This afternoon I was walking to the laudromat when I ran smack into a social movement — or make that several. Parisians were out on the street today in the tens of thousands to voice their opposition to the European Constitution, which will be voted on in a country-wide referendum on May 29 (as described in a previous post).

It was quite a spectacle. There were enough flags to arm several dozen color guards — from rainbow-colored ones calling for “Peace” to martial-red ones printed with Che Guevara’s mustachioed face. There were banners with slogans in angry capital letters, inevitably with a “Non” slipped in somewhere between big, scary words like “délocalisation” (outsourcing) and “impérialisme” (imperialism). And there was an endless procession of flatbed trucks, each with its own sound system, broadcasting anything from anti-Chirac, anti-Bush chants to festive reggae music.

I waited nearly two hours — through pre-wash, wash, rinse, and dry — as the protesters filed by on Voltaire Boulevard. Every time I thought I could go back to folding my underwear there was another brigade of flags and banners, another eardrum-rattling chant, another left-wing group with a cause to publicize.

The CGT, a confederation of unions aligned with the French Communist Party (a relatively mainstream political faction here in France), seemed to have the largest delegation on the streets. The trade unionists were there mainly to protest the privatization of public services, which some believe will be imposed on France if it cedes more of its sovereignty to the European Union. There were also plenty of signs — some held by a group of Armenian activists — declaring that Turkey should be kept out of the European Union (another popular rallying cry for the anti-constitution crowd).

That said, a whole set of grievances unrelated to the coming referendum were also being aired. Workers were outraged at the cancellation of a national holiday. Students protested educational reforms proposed by the French government. Immigrants rallied for the rights of the undocumented. Hindu nationalists voiced their support for the Tamil Tigers, a pro-independence group responsible for terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka. Communists hailing from “Turkey and northern Kurdistan” railed against the Iraq occupation. Expatriates from Togo decried the lack of attention being paid to their country, where violence has broken out since last week’s disputed presidential election (“After Rwanda, Togo,” said one sign).

There were plenty of unflattering references to American foreign policy. The majority of protesters stuck to the kind of anti-Bushisms one finds back in the States, but near the end of the procession I saw a truck drive by dragging a puppet on the ground behind it. It was Uncle Sam, wrapped in an American flag.

I suppose it should be expected that every lefty (and not-so-lefty) organization under the sun comes out for the big May Day march. As academics like to say, today’s media-savvy protesters often “shop around” for the best venue to get their message across. Still, I was surprised by how international the demonstration was, especially for one ostensibly about strictly European affairs. Many of these protesters dislike the globalization of markets, but they represent the globalization of protest: local issues become global, global issues become local.

The one sign I saw in English, as it turned out, mentioned someone I used to hear a lot about back in Philadelphia, near where I grew up. Nestled among the anti-neoliberals and anti-imperialists was a small group of protesters with a banner that read: “Free Mumia Now.”

[UPDATE, May 2, 2005, 1:33 p.m. GMT: Added mention of the May Day and Whit Monday themes of the protest.]  

Victor Tan Chen Victor Tan Chen is In The Fray's editor in chief and the author of Cut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy. Site: victortanchen.com | Facebook | Twitter: @victortanchen