French Slogans Then and Now

Here are some of the slogans that were on display during the French student revolts of 1968:

• Nous ne voulons pas d’un monde où la certitude de ne pas mourir de faim s’échange contre le risque de mourir d’ennui. (We want nothing of a world in which the certainty of not dying from hunger comes in exchange for the risk of dying from boredom.)
• Le patron a besoin de toi, tu n’as pas besoin de lui. (The boss needs you, you don’t need him.)
• Soyez réalistes, demandez l’impossible. (Be realistic, ask for the impossible.)
• Travailleurs de tous les pays, amusez-vous! (Workers of the world, have fun!)
• L’ennui est contre-révolutionnaire. (Boredom is counterrevolutionary.)
• Nous ne voulons pas d’un monde où la certitude de ne pas mourir de faim s’échange contre le risque de mourir d’ennui. (We want nothing of a world in which the certainty of not dying from hunger comes in exchange for the risk of dying from boredom.)
• Dans une société qui a aboli toute aventure, la seule aventure qui reste est celle d‘abolir la société. (In a society that has abolished all adventures, the only adventure left is to abolish society.)
• Depuis 1936 j’ai lutté pour les augmentations de salaire. Mon père avant moi a lutté pour les augmentations de salaire. Maintenant j’ai une télé, un frigo, une VW. Et cependant j’ai vécu toujours la vie d’un con. Ne négociez pas avec les patrons. Abolissez-les. (Since 1936 I have fought for wage increases. My father before me fought for wage increases. Now I have a TV, a fridge, a Volkswagen. Yet my whole life I’ve been a chump. Don’t negotiate with the bosses. Abolish them.)
• Il est douloureux de subir les chefs, il est encore plus bête de les choisir. (It’s painful to submit to our bosses; it‘s even stupider to pick them.)
• Vivre sans temps mort – jouir sans entraves (Live without dead time [ie. time of boredom, time at work] – enjoy without chains.)

Needless to say, the French student revolts of 2006 display no such slogans. Their demand is for the radical maintenance of the status quo. Comments are open for what would be the top slogans for the current French students. All in good jest, but here is a start:

• The boss doesn’t need you, you need him.
• We want nothing of a world in which the certainty of dying from boredom is exchanged for the risk of dying from hunger.
• Job boredom is our right!
• Be impossible, ask for what is unrealistic.
• Workers of the world, what is it with you guys! Stop competing already.
• In a society that has abolished all risk, the only risk is to hire me.
• My father before me fought for wage increases. Now I have a computer, an I-pod, a Peugeot, and a small cubicle. Not too shabby.
• It’s painful to submit to our bosses, so don’t; what’s he gonna do, fire me?
• Live with dead time–demand your chains.