Antifa And Nationalists Fighting Side by Side Against Macron
Antifa And Nationalists Fighting Side by Side Against Macron shows that the president of France has screwed this one up pretty badly. To rally the middle class, nationalists, and antifa to riot against you takes some serious failure.But the reality is that even though you have elements of the far left and right in the "yellow jackets" protest, the majority of those in the french fuel protest are middle class citizens. I'm told by a journalist in France that these are people you don't normally see protesting. So why is this? Why have people started to stand up when they normally bow out? And is it true what some are claiming, that this is a rebuke of globalism?
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So when I heard that there were riots in France, I kind of said, yeah, what else is new?
But now we are entering the third week of what's called the Yellow Jackets protests, which have devolved into riots.
What's interesting about this moment is that some activists are describing it as a civil war, while one journalist told me it's quite literally the revolution.
Now, I don't think it's literally the revolution, but you actually have reports that the far left And the far right are actually fighting side by side.
That was probably the weirdest thing I read.
But on top of that, a local journalist tells me that the people who are rioting are white middle class people who normally don't protest.
So what's happening in France?
Some say it's a rebuke of globalism.
Others say it's nothing to do with that.
It's simply Macron is an elitist and they're challenging him.
So today, let's take a look at what's going on in France.
Is this a civil war?
Is it a revolution?
And why are the far left and the far right actually fighting side by side?
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Images have been circulating for the past weeks as we enter the third week of protests where we can just see fires and images of straight-up rioting.
This looks like a truck that was flipped over and burned.
What's crazy about these protests, aside from the wide range of political beliefs, is that the rioting is happening on Champs-Élysées, which is basically Times Square in Paris.
Could you imagine mass rioting From across all political spectrums in Times Square, that's kind of what it's like.
Riots are continuing right now as I am making this video, but we saw this story yesterday from Time.
Quote, there is an atmosphere of civil war.
France's yellow jackets are driving fury at Macron.
On the one side sits a hugely powerful global leader who made his fortune as an investment banker, then in his 30s took power of the world's seventh biggest economy.
Pitted against him, a growing mass of protesters, seething with frustration and contempt, who opinion polls said this week have the support of two-thirds of the country.
Emmanuel Macron is that leader, of course.
The French president landed in Argentina this week for the annual G20 summit as one of the group's most pivotal leaders.
But it must feel like a vacation compared to the mess back home 7,000 miles away.
But now to the news breaking today.
France fuel protests, tear gas fired in clashes in Paris.
Now, these protests started over taxes on fuel.
Macron and the French government have imposed a tax on diesel and gas to help fight climate change.
The idea is, if you make gas more expensive, people will find alternative means of travel.
But this has resulted in fuel protests, Which have expanded into just larger general protests where you're seeing people across the political spectrum.
The BBC says, among the peaceful demonstrators who held up slogans such as, Macron, stop treating us like idiots.
There were those hiding their faces with masks and goggles.
Police fired tear gas, water cannon, and stun grenades to disperse protesters who were trying to tear down the barricades.
A number of police officers wearing protective gear and helmets were spattered with vivid yellow paint.
I want to point out, often you hear this.
They call these people protesters.
And this is not meant to be disrespectful towards the people in France, but this is a riot.
Quite literally, you can see a vehicle flipped over and in flames.
When you're trying to destroy things and tear things down, you are officially a rioter.
They continue, it is quite clear there were agitators.
At the sharp end of the clashes with police, we saw groups of people both from the anarchist far left and from the nationalist far right.
They were tooled up and ready for a fight.
The vast majority of yellow vests who come to Paris to protest were not in that category.
There were many who were happy to look on, jeering police and providing moral encouragement to the front lines.
And then there were the crowds who hung back, genuinely wanting nothing to do with the trouble.
Inevitably, even these people agreed it was the police who had started it all by wanton use of tear gas.
The numbers were small, just a few thousand, but across the country the cause is extremely popular.
They say quite proudly that they are the sans-dents, the great unwashed, The forgotten majority from the sticks, and they've had enough.
It sounds amazingly familiar.
I was really surprised when a local journalist told me that they are seeing white working class people out rioting, and these are people that normally don't protest.
I asked if it was true, according to the media, that the far right infiltrated the group.
They said it was not.
But there are far-right individuals, ultra-nationalists, who are out there rioting as well.
They expressed to me that they were surprised to see there were not as many traditional left-wing protesters.
The people who normally show up to protest, who hold certain political values, aren't really there in the way that they expected.
That they're seeing mostly white working-class people, and that's rather shocking.
It sounds very familiar to how people are described in the U.S.
when it comes to support for Donald Trump.
The white working class.
The people who are upset with the rising costs, with the loss of manufacturing, the loss of jobs, who are supporting the president.
Perhaps this is something similar.
The latest news as of the filming of this video from Time, at least 65 people were injured in the Paris protest, including 11 police officers.
They also say that 140 people have been arrested.
Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primavert gave the updated figures Saturday afternoon.
So we get it, it's the third week of protesting and rioting, and France, they protest and riot relatively often.
When I was in France earlier this year, and tear gas was being fired, I was actually trying to run from the tear gas because, well, tear gas is painful, I don't like it.
It's not that bad, it goes away in a few minutes.
But there were old Frenchmen that I saw walking their bikes, this one really memorable moment, just calmly walking through the tear gas, and I said to someone who was next to me who was French, I was like, whoa, That old man, he just walked straight to the tear gas, and they're like, yeah, it's France, there's tear gas all the time.
Like, they're used to it.
And that was surprising to me.
But I think out of all of what's happening, what's not surprising is the riots.
What is surprising is who is rioting.
As I mentioned, white working class people, that's surprising to me.
