Hawzah News Agency- In recent days, protests have intensified in several European countries, particularly France. In the heart of Europe — a continent that for decades presented itself as the standard-bearer of "rational governance" — protests have erupted and, in many places, turned violent. This is the same continent that long claimed Western civilization represented the "end of history," with no alternative for human progress.
The protests in France, Italy, Belgium and Portugal, despite differing contexts and demands, have formed around a set of tangible concerns — including an unprecedented rise in the cost of living, reduced access to housing, difficulties in paying wages, a marked decline in the quality of public services and spiraling education costs.
The mirage of European development
In France, widespread protests are tied to dissatisfaction with public services and living costs. In Belgium, students have protested rising costs and restricted access to higher education. In Portugal, the housing crisis and the pressure of daily expenses have been central to demonstrations.
According to journalist and media activist Rasoul Lotfi, the simultaneity of these protests provides an opportunity to address a common issue: the gap between the promise of development and the actual possibility of living in a developed society.
He noted that the dominant image of the "European model" is a seductive mix of free market, parliamentary democracy, equal education and an inclusive welfare state — yet a closer look reveals a different reality. The flashpoints of the protests are precisely the "school" and the "home" — the two exclusive centers of "social reproduction" and the channels linking generations. Through the school, civilization promises its new subjects that if they accept the symbolic order and build their capabilities, their future is guaranteed. Through the home, it assures them of a safe and stable space in the material world.
Lotfi added that when the ruling structure fails to fulfill these two key commitments and offers no response to this explicit violation, the situation becomes critical. The school is no longer a ladder for class mobility, and the home becomes an unattainable roof. When the ruling structure's response to demands for repairing dilapidated schools and the housing crisis is securitization and repression — managing consequences through policing rather than renewing the social contract — the mask of rationality collapses, and the decline of the European model becomes visible.
Public fury against Europe's politicians
The reality is that public anger over deteriorating living conditions — from France to other Western and Central European countries — is undeniable. Media report continued widespread and violent protests across Europe against austerity policies and poor economic conditions, and protests against the continent's politicians appear to be accelerating.
What the dominant media cannot censor is that violent clashes have occurred on the margins of demonstrations in many places. In Milan, Italy, police used tear gas; in some cities, water cannons were deployed against protesters. Violent clashes have also occurred in Brussels and Liège in Belgium, as well as in Tirana and other Albanian cities, with hundreds arrested. The situation in France has been reported as more acute than elsewhere.
Protests beyond French students
France's protests have entered their fourth week, with the government failing to take effective action to address demonstrators' demands — prompting protesters to vent their anger on state property.
The French government is trying to contain the protests through restrictions, but the discontent is no longer limited to students and has expanded into a broader movement across other segments of society. Representatives of the Yellow Vest movement, which held months of protests during Macron's first term, have called for a new round of demonstrations.
Yellow Vest protesters, angered by rising living costs, joined students last weekend who had been protesting teacher shortages and poor school conditions, shutting down schools in recent weeks.
Scandal of French leaders
The French government has for decades tried to present itself as a defender of freedom. But in recent years, the scandalous reality of French governance has been exposed for the world to see — revealing just how brutal this government is, unleashing its iron fist against any protest. From the Yellow Vest movement in 2019 to the current student movement, the Élysée has suppressed every dissenting voice with the utmost severity.
Paris, which has always presented itself as the compass of democracy and free expression, now — in the face of the slightest domestic criticism — has unmasked its dictatorial face, showing that French democracy is respected only as long as it serves the interests of the Élysée's occupants.
What we witness today in the streets of France against protesting students is the practical translation of authoritarianism hidden beneath the banner of human rights. In Paris's logic, freedom of expression apparently means only the right to insult sanctities — not the right to protest oppressive government policies.
French youth want nothing but their basic rights
The new generation of French protesters — students and schoolchildren alike — want nothing but their basic, self-evident rights. One French student recently told a media outlet: "We just want teachers and books so we can get our diplomas. We haven't had a teacher for six months. Having 35 people in one classroom in summer heat is impossible." These are the most basic demands — demands that are answered civilly even in the poorest countries. But the French government's response is repression, an iron fist and policing.
Moral bankruptcy of human rights claimants
The 180-degree shift in the French government's stance on protests is a lesson for those who saw the West as a model of unconditional freedom. France intervenes in the internal affairs of other countries under the pretext of supporting protesters as much as it draws the sword against the voice of its own nation. The fundamental contradiction in the Élysée's view of protests is clear evidence of the moral bankruptcy of the French political system — where riots and the killing of police in independent countries are called "civil movements," but mere protest on French soil is treated as a threat to national security and answered with batons and tear gas.
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