by Summary:
American media seems to be confused by the protests. Few seem to understand what protesters want, or even who they are. Some outlets describe protesters as Trump-like nationalists aligned with Marine Le Pen, others as antifa-style leftists aligned with Jean-Luc Melenchon. The marchers actually cut across all political lines, and if anything, both Le Pen and Melenchon are trying to attach themselves to something independent of them. Unifying factors seem to be hatred of Macron and a desire to express this in profane fashion (the New Yorker noted that many of the protest slogans are colorful variations on the theme of people being literally screwed by Macron). The vest movement, a.k.a. gillets jaunes, began as a localized French grievance about a fuel tax and has spiraled into an
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American media seems to be confused by the protests. Few seem to understand what protesters want, or even who they are. Some outlets describe protesters as Trump-like nationalists aligned with Marine Le Pen, others as antifa-style leftists aligned with Jean-Luc Melenchon. The marchers actually cut across all political lines, and if anything, both Le Pen and Melenchon are trying to attach themselves to something independent of them. Unifying factors seem to be hatred of Macron and a desire to express this in profane fashion (the New Yorker noted that many of the protest slogans are colorful variations on the theme of people being literally screwed by Macron). The vest movement, a.k.a. gillets jaunes, began as a localized French grievance about a fuel tax and has spiraled into an
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Mike Norman considers the following as important:
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American media seems to be confused by the protests. Few seem to understand what protesters want, or even who they are. Some outlets describe protesters as Trump-like nationalists aligned with Marine Le Pen, others as antifa-style leftists aligned with Jean-Luc Melenchon.
The marchers actually cut across all political lines, and if anything, both Le Pen and Melenchon are trying to attach themselves to something independent of them. Unifying factors seem to be hatred of Macron and a desire to express this in profane fashion (the New Yorker noted that many of the protest slogans are colorful variations on the theme of people being literally screwed by Macron).
The vest movement, a.k.a. gillets jaunes, began as a localized French grievance about a fuel tax and has spiraled into an international phenomenon.…
The common thread seems mostly to do with class. However, since we’re more comfortable covering left-versus-right than rich-versus-poor in America, the journalistic response here has been a jumble.…
The inability of pundits to make sense of the plummeting popularity of “centrism” is a long-developing story in the West.
Over and over, a daft political class paternalistically implements changes more to the benefit of donors than voters, then repeatedly is baffled when they prove unpopular....I think that the elite have convinced themselves of the reality of meritocracy and trickle down, and that the people lower down on the ladder are doing better than they seem to believe. The elite concludes therefore that the reason is envy. It's the elite world view that determines their perception of reality. Of course, the people lower down see things through a different lens and narrative control is not working anymore regardless of how much they amp it up. All people have to do is look in their wallets and check books.
Rolling Stone
The French Protests Do Not Fit a Tidy Narrative
Matt Taibbi
Rémy Herrera | Marxist economist, researcher at the Centre national de la Recherche scientifique (CNRS), who also works at the Centre d’Économie de la Sorbonne, Paris. See also
Workers' World
Towards a convergence of struggles in France?
Translated by WW staff