The Paris Accord is total window dressing and was only designed for countries to pat themselves on the back and feel good about themselves. No country is on target to reduce emissions. Certainly not Germany, where car manufacturing is a major industry. German CO2 emitting cars are exported world-wide, which only spreads the problem. Also, Germany still produces a lot of coal, and will phase out nuclear in the future, which will only require more coal production to pick up the slack, And who is it that is such a customer of Russian gas, that they have a direct pipeline under the Baltic from Russia? Germany, that is who. Germany does have an impressive renewable energy portfolio, such as solar and wind farms, but these are only 'minority' energy sources.
Emissions will only increase globally, and exponentially so, when more and more developing countries develop further. The solution to global climate change is not taxes on French drivers, but the implementation of renewable energy on a global scale, which so far is not at all done. Do not unilaterally tax the French but rather invest in alternative energy on a massive scale. Fund the large scale production of clean cars. When the combustible engine is replaced by a green engine, then and only then will CO2 emissions reduce, but so far, the green engine is elusive. Get German engineers working on that, instead of increased taxes on French drivers.
2
My wife and I traveled in the south of France the week of Thanksgiving. We started in Marseille, with its collapsed buildings. We rented a car and stopped in different towns each night. Avignon, Nîmes, Arles, Aix-en-Provence, and finished up in Nice.
We came across quite a few protesters, primarily at roundabouts, where they definitely slowed traffic, but were met with smiles, thumbs ups, and honking horns. But they definitely were not violent.
The night before we flew home from Nice, I filled up the car - this was a small hatchback. Nothing too fancy. It cost €74 to fill it. That works out to just about $85. You can see how that could add up for rural workers who need cars to get around.
I was impressed by the passion for the cause wherever we went. Say what you will, but we could use some of that passion here at home. Instead we seem to shrug our shoulders, and winge about the situation, but we don’t do much more than that.
While I am saddened to learn of the violence in Paris, in the rural areas, far from the city, we didn’t see anything other than peaceful protests.
3
I saw a report with a photo of the police removing their helmets and parleying with rioters, to say they didn't want violence. This editorial seems to be advocating against social media that made this faceless movement possible, the unexamined premise being that the citizen-classes should slow down to the speed of their government, and allow orderly relief to be sorted out. The world is moving at tweet speed and the ground under our legislative architectures is liquefying. The immediacy of social media now seems necessary to create actual democratic response to discontent, and the representative governors seem slow and befuddled. Nothing is being done. The obvious alternative to the unexamined premise is, the government should speed up to the pace of the citizens---by incorporating the social media into their daily presentations of measures and bills.
2
Even though NYT writers, editors and I most likely have had a similar upper middle class existence attending the same elite universities, it never ceases to amaze me how tone deaf and out of touch the Times can sound to anyone outside the Midtown Manhattan bubble. "A relatively mild hike in fuel taxes, intended to lower France’s carbon emissions" as quoted in the editorial does not in any way truly convey the dire situation the working poor are facing in France. Gas is already over $6 a gallon and this tax was going to increase taxes by an additional $0.30 a gallon for the progressive elite virtue signaling goal of reducing emissions to combat climate change even though France already has one of the smallest carbon footprints in the world.
The Times is unabashed in their support of a neoliberal agenda with the patina of progressive identity politics to sooth their conscience. Since the Yellow Vest movement does not fit in the American obsession with multiculturalism and racial identity politics, the Times Editorial Board is at a loss on how to characterize what is going on in France.
10
Citizen power and climate devastation. In 1965, I was a Goldwater Republican just graduated from University of Hartford with a B.S. in Physics. I took a night course at Trinity College in European History to broaden my education while waiting for the possibility of a job in the U.S. Public Health Service to work on air pollution control. At the end of the course, I asked the respected Professor about my impressions. It seemed to me that over centuries in France the poor worked to organize for progress. But as they gained political strength, the upper and middle class joined to stop the poor. It seemed to me like the myth of Sisyphus. The Professor nodded affirmatively.
On Climate change I have documented my experience since: https://www.legalreader.com/50-years-of-legal-climate-change/
1
Mr. Macron has many problems. He has never held elected office before and was a minister only briefly. His movement "En Marche" was designed to attract those who were disaffected by the traditional parties, so even his own supporters are, basically, malcontents.
His career was fueled by having graduated from the grandest of Grandes Ecoles, the ENA, who are a type of administrative nobility and who occupy the upper reaches of business and the departments of the state. And he was also a banker. Not the friendly high-street version who helps you with your mortgage, but the money grubbing kind.
