For the past two weeks France has been having a series of protests in opposition to Emmanuel Macron’s policies, specifically the imposition of a “green” gas tax. The protests started off in the provinces (outside the capital) with protestors blockading highways and on ramps. They are called “yellow vests” because they wear the reflective jackets drivers are supposed to keep in their trunks so as to be visible on the side of the road.
Over the weekend the demonstrations have escalated and turned violent such that over 600 people were arrested across France, 263 people were injured in the protests and according to Le Monde 3 people were killed. The police used tear gas and beat people with batons. The Champs Elysee & Arc de Triomphe were vandalized. Riots erupted and cars were burned, statues and storefronts broken or sprayed in paint, gates were torn down. Fuel depots across France were occupied, some regions are reporting gas shortages.
Burning cars
If you know anything about France, protests are pretty common. Protests that devolve into violent multi-day confrontations with the police and fatalities are much rarer. Rumors had it that Macron might call a state of emergency.
Who are the Gilets-Jaunes? They aren’t affiliated with a particular party, union, or other group. Before going to the G-20 Macron pledged to hold talks with representatives of the Gilets Jaunes to discuss their demands (for lower taxes, a minimum income, Macron’s resignation) but there is no real organization, no institution to which the protestors all belong. Today Macron met with at least 11 reps from protest groups and political parties, ranging in affiliations from the far right (Marine Le Pen) to far left (France Insoumise, the Communist Party). Much of the anger is now turned toward Macron himself, his top down approach to politics, his pro-private sector policies, his unwillingness to “dialogue”. There are calls for new parliamentary elections.
I had assumed that this was another mostly economically motivate protest about living and working conditions in France. But Anne Applebaum, at WaPo, has an interesting take, as usual. She points out that the Gilets Jaunes are primarily an on-line movement that use social media to mobilize and do not have formal institutional ties.
They are angry about the green taxes that have raised gasoline prices, and they don’t like the speed limits on French roads. They are angry more generally, and this is part of why a movement that didn’t exist a month ago became consolidated so quickly: Anger is one of the things that travels quickly on social media, a form of communication that favors emotion; it’s also one of the things that brings people together in a world where trade unions, church organizations and political parties are fading in importance.
I’m not sure where I am going with this. But I was caught between two thoughts, given this forum. A part of me strongly feels that on-line groups that can organize individuals for political action, quickly mobilizing protestors is a force for good in democracy. Another part of me worries, after 2016, about the political manipulation of social media. The Gilets-Jaunes apparently have pretty strong support in the French population — we’ll see how strong after the chaos of this weekend. But according to Liberation there were also reports of groups of far right activists chanting nationalist slogans like “This is our home” and rioters equipped to fight and inflict damage. So was this a spontaneous uprising, or was discontent amplified for someone’s political gain? Anne Applebaum concludes:
Given that new reality, it’s important to find ways to persuade these spontaneous new anti-politics movements to participate in more formal institutions, to join in more formal debates, to take part in the bargains and compromises required in a contemporary democracy. It’s also important to prevent them from being hijacked by people with darker agendas.
It feels like the politicization of social media is an open flame and democracies a box of matches. Democratic governments haven’t a clue how to control the fire.