劳里·凯尔曼，汤姆·努维昂 巴黎 —— 没有哪个国家像法国这样擅长大规模抗议。
LAURIE KELLMAN, TOM NOUVIAN PARIS — No nation does mass protests quite like France.
法国人反对高额燃油税时，会穿上黄马甲游行；愤怒的农民要求提高收入时，数百人驾驶拖拉机开上香榭丽舍大道；博物馆工作人员要求改善旅客管理时，会罢工并关闭卢浮宫。
When the French fight high fuel taxes, they don yellow vests and march. When angry farmers want better pay, hundreds of them drive tractors down the Champs-Élysées. And when museum workers want better tourist management, they strike and shut down the Louvre .
激情澎湃的公众抗议如同《马赛曲》一样具有法国特色，这首1792年的国歌将反抗暴政的集体义务镌刻进了国家认同之中。但本月，多年来最暴力的示威活动——以及强硬的警方执法——引发了人们的担忧，即骚乱可能会掩盖数十万和平示威者针对生活成本上涨和学校条件恶劣而进行的游行。
Passionate public protest is as French as “La Marseillaise,” the 1792 anthem that enshrines the collective duty to fight tyranny in the country’s national identity. But this month, the most violent demonstrations in years — and tough policing — have raised concern about riots overshadowing hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators marching against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools.
仅在周六一天，至少2400人被捕，因为法国各地城市的暴徒与警察发生冲突、纵火焚烧汽车、冲击公共建筑、抢劫商店，并让一座历史悠久的市政厅陷入火海。更多抗议活动可能还在后头。
On Saturday alone, at least 2,400 people were arrested after rioters in cities across France clashed with police, set cars on fire, stormed public buildings, looted stores and engulfed a historic city hall in flames. More protests could be in store.
“法国人怎么能对法国做出这种事？”即将卸任的总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙周日发问。他补充说，没有任何理由能为这种破坏辩护。“我们都感到愤怒和羞耻。”但任何研究过法国历史的人都知道，这个国家引以为傲、喧闹且多姿多彩的抗议文化有时会演变成暴力——始于1789年推翻君主制的革命中，路易十六国王和玛丽·安托瓦内特王后被送上断头台。
“How can French people do this to France?” outgoing President Emmanuel Macron asked on Sunday. Nothing justifies the destruction, he added. “We all feel anger and shame.”But any student of French history would know that the nation’s proud, loud and colorful protest culture has sometimes turned violent — starting with the beheadings of King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette during the revolution that overthrew the monarchy in 1789.
历史学家表示，正是那场革命孕育了现代法国将公民参与视为一种义务的传统。其理念是：投票不是推动变革的唯一途径；示威被视为一种基石价值，是让精英听到民众声音、捍卫自由的方式。孩子成为行动主义者的那一刻，被视为延续数代的成人礼。抗议权甚至受到宪法保护。
Historians say the revolution was where the modern-day French tradition of civic engagement as a duty was born. The idea is that voting is not the only way to drive change; demonstration is considered a bedrock value, a way to make elites hear the populace and to defend freedoms. The moment a child becomes an activist is seen as a generations-old rite of passage. The right to protest is even constitutionally protected.
“这是一种建立集体认同和政治共同体的方式，”法国国家科学研究中心波尔多分部政治学研究主任玛加利·德拉·苏达说。
“It’s a way to build collective identity and political community,” said Magali Della Sudda, research director in political science at the French National Center for Scientific Research in Bordeaux.
法国革命后的历史并非抗议与改革的连贯故事，而是民众起义、镇压、动员与政治让步的循环往复。这一传统已演变成悲剧；1871年，政府军镇压新成立的“巴黎公社”，即市政政府，据报造成数千人死亡。
France’s post-revolution history is not a solid story of protests and reforms, but of cycles of popular uprisings, repression, mobilization and political concessions. The tradition has turned tragic; In 1871, government troops cracked down on the new “Paris Commune,” or municipal government, reportedly killing thousands.
在某些方面，集体行动取得了胜利——如1968年，学生示威和总罢工迫使政府做出让步，例如提高最低工资。
In some ways, collective action won — as in 1968, when student demonstrations and a general strike forced the government to grant concessions like an increase in the minimum wage.
