That recent reports of an intention to overthrow the French government came from Le Figaro, the nation’s oldest national daily and a newspaper of record, speaks volumes. It suggests the threat was credible, though not realistic, and this reflects the deep discontent with imperious Western-establishment pseudo-elites that gave us Brexit, Donald Trump’s election, and, now, the “Yellow Vest” movement.
The French government deployed 89,000 security personnel in preparation for Saturday’s Yellow Vest protest, which marked the Gallic nation’s fourth weekend of unrest. More than 125,000 mostly peaceful protesters participated across France, though violent men known as “casseurs” (“breakers”; radicals and vandals) had infiltrated the Yellow Vests, and authorities arrested nearly 1,400 people and used tear gas against some rioters.
The disruption was so great, in fact, that sporting events and opera performances were canceled, and many businesses, museums, and subway stops were closed.
Supposedly catalyzed by an unpopular Climate Change™-inspired gas tax, the Yellow Vest movement has transitioned into a general rage against the French state, with calls for the resignation of President Emmanuel Macron and his government. Macron, an erstwhile Socialist Party member, has an approval rating hovering around a strikingly low 18 percent.
In fact, reminiscent of the French revolutionaries’ besieging of the then-royal residence, the Palace of Versailles, in 1789, thousands attempted to converge on presidential residence Élysée Palace (located in Paris) Saturday, only to be repelled by riot police. Fox News reports on the violence in general:
Water cannons were used near Arc de Triomphe, which is safeguarded this weekend after protesters defaced it during the previous weekends.
Some protesters were seen throwing rocks and glass bottles at police officers, sparking a continued flow of tear gas to contain the crowd.
At least one of the business buildings was breached, with agitators breaking the wooden walls aimed at protecting the business and smashing windows.
Protesters threw back the tear gas at the police, only to escalate the clashes.
Many protesters slammed the French media for portraying the protests as led by violent agitators and for siding with Macron’s government.
“We are not black bloc [black clad anarchists], we are ordinary people voicing our anger,” said a protester who did not want to be identified.
As for Macron, he was missing in action to the point that American Thinker’s Rick Moran quipped, “Maybe the French people should put their president’s picture on milk cartons.” Perhaps he doesn’t want to end up like King Louis XVI, but putting his picture in post offices is a better idea.
While Macron temporarily rescinded the unpopular gas tax in an attempt to mollify the masses, some assert that this oft-cited levy was merely a spark that lit a fuse. “No, the riots are not about a fuel tax, nor is it specifically about Macron’s climate change agenda,” the aforementioned Moran writes. “This is class warfare of a kind that Europe has been seeing for more than 100 years.”
“The middle and lower classes are being squeezed by high taxes and a rising cost of living while they perceive the rich to be unaffected by the economics of social democracy,” he continues.
Political commentator Kark Sharro chimed in, suggesting on Twitter that the Yellow Vest movement is “about marginalsation and the impotence felt by ordinary people” (hat tip: Tyler Durden).
He tweeted, “An organic, leaderless protest movement with no clear ideology has emerged in France. I’ve been waiting for this since 2011. Let me explain the French Spring to you.”
“Firstly, why the colour yellow? In traditional French culture, yellow represents the Mediterranean regions of France which always felt oppressed by Paris. These protests represent ancient regional grievances.”
“Secondly, why the vests?” he continued. “In the French psyche, the lack of arms represents ‘helplessness’.”
The rest of Sharro’s analysis smacks too much of psychobabble, but you can read it here.
Zero Hedge’s Durden mentioned that the Yellow Vest protests seemed to be spreading to other European nations. This also could hauntingly remind leaders of the French Revolution, where the republicans’ overthrow and execution of the king and queen threatened the continent’s old monarchal order.
Unfortunately, the Yellow Vest movement also reflects its Enlightenment forbears in that it includes a good dose of leftism. No, its minions don’t wish to de-Christianize France (that’s a fait accompli) and institute 10-day weeks omitting the Lord’s Day, as Robespierre’s risible rabble-rousers resolved. But aside from desiring Macron’s ouster, they also want a higher minimum wage and the reinstitution of a so-called “solidarity tax” on wealth.
This brings to mind G.K. Chesterton’s observation, “The reformer is always right about what is wrong. He is generally wrong about what is right.” The protesters are certainly right about double standards. Just as Senator Elizabeth “Fauxcahontas” Warren (D-Mass.) was content to let other white people suffer for her beloved affirmative action while she masqueraded as a minority to enjoy its benefits, so proceed the climate-con pseudo-elites. The common people endure higher energy prices and cost of living in general, while the world’s Macrons and Al Gores fly around on private planes and make a Paul Bunyan-size “carbon footprint.”
This is typical of leftists, mind you. Having situational values, matters are defined by their own situation; being relativists, everything winds up being relative to themselves. This often manifests itself in the rationalization-born thinking that they’re so special, their cause is so great and good and they’re so indispensable to it, that they deserve a special dispensation from its strictures. Their hell-on-Earth handiwork is for the great unwashed.
Yet rebelling against a tax while demanding another tax (on “wealth”) just amounts to telling the alligator, “Eat the other guy instead.” The solution to a bloated, intrusive, ineffectual, corrupt government isn’t to sustain it with some other poor sod’s money. Starving the beast is a better idea.
After all, keep asking for more socialism, and at the end of that road lies dog ‘n’ rat stew à la Venezuela.
The irony is that the French should be rebelling over Macron’s “European Union army” and migration schemes, the latter of which would further flood France with unassimilable Third Worlders and involves the creation of “Eurafrica.” Because if their complaint just amounts to “Stop the rich guy from eating cake,” all they’ll end up with are crumbs.
As for Macron, he can be given some credit. He may be a no-show, but despite vest and unrest and a yellow that’s neither mellow nor cowardly, he has managed to keep his head.
Photo: AP Images
