Recent protests mirror French storming of the Bastille
by Meaghan Ziemba, Associate Editor, PD&D
A recent article about steel workers attacking the ArcelorMittal’s Luxembourg headquarters brought flashbacks of my ninth grade history course on the French Revolution.
In 1789, French commoners gathered around the Paris jail, Bastille, calling for its surrender. As negotiations failed, the citizens stormed the prison, freeing the captives and ending their protest with the decapitations of the governor and prison guards.
While the shareholders of ArcelorMittal were able to keep their heads, the event of steel workers throwing cobblestones and smoke bombs at the headquarters, not only demonstrates how history repeats itself, but how trying economic times force “commoners” to take action into their own hands.
PD&D blogged on the French fad of “Boss-Napping,” where workers would kidnap their boss and hold them until negotiations on layoffs and pay-cuts were reached. Apparently, the fad didn’t have the expected affect, so the locals decided to dip into history and grabbed their torches and pitch forks.
The reasons for the delinquent protesting: “The company won’t give firm details on when shuttered plants would restart.”
Times are hard, and tempers are beginning to boil. With the reduction in product development and distribution, businesses have no other options but to make cut-backs.
While these cut-backs may drastically change lives, individuals need to understand that tearing off roofs won’t change the economic situation. Business owners don’t have definite answers because they’re dealing in a time of unpredictable marketing and spending.
Layoffs are going to continue as long as production rates continue to fall; and as frustrating as it is, not knowing when things will improve, it doesn’t help to boss-nap your superior or to burn down your office. Solutions need to be found and put into actions, and it’s hard to produce results if people are running around head hunting?