When you think of France, you might picture sitting at a café. But taking to the streets to air grievances is as French as Beaujolais.

Beginning in January and enduring through March of this year, thousands of farmers, angered by various oversights by the French government, staged protests across France. Striking images of over a thousand tractors parked on normally busy highways reached front pages across the world, and drew attention to yet another French protest.

As the farmers dumped hay and even sprayed manure on government buildings, the world watched on, our mouths open in both laughter and awe.

These farmers, reacting to their inability to sustain themselves due to shrinking incomes, cheap imports, lack of subsidies and increased production costs were able to express themselves in a way that remains uniquely French.

Though outside of a few outlier events, the protests have largely come to an end. But this is not the first time French farmers have protested, and surely will not be the last.

From the yellow vest movement to last year’s protests against police brutality, French people have and will continue to protest when their government clashes with their fundamental beliefs. This begs the essential question that curious onlookers around the world asked themselves: why do the French protest so often, and what rules allow them to continue this behavior?

Making noise to make change

Compared quantitatively to other European countries, the French actually do not protest more. But their protests are often visible and disruptive.

This behavior follows a path from medieval history to today, showing just how entrenched these spirited protests are in the French âme, or soul.

Still, many French citizens find protests an annoyance that merely disrupts their daily life only to result in little change.

Elouan Bellanger is a student in Rennes, France who I spoke with in French. Throughout his schooling, he said, protests impacted his ability to get to classes as they would often block the center of Rennes, where he attended middle and high school, causing him to miss class several times.

Many of Bellanger’s friends also find the protests an “annoyance,” although he also knows several classmates who actually take part in these demonstrations.

Bellanger thinks some of the recent protests were excessive, spurred by “small problems” that do not merit the elevated reaction of his countrymen, he said.

In contrast, Bellanger spoke with a sense of pride about certain protests throughout history that resulted in major change, specifically those of the 20th century. “There are definitely a lot of similarities between the revolution and today’s protests,” Bellanger said.

A tradition of dissent

In an article for Vox, journalist Zack Beauchamp explained how in the 18th-century rural populations across Europe practiced a local folk tradition, called “charivari,” designed to publicly humiliate members of the community. To shame wrongdoers, townspeople would parade through the streets banging on pots and yelling to show their disapproval and enforce social standards in their communities.

Citing sociologist Charles Till, Beauchamp explained how, as the first French Revolution began, this tradition became political. The French Revolution stands as the foundation of modern protesting culture in France, as images of revolutionaries storming the Bastille fortress evoke their modern-day counterparts clad in yellow vests.

Rising up against an economically and socially-oppressive monarchy, the reasons for the revolutionary protests do not differ so much from those of today. Images of this revolution, and those subsequent, echo throughout today’s protests.

Since then, two major protests stand out: the La Commune anniversary protests in 1936, and the May 1968 movement. As a result of the 1936 protests, the French government codified the right to unionize, setting in place the laws that lend unions the large amount of power they have today. In 1968, students angry at France’s antiquated policies and social values created such an uproar that the national assembly was forced to dissolve and reform, creating the France we know today.

Over 10 million workers went on strike in 1968, showing the dedication the French people have to making their voices heard.

Rights baked into law

But how are the French actually allowed to protest as much as they do? It comes back to the laws enacted after the 1936 movement, through which unions are given huge stakes in how companies are managed. According to the French Ministry of Economics, only 8% of French workers are actually unionized, yet France has one of the highest rates of collective bargaining coverage at 93%.

This means that unions negotiate for all sector workers rather than only their members. Therefore, these unions, though small, have a disproportionately large amount of power when it comes to company and governmental decisions.

No protests in recent years have come close to creating the same amount of change as the movements of 1936 and 1968.

Most recently, the French government was forced to make concessions to the farmers to bring order back to the nation and ensure that agriculture, an essential industry in France, remains productive.

Still, the drastic efforts made by these farmers to make their voices heard worked, and the government heard their pleas. From canceling an increase in diesel tax for farmers to pausing a program intending to reduce the amount of pesticides used on French crops, these protests resulted in actual change.

Protests can work.

French President Emmanuel Macron largely met the demands of the yellow vest protesters by increasing the minimum wage, putting aside his planned green tax on fuel, and abolishing tax on overtime work.

While neither the farmers, nor the yellow vesters received everything they asked for, both protests forced the government to listen to the people as it has done since the first large movements in France.

Therefore, so long as the French government retains the laws permitting its citizens to strike, and the French retain their insurrectionist spirit, protesting will remain an essential part of French culture and society.

Bellanger believes that the protests will continue to increase in number, especially if the rising power of the “extreme right” continues to grow.

Protesting is a part of French culture, he said. In addition, with the high amount of governmental support unions receive, it seems unlikely that the protests will diminish any time soon. And if the government dared to attempt any changes on this matter, it remains sure that the French would take immediately to the streets.

questions to consider:

1. What are some of the reasons that French people have protested in recent years?
2. In what ways are protests of today in France similar to those waged hundreds of years ago?
3. In what ways do you think protests are effective or ineffective?

Leia Neilson is from the U.S. state of Maryland and is spending her third year of high school studying at School Year Abroad France. Her home high school is Sidwell Friends. Her favorite subjects are English and History. Out of school, she enjoys reading, playing guitar and rowing. In the future, she would like to work in a field related to public policy and urban planning.