It is true that, in the second round of the presidential elections, he got 66% of the vote, but this is highly misleading. Fully 25% of eligible voters didn't bother to present themselves, the lowest turnout in quite some time. And his only remaining opponent was the unpalatable far-right Ms. Marine Le Pen. So, it is easy to argue that he was not so much voted for as she was voted against. To highlight this, in the first round of the election cycle -when 23% of voters abstained- he got 24% of the votes cast...
A further drawback is that his movement, which won the assembly elections following the presidential one, is made up of novices. The government he formed has bled ministers at an alarming rate. And finally, he suffers from a raging Napoleon complex and exhibits an inability to delegate.
Highly intelligent, but supremely unfit to deal with actual real life problems.
9
Many cities and states including those in France have been following a pattern. Housing gets more expensive people move to the suburbs and have drive to the rail or bus lines to get to work. Urban planners who more than likely grew up in the suburbs and hate them refuse to build additional roads, they don't believe in cars. Those driving face longer commutes, tolls and taxes of which they see very little coming their way. My understanding the French have been shutting down train stations making it harder to get to work. It's the tax but also the bureaucrats people are against. Does the tax make their lives better or worse?
I'm sure the nytimes board can afford a 12 cent rise in gasoline as well as many politicians. Maybe to them its like church when they pass the basket. It makes for a better world except people like the yellow vests and myself don't go to the same church.
Statistics aside does the nytimes have any freinds that would have a hard time paying a higher energy taxes?
6
I was in Paris from Sunday to Wednesday staying at a hotel 2 blocks from the Arc de Triomph. The street damage was largely cleared by the time I arrived. The remaining damage to buildings was mostly broken windows. Every bank was hit, most other buildings spared. There is obvious anger at banks underlying the riots; reporters need to understand this.
3
"...the stereotype that the French favor change in the abstract but abhor it in practice..." is a tidy little summation of the human condition. It's not just the French, of course. The Smart People (dare I say Elites?) responsible for turning the fear over the current environmental crisis into policy are only NOW beginning to realize how much of a tradeoff this is going to be. Smug nostrums repeated ad nauseum that the solution is for everyone to be "educated" (that is, whipped into a panicked frenzy) gets us nowhere. Everything in the world works through a tradeoff, and everyone knows this except for the most expert policy wonks who seem to believe that people can be bent to their will.
All of the yowling and protests to Do Something about climate change will silence the minute people start walking 3 miles to a bus stop in the snow and can't take a hot shower. As soon as the current villains (Republicans, Big Oil, whoever) let go of the rope, even a little, we will all be sitting down hard in the mud and feeling victimized thereby. I'll even stipulate that the oil industry is unspeakably evil, the problem is that is not the point. Every one of us enjoys the utility, convenience and comfort we get from modern energy use and the solution to our consumption cannot be found as long as we pretend it's the merely the fault of the mean old Man who won't let us have consequence-free benefits.
3
Macron , today
Emmanuel Macron opposes continuous to opposes reinstalling the wealth tax (ISF) formerly imposed on 'les plus riches', eliminated in his 'reforms'
"We will not unravel anything that has been done in eighteen months," said the head of state during the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
The stubborn President of the Les Plus Riches
2
@ Dobby's Sock. Sorry, not buying it. As Gandhi said - 'An for eye just makes the whole world blind'.
I think you are greatly exaggerating the 'desperation ' here. France is not Yemen, where people are actually starving. Nor is it a failed state like Venezuela or Libia. Nor is it ruled by drug Lords like much of Mexico or Central America. Nor is it Russia - where you are really talking a small rich Oligarchy vs a vast poverty stricken population.
France is democratic socialist country that has the 6th largest economy in the world . France spends more money on social welfare than any other European country. That's why they are taxed over 50% of their income. There are serious political and economic problems, as there are in all First world countries now re income inequality. But is that situation "so bad and so untenable" that people are justified in "lashing out" and breaking things and hurting people? Not to my mind. There are far better ways to solve these problems. And maybe the hoi polio needs to learn to listen, just as much as elites do.
Are you under 30 years old? Just curious.
1
This uprising is a glaring case in point gap btwn elites like Macron's decision making as well as NYT Edit Bd and the citizenry of both countries...
The former have an ideological high horse issue of climate change guilt they're trying to rough shod into people's throat...
They don't understand that resisting an increase in taxes doesn't mean not recognizing climate change... it means that they need to support technological ways to alleviate the problem rather than throw money into black hole without much accountability... like raising gas taxes by 6% will make people mad as we can see but not make them buy electric tractors... that don't even exist... But rather developing fuel cell or similar tech that would support extended use of car/eqpt run unlike current expensive lithium electric batteries might be a better idea...
Unfortunately the Left who is the driving force behind taxation cannot save itself from hatred of the "rich", who actually suffer least of the taxation, that broadly affects mostly the middle class...
