December 3, 2018

Behind the riots in France


Deena Stryker, Global Research Having spent a total of thirty-odd years living and working in France, I am only too familiar with its government’s high-handedness vis a vis its peoples’ incomes.  Recently, in an effort to set an example for the rest of the world when it comes to combating climate change, which he has publicly championed, Macron decided to raise the tax on fuel at home, as a way of ‘nudging’ (as in Obama’s advisor Cass Sunstein’s social theory) the public into purchasing non-polluting but more expensive electric cars.

In a country where social benefits form the bedrock of family budgets, that turned out to be a major blunder: with no trade union coordination, thousands of French people are shouting ‘Non’! What makes this crisis more challenging than others is precisely the fact that it has no leaders: the usually fractious French are, for once, of one mind.

Shouting Macron Must Go, an enraged crowd tore up paving stones and looted high end shops on the Champs-Elysées, site of the Republic’s carefully choreographed parades, and leading to the Arc de Triomphe dedicated to France’s fallen.

NY Times -  President Emmanuel Macron returned to France on Sunday from a summit meeting in Argentina to find his country in turmoil after a day of violent protests.

After surveying the destruction, Mr. Macron ordered Prime Minister Édouard Philippe to meet with representatives of the “Yellow Vests” protest movement and with the leaders of the opposition political parties. Those meetings will start on Monday.

A third weekend of nationwide protests by the movement, largely made up of working-class people angry about a planned increase in fuel taxes and their dwindling purchasing power, left burned cars and smashed store windows in several of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Paris. The movement is named for the high-visibility safety vests that motorists are supposed to wear when they have roadside breakdowns.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If Trump wants to Americans to put on this kind of French parade, sign me up!