Yellow Vest protests are going global

Last year President Macron said: "I believe in democracy but democracy is not the street."
Macron was wrong. For the working class, the street is the only place democracy still exists.

Yellow Vest protests are spreading across Europe, and beyond.

telaviv.jpg
In Tel Aviv, Israel

jordan-protests.JPG
In Amman, Jordan

belgium.jpg
In Belgium and Netherlands

UK.jpg
In the UK

montenegro.jpg
In Montenegro

basra.jpg
In Basra and Baghdad

calgary.jpg
In Calgary, Canada

poland.jpg
In Poland

In Germany

hungary.jpg
In Hungary

In Sweden

missoula.jpg
In Missoula, Montana!?!

Forbes called it a European Intifada, but without recognizing that an intifada is a rebellion against political and economic repression.

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Azazello's picture

From Counterpunch:

With the rise of the gilets jaunes, the yellow vests movement sweeping France (and spreading to Belgium, the Netherlands and elsewhere), it has become apparent that the color of anti-neoliberalism is yellow. Despite much confusion, this much is clear. The people rising up in France did not take to the streets to protest a particular fuel or carbon tax; they are protesting inequality, the inequality of tax cuts for the rich coupled with tax increases and austerity for everyone else — inequalities and inequities inseparable from neoliberalism.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

@Azazello
What happens if the economy turns down, like so many executives expect it to do next year?

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Azazello's picture

@gjohnsit
I don't see any organized political opposition, just anger.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

dance you monster's picture

@Azazello

I don't want to belabor the point, since I made it in another thread earlier in the week, but organization is a two-edged sword. It concentrates effort by the crowds where it can leave a mark, but it also constrains what the crowds do, funneling them to one designated outlet for their anger -- one that may not be their goal.

If this is a movement and not just a letting off of steam, it will need to organize itself to achieve greater efficiency in meeting its objectives. Otherwise, it's chaos, as you say. But doing that too early, or even worse too heavy-handedly, can stifle the movement's numbers growing, especially if the direction of that organization even appears to be a co-opting of their energies to some outside entity's purpose (what we decry as astroturfing when the right-wing does it). Three-quarters of the French people support the Gilets jaunes' activities, something that they have not done for any other political group of any sort, something that could only happen as the GJs are an organic outgrowth of the economic circumstances that all those three-quarters and more are feeling in their own lives. When anyone from outside starts to say what these protesters should be doing, they are also telling all those other Frenchmen and -women what they should be feeling. It's arrogant, and it is disrespectful. We don't know better than them. We shouldn't be armchair- or keyboard-quarterbacking their (maybe) revolution. And no one here, as I saw just a day or two ago in another thread at c99, should be taking credit for initiating the revolution. We didn't do that; they are (maybe) doing that, and we should damn well humbly watch to see if they succeed.

I don't mean this as a jab at you, Azazello. It's something I think we all need to consider, and your comment was simply a convenient place to park this response.

If we want to shape a revolution, we should shape our own. Let them shape theirs.

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wendy davis's picture

@dance you monster

and you said 'suggest from the outside', while i'd advised you that lanier at wsws is in france, had suggestions, etc. also, not ever nation's wants, needs, nor eventual organization will be similar. some of the folks wsws journalists had interviewed had said the equivalent of: 'we can't feed our families; we've got nothing left to lose', reminding one of the breadwives marches on versailles.

now i dunno who this 'the freethinker' is, and my high school french isn't up to the task of reading his/their manifesto, but someone's organized this, it seems.

i'd also think that as tomorrow's actions (according to twitter) are geared toward: "resign, macron", many must be at least meeting to decide 'what's next'.

nice list and images, gjohnist. i'll add:

#IrishYellowVests
https://twitter.com/IrishYellowVest
Tunisia’s #RedVests
https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&q=%23RedVests&src=typd
#YellowVestsUK

ach, there was one more, but i've lost the link.

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dance you monster's picture

@wendy davis

I understood that Lantier is in France. Being in-country does not mean one is within this movement. Macron is in France. So are the unions, and the CGT is now proposing nationwide strikes, as some here at c99 (and Lantier, iirc) were keen to see.

I am absolutely certain that there are very politically savvy people within the Gilets Jaunes' ranks, people much more attuned to what their options are than we are. I only wanted all the rest of us to let those folks determine their direction. If they need us, they'll ask.

Edited to add: The list of demands in that tweet is not an official list from the Gilets Jaunes. See the comments here (sorry, it's in French, but that's what we should be using): https://www.lelibrepenseur.org/la-charte-officielle-des-25-revendication...

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snoopydawg's picture

@dance you monster

No word if there is an official list, but probably not because there are no leaders who can make one up from my understanding.

