The movement itself began in October of 2018. The President of France announced a tax increase on gasoline and, putting it lightly, France broke down. Suddenly, in one weekend, hundreds of thousands of protestors across the entirety of the country took to the streets wearing the iconic yellow vests. These garments are mandated to be kept in vehicles to be used in emergencies, but they soon became a symbol that could unite men and women across the country with seemingly nothing else in common. Considered to be the largest protest in French history since the student protests of the 60s, the power and scope of these demonstrations were immediately felt by the powerful and wealthy of France. It is important to remember that this power has not waned over the last year either. Currently the longest continuous protest in French history, hundreds of thousands continue to show their solidarity with the cause. In fact, the protest of French workers this past month was headed by demonstrators all sporting that yellow vest.
These protests began, and still are, unaffiliated with any particular political party or sponsor. While a pseudo-leadership has emerged from amongst the protesters, for the past sixty odd weeks, they have held firm that this movement goes beyond any contemporary political ideology. They believe that there is no government structure currently in France that could even be reformed to meet their needs. In other words: the political structure as we know it must be dissolved. What began as a reaction to fuel taxes has grown into a complete rejection of French governmental form.
This goes without saying, but the presidency of Macron since these protests began has been critically hindered by the persistence of the protests. Initially, the government and media worked together to present the protests as rather uneventful and isolated. But when hundreds of thousands are marching in the streets, tanks patrol Paris, rampant police beating are shared across the world, messages tend to get around. The tactics of the President shifted when playing down the demonstrations failed to stop the growth. In the early weeks of 2019, Macron addressed the development by accusing the demonstrators of being “the spokespeople of a hate-filled crowd attacking elected representatives, the forces of law and order, journalists, Jews, foreigners, homosexuals. That is simply the negation of France. I have recently seen things that are unthinkable and heard the unacceptable.” You can imagine how this turned out for his own popularity. If you do not have a vivid imagination, then let me paint a picture for you. Once hailed as the leftist savoir of France and righteous vanquisher of the evil crone Le Pen, Macron dragged an abysmal 15-17% approval rate, only to claw back a precious few percentage points in these recent months. It seems as if calling a movement consisting of men and women, gays and straights, blacks and whites, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims, a band of thugs who hate homosexuals is not a well-reasoned idea. Who would have thought? Of course, his slander had little to no discernable effect on the intensity of the protests, which continue with gusto to this day.
Next post will cover the protest of the past week. See you there.
France on Fire 