Macron Has Failed, French Protesters Call For Act 4 Saturday
Macron Has Failed, French Protesters Call For Act 4 Saturday.The French Government announced they would suspend the tax hike and they would halt the rising cost of electricity and gas. But the "yellow vests" have said this is crumbs and rejected the appeasement.Now protesters in France are calling for an escalation, for "act 4" of the protest to happen this Saturday in Paris.Emmanuel Macron's approval rating hit record lows amidst talk of hypocrisy now tied as one of the worst leaders in modern French History.
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For the past several weeks, we have seen photos and videos of violent clashes happening in France amidst the Yellow Vests protest.
We've seen videos of police beating a man in a Burger King and beating a protester in the street.
But now the most shocking story.
An 80-year-old woman who went to close her blinds during the protest was hit by a tear gas canister and killed.
It seems like these protests are only going to escalate, but the French government is now trying to appease the protesters, offering to suspend the tax hike that precipitated the protest.
But the protesters are refusing, rejecting this proposal, saying it is crumbs, and they are now calling for Act 4.
Amidst this news, we are hearing that Emmanuel Macron's approval rating has fallen to new lows at 23%.
So today, let's take a look at the latest news to understand why the protests may escalate this weekend, and why French protesters are refusing to back down.
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From The Guardian.
Yellow vest protests in France to continue despite fuel tax U-turn.
Protesters say they will not accept crumbs, but are told further violence will not be tolerated.
France's yellow vests have vowed to continue their high-profile protest campaign after forcing the French government to a U-turn on controversial rise in fuel tax.
The movement, behind three weeks of increasingly violent protests across the country, declared it wanted more concessions from France's leaders and would not accept crumbs.
Although the protests were sparked by the planned rise in fuel taxes next month, the Yellow Vest movement has grown to encompass wider anger and frustration against the political elite in Paris in general, and the President Emmanuel Macron and his government in particular.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, bowed to pressure from the street and announced the increases were being suspended for six months.
He also announced an immediate freeze on gas and electricity prices, but warned further violence will not be tolerated.
Philippe's announcement came after he met cabinet ministers on Tuesday morning to agree to responses to a weekend of rioting, looting and destruction in Paris by an element of the Yellow Vest movement.
Macron had repeatedly vowed not to give in to the unrest, but has been forced to reconsider after some of the worst street violence in Paris in half a century.
If the events of the last days have shown anything, it is that the French do not want any more taxes or charges.
No tax merits putting in danger national unity.
It would seem the taxes are not the core issue at this point.
We saw reporting from the New York Post on the 3rd, protests call for Macron's resignation as France comes to the brink of a state of emergency.
They say on Saturday alone, 412 people were arrested in the capital, where at least 133 injuries have been reported, including to 23 security force members.
Protesters set fire to six buildings, and nearly 190 blazes had to be put out across Paris, according to the French Interior Ministry.
Yesterday, Reuters reported, Macron's popularity hits new low amid French protests.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe's approval ratings hit new lows as the Yellow Vest protests gathered pace.
According to an IFOP fiducial poll for Paris Match and Sud Radio published on Tuesday, Macron's approval rating fell to 23% in the poll conducted late last week, down 6 points on the previous months.
Philippe's rating fell 10 points to 26%.
Some locals expressed to me that they feel the protests might actually simmer down, because the government has suspended the tax hike.
However, others have told me the tax hike didn't change anything.
They were expecting taxes to increase in a month, now they expect taxes to increase in six months.
The government actually hasn't conceded anything.
And we can see now, according to Express, that despite the growing unrest, Calls are already being made on social media for Act 4 on Saturday in Paris.
Some with the Yellow Vest movement are demanding the French government reimpose a tax on the wealthy.
From The Guardian, French government reconsiders wealth tax as protests intensify.
Solidarity Tax on Wealth may be reimposed amid widening Yellow Vests movement.
French government will consider reintroducing taxes on the most wealthy in what is seen as a further measure to appease the Yellow Vest protesters threatening to destabilize Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
Lifting part of the Solidarity Tax on Wealth was a pillar of Macron's election campaign and one of the first fiscal measures he implemented on taking power in May 2017, leading to his nickname President of the Rich.
On Wednesday, as the Yellow Vest vowed to continue protests that have seen parts of Paris in flames and violent clashes with police, the government spokesman Benjamin Graveau admitted ISF could be reimposed.
Reintroducing the wealth tax has been one of the demands of parts of the Yellow Vest movement that grew out of anger at rising taxes on petrol and diesel.