French protest list

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@dance you monster

but again, my french is far too rusty to read any objections to that list in the comments. i can't say the wsws are actually in the movement, but they seem to be covering it well and yes, do hope to see a general strike, at least some of them. i'd almost clipped a long comment from a protestor whose report was imply breathtaking in that you could visualize exactly what he'd been experincing, even w/ english as his second language.

what will be...will be. i'll bow out now.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@wendy davis

Hey Wendy!

Thank you for posting that last Comment!

Your graphic there is cut off at the bottom, denying us some of the text.

Here it is in all its intact glory:


source

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

dance you monster's picture

@thanatokephaloides

As I noted in my edit above, a comment under the French version of this "Official Charter" indicates that this list (the original French version) does NOT appear anywhere on the Gilets Jaunes website, but appears across multiple far-right sites. Compare the graphic you posted to the list that snoopydawg posted that is a compilation of protesters' demands. Not the same stuff. You're all being punked by this vest-graphic "charter" because it looks so neat and flashy. It's not the Gilets Jaunes' demands.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@dance you monster

As I noted in my edit above, a comment under the French version of this "Official Charter" indicates that this list (the original French version) does NOT appear anywhere on the Gilets Jaunes website, but appears across multiple far-right sites. Compare the graphic you posted to the list that snoopydawg posted that is a compilation of protesters' demands. Not the same stuff. You're all being punked by this vest-graphic "charter" because it looks so neat and flashy. It's not the Gilets Jaunes' demands.

I just wanted to supply all the text so my fellow c99ers could comment accordingly. (As you did.)

And I myself noted at least two of those "demands" that contradict one another: the demand that no French citizen be taxed at a greater rate than 25% and any of the demands for a more robust public sector.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

earthling1's picture

@thanatokephaloides

I would combine both.
I don't know about being "punked".

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

wendy davis's picture

@thanatokephaloides

point me to the gilet jaunes website? is there just one?

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dance you monster's picture

@wendy davis @wendy davis

http://giletsjaunes.e-monsite.com/

At least it claims to be the official one. My impression so far on various French sites is that it's best to assume a little fluidity to the organization at this early stage. And as with Occupy, it doesn't help that a lot of people want to capture the GJs' energy for their very own and claim to speak for everyone.

Edited to add:
If you look at the regional Facebook groups that are linked on that site, they complain about the number of fake info outlets. The GJs recognize the problem, appear to know they need to organize better, and are trying to do that without excluding legitimate participants and their varied agendas. All that takes time.

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wendy davis's picture

@dance you monster

i found one facebook site, read a bit as it was in anglais (dump macron). but who are the right-wing populists?

and i've found marxists claiming that in some french cities there are general assemblies (as in occupy) voting on demands. yes, fluid, that was kinda my point all along.

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dance you monster's picture

@wendy davis

Among the worst of these would be Generation Identity,

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/lies-beneath-surface-france-ge...
https://www.aljazeera.com/podcasts/thetake/2018/12/france-18121414382037...)

. . . but there are many others, too, of greater or lesser degree.

Remember, Le Pen may have lost an election to Macron, but she was the candidate who beat all the others to face Macron in the first place. The National Front is still a force in France. And that's before we get into the EU-wide groups that span national borders.

That's why that vest graphic you brought here is so problematic: it is featured on right-wing sites and may even be what some who are participating in some of the GJ protests want, but it's a faction, not the whole.

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wendy davis's picture

@dance you monster ]]

and ye i've seen the 'populist v populous' divisions, but the fluidity you've mentioned may be down to 'competetive leadership', both on facebook and within different cities.

i spent too long on twitter today to make sense of the competing forces and reports on Act5 v. rt coverage and more, and decided not to bother writing nor storifying any of it. 'peaceful, as the leaders asked', and often they were unions of various stripes. it may all come out in the wash, but right now...i tend to doubt it.

but outside of paris...whoosh, they seem to be marching on to revolution.

the reportage (to a lesser degree) is hope and changey AMLO, and even once he's found to be another Obomba, as in: pay longer attention to what he says and does..., few will give him up. my guess is that his rule will be long, as he's working with the Great Orange One in several scams re: 'the caravan nations fleeing', etc. he'll fix it all with $20 billion bucks.

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Azazello's picture

@dance you monster
joe posted it in the EB: How to create a leaderless revolution and win lasting political change

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@dance you monster @dance you monster

When anyone from outside starts to say what these protesters should be doing, they are also telling all those other Frenchmen and -women what they should be feeling. It's arrogant, and it is disrespectful. We don't know better than them.