在更近的历史中，“黄背心”抗议拟议的燃油税上调，并演变为针对生活成本、不平等等其他问题的抗议。2018年和2019年的一些示威出现焚烧汽车、抢劫和与警方对峙的场面。法国示威边缘的暴力破坏原本和平的游行并不罕见。
In more recent history, the “yellow vests” — “gilets jaunes” in French — demonstrated against a proposed fuel tax increase, and that broadened into protests over other issues like living costs and inequality. Some demonstrations in 2018 and 2019 featured burning cars, looting and confrontations with police. It’s not uncommon for French violence on the fringes to mar otherwise peaceful marches.
同样，周末的学生抗议从教育问题扩展到其他不满——并出现抢劫和与警方冲突的戏剧性场面。参与当天抗议的人数达数万，其中有多少人是冲着抗议而来却转而洗劫商铺，有多少纯属趁火打劫的投机分子，目前尚不清楚。当局已实施夜间宵禁；有呼吁在本周晚些时候发起更多抗议。
Likewise, the student protests over the weekend expanded from education to other grievances — and featured dramatic scenes of looting and clashes with police. It’s not clear how many of those who were ransacking shops had turned out to join the day’s protest, which drew tens of thousands, or were mere opportunists. Authorities have responded with nightly curfews ; there were calls for more protests later in the week.
据研究抗议与警务历史的政治学家法比安·若巴尔称，过去一个月驱动抗议的一些力量源于更近期的法国传统。
Some of the forces driving protests for the last month owe to more recent French tradition, according to political scientist Fabien Jobard, who has studied the history of protest and policing.
自20世纪90年代以来，该国出现了法国人所谓的“城市暴力”和美国人所谓的骚乱的反复浪潮，Jobard说。这些骚乱往往由警察暴力引发：2005年，两名青少年在逃避警察追捕时死亡，引发全国性骚乱；2023年，一名警察在巴黎郊外一次交通拦截中致命射杀一名17岁少年，再次引发骚乱。
Since the 1990s, the country has seen recurring waves of what the French call “violences urbaines” and Americans would call riots, Jobard said. They are often sparked by police violence: nationwide unrest erupted in 2005 after two teenagers died while fleeing police, and again in 2023 after an officer fatally shot a 17-year-old during a traffic stop outside Paris.
“对于来自郊区的年轻人来说，骚乱是集体表达的传统形式之一，”他说。
“For young people from the suburbs, the riot is one of the traditional forms of collective expression,” he said.
政府批评者和人权活动人士指控，过去一个月警方战术过度暴力。批评主要集中在橡皮子弹发射器（法国称为LBD）和震爆弹上，批评者认为这些装备导致抗议者严重受伤。
Government critics and human rights campaigners have alleged that police tactics in the last month have been unnecessarily violent. Much of the criticism focuses on rubber-bullet launchers, known in France as LBDs, and stun grenades, which critics blame for serious injuries to protesters.
Della Sudda指出，截至10月17日前几周的近8000人被捕，远超1998年50万名学生抗议教师短缺和校舍破败时仅几十人被捕的规模。
And Della Sudda noted that the nearly 8,000 arrests in the weeks leading up to Oct. 17 dwarf the few dozen detained during a 1998 protest of 500,000 students against teacher shortages and dilapidated schools.
她说，不被倾听的感觉也是原因之一。Della Sudda指出，政府没有倾听抗议者并进行谈判，而是试图通过一个名为“大全国辩论”的数字平台来安抚“黄马甲”抗议者的不满。反政府抗议者批评马克龙的计划。
The feeling of not being heard also is part of it, she says. Rather than listen to protesters and negotiate, Della Sudda noted for example, the government tried to appease “yellow vest” grievances through a digital platform, which translates to “the great national debate.”Anti-government protesters panned Macron’s plan.
“结果，”Della Sudda写道，“不信任感正在加深。” Kellman于伦敦发回报道。
“As a result,” Della Sudda wrote, “mistrust is growing.”Kellman reported from London.