In just
over 6 weeks the French middle class have been on the streets of
Paris, and elsewhere in the country, protesting everything from
imposed fuel taxes, road tolls, low wages and a flagrant inequality
between the common person and so called 1%. President Macron, like
Trump in the United States, gave excessive tax breaks for the wealthy
and introduced further taxes on the middle class. Thus the “Yellow
Vests” hit the streets, ensuring the French be heard, that this
type of Neo-liberal behaviour will not be tolerated, asking President
Macron to step down.
Macron's
response to the protests, at the start, was in a word, arrogant,
calling the “yellow vests” thugs, criminals, and even suggesting
that the Russian government was behind the violence. This arrogance
was noticed around the world, as social media lit up in support of
the French protests. In fact, polls reveal that the majority of
French people are supporting the “yellow vests”, as well, causing
Macron's administration to twitch around in their seats, and offer
bred crumbs, like freezing the fuel tax, but it was too late. More
people hit the streets, erupting in higher levels of violence. And
the police are certainly responding in kind, with tear gas and rubber
bullets.
Admittedly
of course, they're are vandals and violent instigators among the
“yellow vests”, but the vast majority are middle to lower middle
class workers – teachers, retail assistants, truck drivers,
carpenters, and retired people in their 60's, 70's and 80's in the
streets, risking injury for economic equality in their country.
But as
one French woman explained, though she does not approve of the
violence, it was the only thing that got them noticed....That is
terrible to say, but also necessary”, she said. There are instances
where the police are showing solidarity with the people, but as
another protester said, “The police have families too, and need to
keep their jobs.” However, observers in Paris have seen that police
action, in terms of violence, is escalating, Police response is way
over the top, where only last week, a fifty year old grandmother was
shot with a rubber bullet, intended for her. Tear gas fills
the city streets, people are being shot, but how long will the
“yellow vests” hold out against such governmental aggression?
It is
well known that the French people are revolutionaries. When the
people see and feel an injustice, particularly, when it is the common
French citizen, the people's voice begins as a whisper, ending with
the guillotine.
How far
will the French people go to correct the obvious Neo-Liberal agenda
of the Macron Government? Well, as a good friend who lives a mere
thirty minutes by train from Paris, told me,
“The
violence from the police is getting worse, but we will never give up
to save our so-called Republic.”
Whether
President Macon is ousted or not, the policies must change; that is
real policies, truly representing the common people's interests, and
not the interests of the wealthy, and few.
The
world should take heed from the “Yellow Vests”.
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