This is one subject that I've regrettably been remiss about addressing. Fortunately with the help from two long term friends of the blog, Gallier the Elder and Gallier 2, I'm finally able to have a better understanding of the situation and write about it Gallier 1 and 2, two brothers, hailing from the vicinity in which the protests are taking place, graciously assisted with information that gives context and perspective from the people on the ground in France. It's local and personal to them.And gives us all a better understanding of the protests. As they continue. Before we get to the information let me say to my two friends. Merci. Merci beaucoup. It appears to me that the French government is attempting to undermine and delegitimize the very real, appreciable, grievances of the masses. By employing the usual provocateurs from the 'left and right. For weeks the protests were very peaceful and large. It seemed last week end that changed. It appears that change continues. My fear is the government will come down hard and become still more oppressive. Macron has, by all appearances, used his 'second in command' to deal with the protests. Including promising a six month moratorium on some of the taxes... Yellow, symbolically speakingYellow is the perfect colour for this protests; On one hand yellow suggests happiness and optimism; it is the color of sun shining, bright light and creativity..The Yellow Vests representing the positive attributes- sunshine, comradery, optimism and creativity..In it’s negative connotation yellow represents the cowardly and deceptive.Example: Macron is yellow. Or has a yellow streak. The negative aspect of the colour.The protests can easily be interpreted as a message to the governing classes in all of Europe..Why a yellow vest?
" They take their name from the yellow vests that drivers in France are required to keep in their cars, to be worn in the case of a breakdown. (They can be seen in the dark that way)"
Ironic Ironic that a piece of clothing made mandatory by the government has appeared enmasse to symbolize resistance to government/elite pillaging. From my own reading, including the information sent to me, this has all the appearances of a broad and popular protest. By that I mean it crosses the entire population save for the wealthy. Gallier 2 provided a link to this video. It's embedded below. It's 23 minutes in length. Why watch it?Because it gives us all a good idea of the cross section of people out protesting. The younger crowd alongside the middle aged crowd. The rural. The city dweller.The vast majority of the population is represented. Except for the wealthy, as mentioned.See for yourself below: Gallier2 had this to say:
"This one is in french only, sorry for that, but it has the advantage of being filmed inside the protests in Paris from last Saturday.(December 01/18) Even if you don't understand the questions and answers and other intervention, you can feel how unrelenting, desperate and ready people are"
Take the time to watch.You can witness the state abuse against the people. Water cannons. Tear gas. I see some of the protestors throwing the tear gas grenades back at law enfarcement. You do understand the desperation of the people.I tell ya, after all the years of covering Syria... the international hypocrisy is on full display. The international community doesn't condemn Macron for his blatant abuse of the people.But regularly condemns Assad as he fights an international conspiracy to destroy Syria, that was falsely presented as a popular uprising from the beginning thru to this day. It was NOT a popular uprising. It began in Daraa: conveniently located/sharing a border with Israel and Jordan. Meanwhile, in France, Macron wields a violent and oppressive battle against his own people. Including gassing them. Shooting them. Etc,Gallier2 provides context:
"As for the gilets jaunes, where to start?It is imho indeed more than just about carbon tax. That tax was just the drop of water that broke the camels back (don't laugh that's the translation that google gave, see attached screen shot). France is one of the heaviest taxed countries in the world and adding insult to injury, this gouvernment increased a lot of taxes see [1] with a list for the 2018 tax hikes:
- Hausse de 1,7 point de la CSG (one of the most unjust taxs, it's a "solidarity" tax paid by everyone and is extremely felt by retired and jobless people)
I'm wondering if this tax is some sort of a flat tax- Paid by all, across the board.
- Hausse du taux de la taxe sur les métaux précieux de 10 % à 11 % (precious metal tax, not a big problem)
- Hausse des droits sur le tabac (tobacco tax, touches mostly lower classes)
- Hausse du tarif de la taxe sur les véhicules les plus polluants (tax on cars, touches lower classes the most even if it is dependend on the size of the car)
- Hausse de la taxe carbone (the carbon tax)
- Revalorisation des bases forfaitaires utilisées pour le calcul de la taxe d’aménagement rebaptisée taxe « abri de jardin » (that one is ridiculous, they now tax garden sheds)
Taxing garden sheds? Is this to deter the home gardener?
This are only the official taxes, what also happened is that they reduced the speed limit on main roads from 90km/h to 80km/h which automatically leads to an increase in incomes from fines, a tax by any other name (I've heard this morning that in the last three weeks, 4000 radar stations have been put out, i.e. more than 20% of the whole units and I can believe those numbers as there were many, many shares of pictures of occulted radar stations).
Contrary to the media perception, the movement is quite atypical in that it didn't involve the usual protesters at the beginning. The Unions, the Government and all the usual shit stirrers (antifa, black block, students, ethnic looters, etc.) were not at the start of the thing. It was ordinary working class moms & paps , retired people, lower wage people, farmers and small business people of the provinces. The thing with France, that most foreigners do not grasp, is the huge divide there is between the Paris (and 2 or 3 other big cities) and the rest of the country. The part about the riots in Paris on saturdays are only the visible manifestation of the that "enough is enough" sentiment. In the "province" (i.e. not Paris), the protests go on every day and that now for nearly 3 weeks. It is in general relatively peaceful and only blocking of roads and things like that happe, but the more it goes, the more violent it will get. People are now fed up, the politics do not grasp what's going on, the mainstream media is completely discredited.
As for the violences in Paris, they are of course in the focus of the international media but it is obvious that they are instigated by the police forces. They charge violently with illegal ordinance, they infiltrated several agents provocateurs (see links and attached files) and also the usual riotters like black blocks who always manage magically to come through the police barrages without problems"
Image of protestor shot with a rubber bullet?Here- That's gotta hurt!But it's worse still. Possible sniper activity?
Videos of a protester that was shot by a sniper. Complete silence about that incident from the 24th november. If you watch carefuly you can see a tracer bullet that whizzes by when he falls on his knees, which means they shot him with a semi-auto gun.
There are a number of videos at the link below- Yes, I watched them. Hubby and I both did.More then one of the videos at the link. More then one time. It sure looks to me as if that protestor was shot. You can see the tracer bullet. Go through the videos, please. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gilet+jaune+tu%C3%A9+en+directThe rest of us need to understand that the french people are legitimately angered and that we should be supporting them in their cause. Perhaps we can purchase yellow vests and display them or wear them? What a terrific message that would be, globally. What do you all think?To be continued....
Part 2 and 3 are now available:Pt.2: Gilet Jaunes/Yellow Vests Are Visible to Jupiter
Pt.3: Gilet Jaunes/Yellow Vests: Erasing the Middle Class from Existence
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