Nuit debout

Nuit debout is a French social movement that emerged from opposition to the 2016 neoliberal labor reforms known as the "Loi Travail," and began on March 31, 2016. It has been compared to Occupy Wall Street of the United States and the anti-austerity 15-M or Indignados of Spain. It is seen as part of the wider Occupy movement.

Earlier protests on March 17, 2016 saw between 69,000 and 150,000 protesters against the Loi Travail driven primarily by youth organizations. It grew significantly with demonstrations of 390,000 to 1.2 million protesters on March 31.

The name

The name Nuit Debout is a play on words referring literally to "a night on one's feet," also known as a "nuit blanche" in French, and figuratively to "a night of rupture," or "a night of beginning/end." Similar wordplays abound in the movement, including graffiti slogans such as "Le coup d'état d'urgence, c'est maintenant" a play on the proposed State of Emergency being a coup d'état and mocking President Francois Hollande's campaign slogan "le changement, c'est maintenant" ("the change is now," itself taken from Barack Obama's 2008 campaign rhetoric). Another example is the call for a "rêve général," a "general dream," playing on "grève générale" or general strike.

Revolutionary calendar

As in the French Revolution, it has rewritten the calendar, with all dates renamed as a continuation of the month of March. April 7, for example, is 38 mars, or March 38.

Further reading

In English:

• The Birth of an 'Indignados' or Occupy Movement in France? (TeleSurTV)
• #NuitDebout: a movement is growing in France’s squares (ROAR Magazine)
• Nuit debout protesters occupy French cities in a revolutionary call for change (The Guardian)

In French:

• Nuit debout trouve son assise (Libe)
• Nuit debout: la classe politique prise au dépourvu (Libe)
• Qui sont les patrons de la Nuit ? (Libe)
• « Au-delà même de cette Nuit debout qui ne veut pas se coucher, quelque chose se lève » (LeMonde)
• Nuit debout, histoire d’un ovni politique (LeMonde)