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Business Is Booming for French 'Protest Coach'

Parisian makes a living schooling dissenters in the art of civil disobedience

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 8, 2009 6:01 AM CDT
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(Newser) – France's leading "protest consultant" has never been busier, he tells the Wall Street Journal. Xavier Renou provides—for a discretionary fee—tips and training courses for anticapitalist protesters on making sure their message is heard. Renou sticks to nonviolent means, but has plenty of practical advice on everything from picking slogans to the right way to lie down in the road.

Renou, who worked for Greenpeace before founding Les Désobéissants—"the Disobedient Ones"—sometimes joins the protests himself, once running through a nuclear submarine hangar in a clown suit to protest nuclear weapons. Renou looks set to get even busier with groups such as the Free Tibet campaign clamoring for his advice on civil disobedience—though he says one thing the job doesn't provide is a steady paycheck.

A group of anti-NATO activists block a tram track while protesting in downtown Strasbourg, eastern France, Saturday April 4, 2009, during NATO's 60th-anniversary summit.
A group of anti-NATO activists block a tram track while protesting in downtown Strasbourg, eastern France, Saturday April 4, 2009, during NATO's 60th-anniversary summit.   (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)
A demonstrator is seen through a banner reading No during a protest in downtown Paris, Thursday March 19, 2009.
A demonstrator is seen through a banner reading "No" during a protest in downtown Paris, Thursday March 19, 2009.   (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
An employee of the Amiens-based French automotive parts supplier Valeo in northern France gestures in a cloud of smoke as he faces riot police officers during a protest against job cuts.
An employee of the Amiens-based French automotive parts supplier Valeo in northern France gestures in a cloud of smoke as he faces riot police officers during a protest against job cuts.   (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
An anti-NATO activist throws a chair onto a barricade near the German border at the Europe bridge, east of Strasbourg, France, Saturday April 4, 2009.
An anti-NATO activist throws a chair onto a barricade near the German border at the Europe bridge, east of Strasbourg, France, Saturday April 4, 2009.   (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
A group of peaceful anti-NATO activists dressed as clowns stage a protest in downtown Strasbourg, eastern France, Saturday April 4, 2009, during NATO's 60th-anniversary summit.
A group of peaceful anti-NATO activists dressed as clowns stage a protest in downtown Strasbourg, eastern France, Saturday April 4, 2009, during NATO's 60th-anniversary summit.   (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
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Protesting thrives as European economy tanks
New York Times

 
France • protests • activist • political protest • civil disobedience • consultant

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