A new leader

EVERY movement throws up new leaders. When French students took to the streets in 1968 demanding a freer and more equitable society, one of the most enigmatic leaders to emerge was Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a carrot-topped German student nicknamed Danny the Red, who went on to become a prominent politician of the German Green Party and the president of the Greens in the European Parliament.

The current student demonstrations in Paris have revealed the leadership qualities and oratorial talents of another young law student, 25-year-old Bruno Julliard, whose incisive analysis and clarity of vision have stumped many a seasoned politician with whom he has taken issue. Julliard is the president of UNEF, the powerful National Union of French Students.

In his family, he says, political militancy is a way of life. His mother, a socialist sympathiser, is the Mayor of the small town of Puy-en-Velay, while his stepfather, who adopted him as a child, is a hard-bitten communist. "I cut my teeth on politics. I remember the first strike action I organised was as a seven-year-old primary school student when I got the kids together to protest against a move to cut down some trees in our school. My grandmother, a great resistance fighter during the Second World War, too was a great influence," he reminisces.

Asked why the students had taken such a hardline against the new employment contract that extends the trial period to two (now one) years during which the employer is free to fire a recruit without explanation, Julliard said: "I don't think flexibility will allow us to bring down unemployment. If you take the example of the CPE, the New Employment Contract, it is evident that those with such an uncertain contract will be unable to invest in their lives: no bank loans, no flat for rent, for who will be willing to rent a flat to someone who can be turfed out at any moment over two years? Dominique de Villepin has opted for flexibility at the cost of security. In the absence of public consumption there can be no job creation because there is no growth. Employers will take advantage of the new legislation to convert normal full-time contracts or short, fixed-term contracts to the CPE, thus pushing more people into a precarious existence. This will certainly not create more jobs. Employers will continue to exploit unpaid `interns' and use short-term contracts since all these will remain legal. The employers are under no obligation to train those they recruit on such contracts and the severance compensation is risible."

Asked how long he thought the students could hold out against a government determined to push through pro-market labour reforms, Julliard said: "I am convinced we are in the process of creating a strong mass youth movement. The strikes so far have been hugely successful and I am sure we will be able to bring about a convergence between the youth movement and the salaried classes. That is when the government will be obliged to take a step back and suspend the law to open up negotiations on the entire gamut of inter-connected social problems, including those of professional training and qualifications."

VAIJU NARAVANE