New 'Joan of Arc' wows the strike-weary French

par Susan Bell

Source : The Scotsman

AILED as the new Joan of Arc on a crusade to stop France's powerful unions holding the silent majority hostage over pension reform, Sabine Herold, 21, a politics student, has become an instant heroine to those who are fed up with seeing their country crippled by seemingly endless strikes.

Shouting into a microphone to loud applause, Ms Herold delivered a stirring message to the tens of thousands of followers who gathered in the Place du Chatelet in the centre of Paris at the weekend, to hear her speak on behalf of her association, Liberté, j'écris ton nom.

"How numerous we are today. More than I would ever have dared hope for just a month ago, when the strike was all around us," she said.

"We have put a full stop to decades of silent submission. This time, for the first time, we have told them no," she added, referring to the strikers she calls "reactionary egotists".

France, she said lacks dynamism - and needs a good dose of Margaret Thatcher.

"France needs someone capable who would mobilise people and smash the unions. Well, I don't know if we can put it like that, but someone who could give a reforming spirit. I think the French at the moment are lacking in desire, they don't have a 'French dream' like the American dream," she said.

She is unimpressed with the president, Jacques Chirac, part of what she calls the "spineless centre" of French politics.

Ms Herold believes the silent majority support the government's pension reforms, and have had enough of being taken hostage by a minority of left-wing unions.

Young enough not to worry about her own retirement plans, her cry that "enough is enough" has made her the darling of the conservative French media.

She has made frequent television appearances and numerous articles have been devoted to her in the right-wing bible, Le Figaro.

"In less than two weeks, millions of French people have realised that things have changed, that never again will we be these impotent hostages. We are bringing them the proof thanks to our mobilisation here and now," she said.

Her political beliefs make her an almost revolutionary figure in modern-day, post-soixante-huit (1968) France. A self-confessed liberal, a term she says is considered "almost a dirty word in this country", she is not only against the strikes but was also in favour of the war in Iraq.

In a country where the strength of anti-war sentiment assumed an almost religious fervour, she took the unheard of step of demonstrating in front of the United States embassy in Paris to show solidarity with the US.

Most of her fellow students at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris have dismissed her, she says, as a lost cause, and her outspoken views have provoked threats of violence.

One man even called me up and threatened to smash my face in," she said.
The daughter of two teachers from Reims, who, she says, rarely discussed politics at home, Ms Herold's political awakening came two years ago when she joined Liberté, j'écris ton nom, founded by a fellow student.