France’s ‘Yellow Vests’ Only Have One Common Message: Anger at Government

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | December 10, 2018 | Peter Ford and Dominique Soguel

[Jagermonster]

WHY WE WROTE THIS France’s “yellow vest” protesters have been highly visible, but their motives have been cryptic, thanks in large part to their lack of leaders and structure. We wanted to find out what's driving them.

MULHOUSE, FRANCE For Rosa Larocca, a middle-aged headmistress who can switch from a warm smile to a stern look in seconds, it’s all about politics. “The people want a different type of republic and they want [French President Emmanuel] Macron to go,” she says. “What we want are referendums.”

For Shanoon Redovanc, a bespectacled retiree sporting a black woolen hat, it’s about living standards. “This is not just about Macron,” he insists. “I’ve spent two winters without heating because I am scared of the bill. What we all have in common is the search for a life with dignity.”

And for Karl, an unemployed musician with a bushy ginger beard, it’s about social justice. “Poor children ... end up poor. Rich children ... end up rich. The inequality is there,” he points out. “How can this stand when the national motto is ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’?”

Camped around small fires in the middle of a traffic circle in eastern France one damp afternoon last week, the gilets jaunes (yellow vest) protesters who have thrown the country into crisis voiced a dizzying variety of demands. Without leaders and difficult to engage in talks, the yellow vests nationwide are united by little more than anger that their needs and opinions have been ignored.

But that anger runs deep – fueled by the same sort of socioeconomic malaise that has driven social upheaval in the US and Britain. “It comes from a long way back,” says Christophe Guilluy, a social geographer who has tracked the sentiment for the past 20 years. “Macron is paying the price ...

[humblegunner]

For one, if I were posting for profit, I’d post more regularly.

Maybe you're lazy.

Point is, you post from but a single source and that indicates a profit motive.

[Pollster1]

There’s nothing wrong with anger at government. I’[m angry at the corrupt globalists who pretend to be conservative on the campaign trail and then betray real Americans once they are in office. The French knew what to do with those “let them eat cake” elitists 200 years ago. I hope the world still remembers.

[Jagermonster]

If you won't accept a good faith explanation, for your own benefit, I'll just have to leave it at that. I'll never be able to disprove a false accusation short of showing you my bank statements, and we're just not that good of friends.

Merry Christmas anyway.

[trebb]

Yep - socialism/tyranny tend to do that to people...