Anybody has the right to have an opinion over whether any movement is doing the right thing, or not. Those opinions can be based on an array of facts, or on nothing. If nothing, my guess is that people would justly come down on the bearer of the opinion. I have my opinions about whether focusing on taking down statues is a great idea for racial justice movements. Expressing them doesn't mean I disrespect black people. It means I disagree with the leaders of those movements on their decisions. It's still their movement. I don't bull my way into it and try to take over.

EDIT: I agree that the statues are racist, so I agree with those movements & their leaders on first principles. I simply don't agree that taking down symbols is a good response to murder. What is a good response is a damned thorny question in a society with crooked courts. I acknowledge that, but that doesn't make taking down the symbols the correct course of action. It's OK for me to express that opinion. It's not racist or disrespectful, anymore than it's automatically sexist for someone to criticize a feminist movement. It depends on what the criticism is and where it comes from.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

thanatokephaloides's picture

@gjohnsit

This is all happening BEFORE a recession. What happens if the economy turns down, like so many executives expect it to do next year?

punctuation adjusted for format change

A bunch of executives worldwide are going to find themselves executed. (See France, 1789-1799.)

Diablo

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@Azazello It's my second-least-favorite color behind orange, maybe neck-and-neck with pink and brown. It just doesn't work for my self-developed fashion-sense.

Still, perhaps I could figure something out...

T72a193b70c0309f627cce9f8e6cca611M.jpg

OCCUPY! O-C-C-U-P-Y? Because we GOTTA...!

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

I'm not seeing or hearing anything in the US news, I figured they'd bury it as fast as possible.

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@Snode vraiment

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NYCVG

jobu's picture

We do not hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men.

We do not see that the dream that we dream has if fact become our nightmare.

Rather, we allow Hugo's subversive message to be subverted again to benefit the status quo. The Dream We Dream becomes not an egalitarian dream but a free market dream that can only come true on Britain's Got Talent. (no offense to Susan Boyle)

I imagine our vests will be called Freedom Vests, available only in Red White and Blue.

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@jobu forgive the breitbart link

The French leader fortified the Élysée Palace last Saturday with an unprecedented amount of security, including 500 republican guards, around a hundred police and gendarmes armed with water cannons, and other anti-riot measures, Le Dauphine reports.

Should the protesters have managed to storm the Élysée and get past security, President Macron is also said to have had a helicopter on standby to evacuate him and others in what could have echoed the escape of former Romanian president Nicolae Ceaușescu, who fled a popular uprising by helicopter during the collapse of his Communist regime on December 22, 1989.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@jobu

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@jobu

actually have anything against Susan Boyle (was obvious you don't).

As for Freedom Vests in Red, White and Blue, I don't think so. At least that will not be universal.

Whether these protests will transcend the national and the nation-state is the question. I could be wrong, but I think many years ago, from about 1900-1939, socialism in Europe took its eye off the ball by letting itself be overly distracted by the State. It's understandable, because the State is essentially the enforcer for capital, and if a goon is in your face, of course you're going to focus on that. But the State was never the source of the problem, as their own philosophy said. They kept the notion of internationalism for labor but seemingly lost the notion that their enemy was international as well, and that to some extent, that enemy was puppet-mastering the national political systems. And that was far less true then than it is now. At this point, I'm surprised every time I see evidence of any national political sovereignty. That, for me, was the big takeaway of Ed Snowden's story, as well as the big takeaway from Britain's 2013 refusal to escalate in Syria. I didn't know "Britain" was capable of saying no to "the United States."

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

econoclast's picture

i sent this to ocasio-cortes's campaign yesterday, just a suggestion:GreenNewDeal.jpg

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Raggedy Ann's picture

I'm ready.
Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

your own flag(ala Missoula) at Flag Importers; $7.95 for a three by five ft. Didn't check for shipping.
I WAS trying to figure out what kind of sign to make for tomorrow, I plan on wearing a safety vest(why not, I got half dozen of the buggers) in Front of the county courthouse for a couple of hours then. Upon seeing the Missoula pic I now know what I need. Won't be here tomorrow, but by Next week?
Still, I'll go down tomorrow and see how I can engage people.
Thanks gj.

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

Bisbonian's picture

@Tall Bald and Ugly

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

The Liberal Moonbat's picture

...you have to do a double-take to figure out who the cops are!

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

travelerxxx's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

... have to do a double-take to figure out who the cops are!

That'a a feature, not a bug. It works two ways.

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@travelerxxx

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

@travelerxxx the perfect accessory!

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https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/748175/yellow-vest-protest-...

They even dumped babies from incubators! Oh, wait, wrong made up biased news story.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

and thought I’d drop it here as well.

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver