The National Union of Students of France (''Union nationale des étudiants de France'' or UNEF) is the largest national
students' union
A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. It is historically close to the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
, with many of its member joining the party after leaving student life.
It works to represent the interest of students for national and local governments, political parties, the government bodies concerned with higher education and their administration of the universities. The organisation is also active on the international arena.
History
1907: UNEF foundation by the merging of many AGEs (''Associations Générales d'Étudiants'', Students' General Associations) from different towns at a meeting held in
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
1946: Adoption of the Charter of Grenoble which define the student as a "young intellectual worker". Since then, the UNEF has considered itself to be a part of the
labour movement
The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other.
* The trade union movement ...
. The creation in France of the students'
social security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
and welfare systems are the result of UNEF activism
1950s: The UNEF led the protest for independence of
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
1968:
May 68
Beginning in May 1968, a period of civil unrest occurred throughout France, lasting some seven weeks and punctuated by demonstrations, general strikes, as well as the occupation of universities and factories. At the height of events, which ha ...
revolt. On 27 May the meeting of the UNEF, most outstanding of the events of May 68, proceeds and gathers 30.000 to 50.000 people in the
Stade Sebastien Charlety.
1971 to 2001: The UNEF was split between UNEF-SE (''Solidarité Étudiante'', Students' solidarity) (linked to the
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...
) and UNEF-US (''Unité Syndicale'', Union Unity), which later evolved into UNEF-ID (''Indépendante et Démocratique'', Independence and democracy) (linked to the
Internationalist Communist Organisation The Internationalist Communist Organisation (french: Organisation Communiste Internationaliste, OCI) was a Trotskyist political party in France. Its successor was the Internationalist Communist Current of the Workers Party.
History Origins
The gr ...
and close to the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
).
1986: The UNEFs led a victorious strike against student fees and selection at college admission
1995: Major protests against a government project of minimum wage for youth lower than for other salaries
2001: The UNEFs eventually reunified under the name 'UNEF'.
2001: Yassir Fichtali elected new chairman
2005:
Bruno Julliard
Bruno Julliard (born 9 February 1981) is a former student leader and politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who served as chairman of the UNEF, the main student union in France. More recently, he was the First Deputy Mayor of Paris between 2014 an ...
elected new chairman
2006: The UNEF played a major role in students' contestation of the prime minister
Dominique de Villepin
Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac.
In his career working at the Minist ...
's
Contrat première embauche
The ''contrat première embauche'' (CPE; en, first employment contract) was a new form of employment contract pushed in spring 2006 in France by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. This employment contract, available solely to employees und ...
.
2007: Jean-Baptiste Prévost elected new chairman
2011: Emmanuel Zemmour elected new chairman
2014: William Martinet elected new chairman
2016: Lilâ Le Bas elected new chairman
2019: Mélanie Luce elected new chairman
Democracy
Today, the UNEF is still composed of the different AGEs. There is one AGE in each town where a university is located, except in Paris, where there is an AGE by university. Membership is individual: every student can choose to join the AGE of his/her home town.
The UNEF holds a national conference every two years. National conference is the sovereign body of the UNEF and decide the UNEF policy.
Conferences are contested by
factions:
* Majorité Nationale (''National Majority''): 80% of the votes in 2007
* Tendance pour une UNEF Unitaire et Démocratique (''For a unitarian and democratic UNEF''): 13%
* Tendance Refondation Syndicale (''Union's refoundation''): 7%
The conference also elects an administrative commission (''Commission Administrative'') to be the UNEF 'parliament' between conferences. The commission elects the National Board, the executive body.
Creation
The UNEF has created many national federations:
* CECED (''Comité Étudiant Contre l'Extrême Droite'', Students' Committee against Far Right)
* FERUF (''Fédération des Étudiants en Résidences Universitaires de France'', Resident Students Federation)
* UCEF (''Union des Coopératives Étudiantes de France'', Union of Students' Cooperatives)
* FENEC (''Fédération Nationale des Étudiants Chercheurs'')
The UNEF has also participated in the creation of different bodies related to students:
* MNEF, then replaced by LMDE in 2000 (''La Mutuelle Des Etudiants'') which operates the students' social security system
*
ESIB in 1981, named
ESU in 2007 (European Students Union)
Sexual violence
In the international background of allegations against
Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein (; born March 19, 1952) is an American former film producer and convicted sex offender. He and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent films inclu ...
by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', the French daily newspaper ''
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'' published in November 2017 two detailed articles on alleged sexual harassment and predation supported by former UNEF presidents, Jean-Baptiste Prévost and Emmanuel Zemmour.
["Harcèlement sexuel : la parole se libère à l’UNEF](_blank)
" ''Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'', 17 November 2017.["Enquête sur un système de violences sexistes au sein du syndicat étudiant UNEF](_blank)
" ''Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'', 28 November 2017. In an editorial, more than 80 UNEF female members and militants have come forward to accuse the Union of "sexual violence". In December 2017, the president of the UNEF chapter in Nice, Paul Morançay resigned for covering up rape claims. Most members of the chapter have since resigned.
In spite of multiple "pressions", the daily newspaper ''Libération'' published in February 2018 a long article with sixteen testimonies of female activists who have suffered from rape, sexual harassment and abuse within the organisation.
[Laure Bretton et Ismaël Halissat, « Abus sexuels : les témoignages qui accablent l'Unef »](_blank)
''Libération
''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...
'', February 19, 2018.
Segregation
UNEF has been the subject of controversy in 2021 when its president said during a radio interview that the union was holding meetings where white people were not allowed.
References
External links
Official site of the UNEFESU Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Union Nationale des Etudiants de France
Students' unions in France
1907 establishments in France
Student organizations established in 1907
Union Nationale des Étudiants de France