Tag: macron

French Popular Uprising: Revolution or Frozen Conflict?

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17 January 2020 — Consortium News

This conflict is essentially over policies that put the avaricious demands of financial markets ahead of the needs of the people, writes Diana Johnstone.

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Striking ballet dancers perform at the entrance to the Opera Garnier in Paris, Dec. 24, 2019. (YouTube screenshot)

By Diana Johnstone
in Paris
Special to Consortium News

The people are angry with their government.  Where? Just about everywhere. So what makes ongoing strikes in France so special?  Nothing, perhaps, except a certain expectation based on history that French uprisings can produce important changes – or if not, can at least help clarify the issues in contemporary social conflicts.

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Capitalism ‘Good’ & ‘Bad’: A Reply to Stiglitz and Macron By Jack Rasmus

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17 October 2019 — Jack Rasmus

I was recently asked by a media source to answer the followning questions for an interview about the future of capitalism in general, and about recent comments on that theme by economist, Joseph Stiglitz, and France’s president, Macron. Here are my responses to the questions asked by the reporter:

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Globalism’s Last Disgrace: The Army vs. the Yellow Vests By Tom Luongo

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27 March 2019 — Strategic Culture Foundation

Globalism’s Last Disgrace: The Army vs. the Yellow Vests

There are few people in this world more odious than French President Emmanuel Macron after his behavior this week. I’m sure there are child molesters who are worse. But as a man who is pivotal in the future of hundreds of millions of people, his decision to order the French military to quell the Yellow Vests protests with live ammunition is simply vile.

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Economist Frédéric Lordon’s Letter to Emmanuel Macron: “Hand Over the Keys”

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23 March 2019 — Novara Media

In response to the explosive yellow vests (gilets jaunes) movement, French president Emmanuel Macron announced the “Great Debate” – a vast, unprecedented nationwide exercise in consulting citizens on how to fix France’s problems – starting in December 2018 and ending this March. Attempting to shore up his legitimacy and dampen contestation, Macron travelled the country engaging in lengthy debates with locally elected mayors. With his tour ending on 15 March, the yellow vests flocked to Paris, ransacking the Champs-Élysées and joining in two other large, simultaneous protests: one for climate justice, the other against state racism and police violence.

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The Indiscreet Charm of the Gilets Jaunes By CJ Hopkins

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11 December 2018 — Greanville Post – Consent Factory

So it appears the privatization of France isn’t going quite as smoothly as planned. As I assume you are aware, for over a month now, the gilets jaunes (or “yellow vests”), a multiplicitous, leaderless, extremely pissed off, confederation of working class persons, have been conducting a series of lively protests in cities and towns throughout the country to express their displeasure with Emmanuel Macron and his efforts to transform their society into an American-style neo-feudal dystopia. Highways have been blocked, toll booths commandeered, luxury automobiles set on fire, and shopping on the Champs-Élysées disrupted. What began as a suburban tax revolt has morphed into a bona fide working class uprising.

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Who does Emmanuel Macron owe? By Thierry Meyssan

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11 December 2018 — Voltaire Net

President Macron is often presented as a Rothschild Boy. This is true, but secondary. Thierry Meyssan demonstrates that he owes his electoral campaign mostly to Henry Kravis, the boss of one of the world’s largest financial companies, and to NATO – a considerable debt which weighs heavily today on the solution to the Yellow Vests crisis.

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France’s “yellow vest” protesters brave repression and mass arrests By Alex Lantier and Kumaran Ira

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9 December 2018 — WSWS

For the fourth consecutive Saturday, “yellow vest” ( gilet jaunes ) protestors demonstrated yesterday across France against the rightwing government of Emmanuel Macron. They did so in defiance of ominous threats of state violence and a massive mobilization of security forces.

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Emmanuel Macron & the Yellow Vests Protests: A Lesson in How Not to Mitigate Climate Change By Andreas Malm

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9 December 2018 — London GreenLeft – Europe Solidaires Sans Frontieres

Capitalist climate governance has always relied on pseudo-reforms that leave the richest free to accumulate capital, while dumping taxes on working people to nudge them in the ’right direction’. But as the protests of the gilets jaunes show, many working people no longer accept the moralising terms of capitalist approaches to climate change. In this article, Andreas Malm argues that if we really want to save this Planet, we must pursue a different kind of climate politics, one that could learn a great deal from the methods and tactics of the gilets jaunes.

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Les Gilets Jaunes – A Bright Yellow Sign of Distress By Diana Johnstone

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4 December 2018 — Global Research

Every automobile in France is supposed to be equipped with a yellow vest. This is so that in case of accident or breakdown on a highway, the driver can put it on to ensure visibility and avoid getting run over.

So the idea of wearing your yellow vest to demonstrate against unpopular government measures caught on quickly.  The costume was at hand and didn’t have to be provided by Soros for some more or less manufactured “color revolution”.  The symbolism was fitting: in case of socio-economic emergency, show that you don’t want to be run over.

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