The government has been forced into a change of direction after last Saturday's scenes of running clashes with police, torched cars in buildings, and smashed shopfronts in one of Paris' most exclusive areas, as well as damage to the Arc de Triomphe in a third week of protests.
The policies set forth by the French government have, in a sense, kind of unified the left and the right.
You have activists on the far left, ...saying that Macron's government cut taxes on the wealthy and increased taxes on the working class, and that is just not fair.
They are using this tax as a punitive tax to inhibit certain behaviors, and thus putting a burden on the working class through no fault of their own, simply because society as a whole is dependent upon fossil fuels.
In a write-up from Enough is Enough, a far-left website, they say,
The anarchist approach is to address climate change at its root cause,
by acknowledging the underlying structures of domination that lead to environmental destruction
in the first place, namely capitalism and the state.
Instead of offsetting the cost of pollution fuels onto the people, anarchists propose to minimize our
dependence on fossil fuels by providing alternatives and attacking the concentration
of corporate and state power that forces people into being dependent on fossil fuels for
their livelihoods.
For example, traveling long distances on a daily basis for work.
Today, production isn't local and decentralized.
Rather, concentrated power has produced a core and periphery, which necessitates the long-distance movements of millions of people and goods on a daily basis.
The far left is saying that anarchists need to maintain a presence on the ground, Because the people who are protesting aren't overtly political.
These are middle-aged people who don't regularly protest and can be susceptible to political messages from the far right.
And at the same time, you have the nationalists demanding that Macron stop playing up to the internationalists and start working for the benefit of the people of France.
The increasing tax was meant to help France keep in line with climate change accords internationally, meaning that the French people will see an increase in taxes as a way to curb their behavior instead of actually solving the problems and helping the French people survive.
Now, some might be wondering, are taxes really that bad in France to necessitate such violent protests?
Well, according to Fortune, France has the highest taxes of any wealthy country, says OECD.
In the story, they say the French government's tax revenues were equivalent to 46.2% of its economic output, up from 45.5% in 2016 and 43.4% in 2000.
France took the top spot away from Denmark in 2017.
One of the biggest challenges with these international climate accords is there are many countries who will not play by the rules, and that's been Trump's argument.
That you have countries like China that will agree to curb carbon emissions and then do nothing.
And if you act responsibly and abide by the accord, you will be limiting yourself in the face of those who will not take responsibility for their actions.
Thus, the more France tries to say we are going to lead the charge and do this, you still see these other countries ignoring that treaty.
Putting France at a disadvantage and only hurting its working class.
This puts the world between a rock and a hard place, where no one's really willing to abide by these international treaties to actually curb carbon emissions.
And thus, you end up seeing these conflicts.
Yesterday, the San Francisco Gate reported France's protesters are part of a global backlash against climate change taxes.
They say the single most effective weapon in the fight against climate change is the tax code, imposing costs on those who emit greenhouse gases, economists say.
But as French President Emmanuel Macron learned over the past three weeks, implementing such taxes can be politically explosive.
The story from SFGate talks about how for years, politicians have tried imposing punitive taxes on the working class to curb carbon emissions.
But there's a big challenge.
Aside from the foreign countries that won't play by the rules, you have people championing global warming who fly around in private jets and have massive mansions, and they produce way more carbon emissions than the working class.
Yet these are the people who are supposed to be setting an example.
And often they don't.
Celebrities claim that climate change is a problem, but then live in massive mansions, own several cars, and fly on expensive private jets.
That's not going to be confidence building for the working class.
Perhaps these leaders, these global elites, should take the first step if they really want to curb climate emissions.
If you want to convince the working class of France that you need to tax fuel, To deal with climate change.
Perhaps there should be a tax on the wealthy.
Or the reality is, maybe there shouldn't be punitive taxes at all.
The French people are already taxed more than many other countries, according to OECD.
And maybe the anarchists are right.
That taxes that seek to penalize the working class aren't the solution, and there need to be real alternatives.
At any rate, I think it's fair to say, Macron is failing.
His approval rating is down.
Approval for populist parties is on the rise.
According to Vanity Fair, in a poll of a thousand French people, they asked them how would they vote if a parliamentary election were held next Sunday.
30% of people signified support for some type of far-right nationalism, populism, or a so-called Frexit.
Meaning France would leave the European Union.
We're expected to see an escalation in protests this Saturday.
The government appeasement isn't working, it would seem.
But maybe, maybe things will calm down.
It's hard to know for sure.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
We'll keep the conversation going.
Do you think things are going to get worse for France?
Why do you think it is they're protesting?
Why are we seeing the white working class from the rural areas coming to the cities and engaging in protests that they don't normally engage in?
Again, comment below.
We'll keep the conversation going.
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