The French are famously good at protesting – and it looks like they might be staging a more, er, unusual protest in Paris this summer.
Locals are clearly not too pleased about the government’s €1.4 billion scheme to clean up the River Seine for the 2024 Olympics. In fact, the French are so unhappy with this plan that they’re threatening to defecate into the iconic river.
Officials are intending to use the Seine for the Olympics, with triathlon and open-water swimming events planned to take place in the river. However, there are widespread concerns that the river is not safe to swim in due to contaminated water. Recent tests have found that samples of water from the Seine still contain E.coli.
Swimming in the Seine has been illegal since 1923, though it seems things are changing with French President, Emmanuel Macron, and Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo, promising to dive in before the Games this summer.
News that their President will be taking a dip in the Seine has prompted the French to devise a plan to protest against what they see as wasteful spending on the cleaning scheme. The #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin hashtag, which translates to ‘I poop in the Seine on June 23’, has been trending on social media. If it goes ahead, protestors plan to defecate in the river before the politicians and Olympians venture in.
It’s fair to say the sentiment of locals towards the upcoming Olympic Games is mixed. Many Parisians are planning to leave the city, and news last year that the Seine’s famous bouquinistes will have to temporarily shut was not well received (though that decision has since been reversed).
Who’d have thought taking a dip in the river could be so dung-erous?
That’s not at all why people are talking about it what the fuck? It has nothing to do with seeing the clean-up of the river as “wasteful spending”, it’s because everyone fucking hates Macron lmao.
The “clean-up of the Seine” is a recurring joke, multiple presidents and mayors of Paris have promised it over the decades and it never ends up happening, and this time as well everyone laughed and said “if we actually see him swim in it, I’ll eat my hat”.
It’s because we hate macron, and it’s because people really dislike the Olympics as well. The olympics are wasteful spending, very badly organized, and they’re going to a complete shit show to the delight of everyone outside Paris, myself included.
Unfortunately I can only find terrible articles about it. I just like the hashtag and idea of protest shitting to poison the bourgeoisie.
@grym@hexbear.net is this divide partly due to differences in anglo- and francophone reporting? i imagine there to be broad and more fair coverage in francophone reporting but idk
The only two French sources I follow are:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/
https://www.france24.com/fr/france/
Even on the most French version of France24 there doesn’t seem to be a story for it on the front page. I only saw it from an Internet Today roundup of niche social media stories and this was the least-bad version of the websites I saw covering it.
Yea these are mainstream and so mostly bourgeois sources
I think mainstream média sources in France are limited and will not want to admit that its because people hate macron or the Olympics. So those few sources are what gets translated
ah faif, thanks for the response
It also sounds like if it has been illegal to swim there for over 100 years, and theres still tests indicating that it’s not safe, then shitting in the river makes sure that people wont actually have to swim in this dangerous water for these dumbass competitions?
I mean they’ll probably have more security on the actual days of the events but can they actually guarantee competitors that they wont be swimming with human waste at all? Should at least give an excuse for some of the athletes to start boycotting and ensure a proper controlled pool is set up instead.
I lived in Calgary, Alberta, Canada until a few months after the city held a plebiscite on whether or not to go ahead with a bid for the 2026 winter olympics. The last civic act I took part in there was to vote “no”. I have since lost basically all faith in electoralism, but I remain proud of casting that particular ballot.
Natural habit of the french to stink up the environment surrounding them
This is why macron called for the elections. It’s a 4d chess move so he doesn’t have to swim in the shit river.
Well played sir
It’ll be so funny if this results in the fail daughter emerging from the river, turd in hair
I don’t follow French politics so I really don’t care but watching any politician bathe in shit would be funny to me
I mean if they actually kept the water quality up it’d be great
speaking of the Seine and public safety…
If you haven’t seen Under Paris / Sous la Seine which was released this year, i totally recommend it. i watched it on friday. i expected an extremely stupid monster movie, but it’s totally not bad and even entertaining. especially if you think the cops, the military, and politicians are all trash.
it’s a high concept deal “a man eating shark is in the Seine!” which was enough to make me tune in, because how do you make that scary or even have a logic to it? who the eff is swimming or rowing around in the Seine in Paris? anyway, they do a good job building up the scientific context, and masking the turns. i do not want to give anything away, because i think the initial incredulity is handled well and is even part of the charm.
but i will say there’s a whole bit about the 2024 Olympics and the mayor that is
Mostly because that hashtag rhymes rly nicely
