Looks a whole lot like a revolution. Reuters / Stephane Mahe
Annabelle Timsit, Quartz: French history has never seen a protest like the yellow vest movement
France is a country that’s no stranger to protest movements—from the massive student demonstrations of 1968 to contemporary union-led strikes. But during the “yellow vest” protests that rocked the streets of Paris this weekend, protesters reached further back in their history, to the era of the French Revolution.
Protesters marching along the Champs-Elysées on Saturday (Dec. 1) could be heard chanting slogans like “We are running the revolution” and “Macron to the Bastille.” The Arc de Triomphe bore a message in spray paint: “We have chopped off heads for less than this,” a reference to the death by guillotine of king Louis XVI and his wife, Marie-Antoinette.
Are the yellow vests modern Jacobins fighting contemporary tyranny—or are they something entirely different? Quartz spoke with Danielle Tartakowsky, a history professor at Paris 8 university who recently published a book about the French state, about how to contextualize the yellow vests within France’s history of protest movements. According to Tartakowsky, the current demonstrations are unlike any other, marking an important shift in France’s political landscape.
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WNU Editor: This is my must read post for today. As to what is my take .... after reportedly weighing declaring a state of emergency, French President Macron realized (especially when the riot police removed their helmets to show their support for the protestors on Sunday) that he and his government had lost control of the situation. So what does a politician do in such a situation .... say you are are compromising, and hope for a better day in the future. So will French President Macron be successful in ending the protests with this delay .... I doubt it. This is just a delay. French President Macron is still dedicated to achieving his policy goals and agenda, and he is not going to be deterred. The only thing that he is giving is a six month grace period, and if I was in France, I will be getting ready for the next round of protests.
On a side note, Richard Fernandez's commentary is spot on ....
.... What appears to be happening to Macron is “a preference cascade”. Something everyone knows but keeps to himself that suddenly emerges when people suddenly realize that everyone is thinking the same thing.
Outwardly the conventional wisdom: high taxes, crippling Green regulations, open borders were unassailable, seemingly universally held. But under the surface the peons were seething while the riche were oblivious because they could afford to be.
Macron, the media — nobody saw it coming. Nobody really predicts anything. Pearl Harbor, Hitler’s invasion of Russia, the fall of the USSR, 9/11, 2008, Brexit or Hillary’s loss. The really important info is not what you know but what you’ve ignored.
