“No Housing, No Olympics:” Young Parisian ‘Peasants’ Brandish Fists

thousands of viewers in a stadium as its centre podium eplodes
This scene was created by affordablehousingaction.org and is licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

THE Peasant’s Revolt is world famous — at least in the English Language world. It occurred in the 14th century and was modestly successful in extracting concessions from the Lords who had been treating the peasants and serfs with ever more oppressive disdain1.

But many nations have histories in which some portion of the underclasses have taken up arms against their intolerably oppressive superiors. Wikipedia lists more than 100 peasant uprisings over recent centuries, most of them brief and unsuccessful2.

Allow that the term ‘peasant’ may be used currently as it was formerly, and applied to to individuals and families that are hard-pressed to keep sheltered, fed, and healthy, while receiving little but indifference from their ruling classes.

Sound familiar? These days we live in societies where some people achieve modest economic success. But increasing numbers do not. And in societies where ‘peasants’ struggle, the upper classes these days scorn the peasants, at the very best, and at the worst try to banish them with little thought of helping or rescuing them from distress.

What might the seeds of a modern ‘peasant revolution’ look like? Cast your eyes around. Here’s one example. Read more at Novara Media: Paris Is Banishing Its Homeless Before the Olympics. A Group of Child Migrants Isn’t Having It

 

Footnotes

  1. Wikipedia offers a useful and very extensive discussion of its history: Peasants’ Revolt
  2. See the list in Wikipedia: List of peasant revolts