Gilets Jaunes Demonstrations Update to Parents and Families

This post is a republished version of an email communication sent by AUP President Celeste Schenck to the parents and families of our current students on December 10, 2018, about the Gilets Jaunes demonstrations. It is part of our Safety & Security blog that rounds up all the latest news and updates for our community.

Dear AUP Parents and Families, 

Saturday's Gilets Jaunes demonstration went about as well as it could for our community. We believe that our students heeded the warning which we sent by email, text, and social media of all sorts, as well as in a forward to each of you, and stayed in for the 24 hours we'd hoped they would shelter in situ. At the very least, we can say that not a single call came into our hotline, which the Vice President for Student Affairs Marc Montheard himself manned for that period. No one in our community, it seems, has been harmed or deeply inconvenienced by the events of this weekend. I assume that each of you spoke with your children, our students, and supported our clear message to them, and that they, resultingly, showed exceptional maturity and wisdom in their choices.  Thank you for partnering with us at this important moment.

What can be said about Act 4 of the Gilet Jaunes' demonstration?  For the most part, the GJ themselves, although numerous, demonstrated peacefully. The destructive fringe elements, which appear to come from the far left and right of the French political spectrum, plus a group of looters which seems to parasite on such events were present and did considerable damage to property, not to persons, especially in areas around the Champs Elysees, the big department stores and Republique, a large square in on the East side of Paris. The police were not taken by surprise this time, and were extraordinarily organized, tactical, compassionate, yet forceful. That was perhaps the success of the weekend.  Our president still hasn't said a word. Tonight at 8 pm he'll address the country. Here's hoping that his concessions will calm things, so that we can move on from here and French merchants can have half a chance to recoup the tremendous loss (in the billions of euros) they have sustained as a result of consumers' inability to shop for the holidays.  

Thank you, each of you, for your kind words and messages of support, which I haven't managed to answer individually yet.  Mainly all of this is very sad.  We are all hoping for constructive talks between the government and the protesters in the weeks ahead –a political solution is necessary. If only they could do things the AUP way– by sitting around a table, listening to one another intently, making efforts to understand the experience of others, remaining open and permeable to influence from others who may not share our views. That is what an AUP education trains your children to do: to negotiate difference in civil tones with all the compassion in the world. That's why we believe that our graduates are supremely suited to making this world a better one.  

My warmest regards to each of you, 

Celeste