France is hardly a stranger to strikes. The country is notorious for its transportation shutdowns, leaving tourists and commuters alike stranded for hours or even days at a time. And its difficult to forget last year’s riots that resulted in destroyed property and lives

But the protestations rocking the country these days make all of their predecessors look like peanuts. Because those involved small - though powerful - groups of people who were either tired of the same-old, same-old, or used other people’s angst as an excuse to cause their own chaos and mayhem.

Last Thursday though, at least a million and possibly as many as three million people marched in protest of the status quo, which they say is completely in favor of the wealthy. Their rallying cry of “Save the poor!” is an idea that European leaders everywhere are trying to address. Trying and failing miserably though

Because it isn’t just France that’s up in arms about policies and practices which they see as damaging to “the little people” out there. Latvia, Greece, Germany… As the BBC puts it perfectly, “At each protest there is a different language, different details - but the same emotions.” People are angry; angry that their appointed officials didn’t do enough to prevent the crisis and now aren’t doing enough to end it.

It’s a frustration we feel over here, though we’re suffering in silence, comparably speaking.