whose side are they on? How does research on the “Yellow Vests” movement help us understand the high school students’ protests? When will this protest end, and what comes next? Which image of society are French high school students drawing? Is the French left currently fighting for an unconditional basic income? Read about all of this in the interview Olga Proskurnina conducted with Alexander Bikbov in the immediate aftermath of the high school students’ protests.