But more importantly, And you can actually see the far left and the far right protesting against the government, not against each other.
When I mentioned to some friends that the far left and the far right were rioting, they said, oh yeah, of course.
They always do.
I said, no, no, no.
They're kind of rioting together.
Like, obviously there's no formal organization, but they both showed up at the same time to protest against the government, and they're not fighting against each other.
It's almost like an enemy of my enemy is my friend thing going on.
It's fascinating.
But I think the reality is that Macron, the president of France, is just seen as awful by basically everyone.
To the right, he is this globalist figure who is taking away the rights and not helping the French population.
And to the left, he's an investment banker who has no allegiance to actual left-wing causes.
About a month ago, we saw this story from Politico.
Macron's approval ratings slip again in latest opinion poll.
71% of French have no confidence in Macron.
And once again from Politico just last week.
Macron's popularity drops to new low as French fuel tax revolt rages.
They say the survey by Pollster's BVA found only 26% of French people have a favorable opinion of Macron.
That's a drop of three points from last month, putting Macron's rating 19 months into his presidency below those of his immediate predecessor, Francois Hollande, 48%, and President Nicolas Sarkozy, 29%, at the same stage of their terms of office.
Last week, Some stories came out trying to allege that those who are rioting were infiltrated by the far-right, and it seems like that's an exaggeration.
Now, I don't know why.
I can only speculate that it's because the media wants to paint a picture of who is actually rioting, that these people who are concerned about the country of France and the taxation on the French people must be far-right, especially when you hear that you've got some right-wing politicians supporting the protest.
The reality is, it seems like most people in the country support the protests.
From the latest sources, more than two-thirds do.
But perhaps this has something to do with this wave of right-wing populism that we've seen sweeping Europe and the United States.
From France 24, Germany calls for France to give its UN Security Council seat to the EU.
In a wide-ranging speech on the future of Europe, Scholz said that giving the European Union a spot on the Security Council would allow the bloc to speak with one voice on the global stage.
We could perhaps imagine that in the medium term, the French seat becomes the EU seat.
I realize this will take some convincing in Paris, but it would be a bold and smart goal.
But the suggestion was immediately shot down by the French ambassador to the United States, Gerard Arraud.
It's legally impossible, because it would run counter to the Charter of the United Nations.
Changing it would be politically impossible.
I bring this up for one reason.
What I think we're seeing here, and I could be wrong, I'm not a French citizen, I've only had some conversations with locals, and I don't know the entirety of the sentiment.
But it sounds like Macron is more concerned about the world, about climate change.
He wants this tax on diesel because climate change is a real threat.
But not everyone in the world agrees, and not everyone in the world is actually going to put taxes on fuel and inhibit their own citizenry.
Thus, the people of France are outraged.
Why are they being penalized when no one else will?
And I'm sure many people don't believe that climate change is real.
It presents itself with a serious problem.
I mean, I do think the world has to impose certain regulations and norms to prevent certain bad things from happening.
We have treaties, right?
We have nuclear treaties with various countries because we don't want people to blow each other up.
We want that stuff to stop.
And I think there is fair regulation that can come about when we're talking about issues of climate change or carbon emissions.
The issue is, how do you guarantee every country actually plays by those rules?
This seems to be negatively impacting French workers, and they're upset about it.
And this is probably why we heard rumors of a Frexit, a France exit of the EU.
And it's probably why Marine Le Pen did so well.
Because there seems to be sentiment among the French that if they don't protect their own sovereign interests, they will be taken advantage of.
With people calling on France to give up their UN Security Council seat.
With the president of France saying that the world is more important and they have to tax their citizens, I'm sure it feels to many of these people that their country isn't taking care of them.
And don't get me wrong, that is just my opinion.
I am not a French citizen.
But I have seen some stories circulating that suggest maybe some people do feel this way.
From Bloomberg last month, the French are warming up to Donald Trump.
Trump's disapproval rating is 65% among the French public.
Well down from the 81% who said they disliked him a year ago, according to an ODACSA poll from Le Figaro newspaper.
The pollster said the improved opinion of Trump is linked to a perception he's been good for the U.S.
economy and job creation.
Trump is most popular among French working-class voters, where only 54% dislike him, and least popular among white-collar workers, where 79% have a bad image of him.
Still, overall, 83% said he's dangerous And 80% said they don't want a French version of him.
You know, people like to play the game of nationalist versus globalist, and I think there's honestly some truth to this.
The French working class, they care about the French.
They care about their country and the rules that are imposed on them.
And it looks like many of these working class people in France are starting to like Trump more.
And people in France in general are starting to like Trump more.
Don't get me wrong, that story clearly states most people in France do not like him.
But there's a pretty strong improvement, nearly 20 points in favor of Donald Trump over the past year because he's been good for jobs and good for the economy.
And now we can see what happens on the inverse.
Macron, who is considered more of an internationalist and a banker, kind of like Hillary Clinton was seen here, is imposing taxes on the working class that's going to hurt them.
It's a tax on everybody, basically.
It's a tax on fuel.
But it's going to negatively impact those who don't make that much money and are working class.
But of course, the riots are probably going to continue.
As of the shooting of this video, they are currently continuing.
And as I mentioned before, a local journalist on the ground I've been talking to said, it's quite literally the revolution.
So maybe this will make some dramatic change.
And if people are starting to warm up to Donald Trump, Is it possible that Marine Le Pen or another right-wing populist actually wins in the next election?
I believe their next election is 2022.
We'll see what happens.
But there's a lot to happen in between then, so stick around.
I'll have updates on what happens in France should anything escalate.
You can let me know what you think in the comments below.
We'll keep the conversation going.
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