Voila, Paris
1
Discussion in the New York Times of social media-based disruption with no mention - zero - of a possible Russian role in fomenting it is absolutely mind-boggling. This is not to dismiss the popular discontent. It is to point out what should have been not just obvious but second nature to the leading newspaper in the country in which Russia's sophisticated social media campaign, along with stolen emails and other forms of interference, probably swung the last Presidential election; where there is documented (in the Times) Russian interference in the Brexit referendum; and where we read in the Times almost every day of new revelations about Facebook, paid-for propaganda and fake accounts. Come on! No Russian involvement in the Yellow Vests - a social media movement without leaders. Destruction but no one to talk to about what they want. The GPU ups their game!
The French are evidently unaware of the well-worn aphorism to be careful what you ask for because you may get it.
In the words of another French official, “l’m shocked — shocked! — to find that gambling has been going on in here!”
1
Every American should get a yellow vest.
2
It is nice to try to do something about global warming. But raising taxes will not achieve this.
CO2 emissions will only increase, when more and more countries develop. China is a case in point, they are now the world's highest emitter. CO2 also will increase with more and more migration from low emitting countries to high emitting countries. Liberals have this tremendous blind spot, they want to reduce CO2, but still support mass migration to the western world, where these migrants will produce much more CO2 than they would back home.
Macron learned the hard way, any CO2 reduction that he dreamed up by raising taxes will be a drop in the ocean compared to the increases that China and other countries will produce when they develop further.
It does not mean that nothing should be done, but it is wrong headed to think that the French should pay the price and China not. France, which produces much less CO2 than China does. What good does it do if France reduces and China picks up the slack x 1000?
Trump was ironically honest when he exited the Paris Accord. Macron probably implemented the ill advised taxes to thumb his nose at Trump, but the French
more than thumbed their nose at Macron.
There need to be a universal solution to climate change. Not a unilateral increase of taxes in France only. The burden needs to be shared by all or by none.
6
@Philly
The French raised taxes as a means to implement there responsibilities under the (as you say) universal solution to climate change known as the Paris Accord. The treaty may not have been to your liking, or obviously to Mr. Trump's. It may be far to lenient on the Chinese (I am of that position). But it was an attempt, and a reasonable one at that, to implement a world-wide vision of GHG reduction.
The French have bigger problems here than a simple tax increase, but they should at least be lauded for attempting to be part of that solution.
We, on the other hand, are looking to (for example) increase our oil production by drilling in ANWAR. The solution of the current administration appears to be none at all.
2
France, an ideally beautiful country, is perhaps partially lost on many of its citizens who toil, sometimes seemingly without respite. That is the emergency, that the ideals of liberty, egalitarianism and brotherhood are threatened daily by social stratification and economic disparity. What France needs is less emphasis on military spending, for one thing, and intense scrutiny of the tax rates on the wealthy; also a more equitable way of dealing with the agricultural economy which is suffering mightily. All people, from everywhere, should hope for a substantial resolution to the problems which the modern times seem to impose. Above all, "the reason of things" should point the way to a solution which is all inclusive.
As an Amerloque from the New France portion of the USA, I like this rebellion in the mother country.
Allez, France!
4
Are the editors of the New York Times really sure that the reforms Mr. Macron and the Parliament are what not France, but the French people, needs? Perhaps the "president of the rich" needs to become the president of the people:? Or resign.
6
The NYT is doing its part to promote just the type of dissension which has broken out in France. The NYT does not call its enemies "enemies", but treats them just like that on all pages. What passes as hard news it filled with opinion, bias and attack. Today's analysis should or would shame anyone who practiced that writing a decade ago. The right is characterized as violent, dimwits, racists, Nazis and anti-Semitic. The Tea Party of last decade was characterized in this way, when in fact its worst act was failure to clean up the grounds after rallies. Yet the anarchists and thugs of the left who rampage on nd off campuses are given a free pass. Trump is attacked for doing exactly what Obama did with respect to the executive power. Amnesia is wonderful for the conscience and the NYT. The 2020 election will be the test of whether the left can suffer another fairly deserved defeat and not go to the barricades.
15
It's an opinion piece labelled as such.
Are you capable of accepting that?
3
The fact that Macron didn’t recognize the potential backlash against imposing a carbon tax on fuel having just rewarded the wealthy with tax breaks, shows how out of touch his government is with the people.
Carbon taxes are just another way for governments to rob their citizens without doing anything to really help the environment. When you put a tax on fuel, corporations pass their increased costs along to customers, but customers have no way to offset the tax, so they end up paying their carbon taxes along with those of the corporations.
Who can blame them for taking to the streets? If carbon taxes were ever imposed on Americans I have no doubt we'd do the same.
The tax was a mistake from the start, but at the same time, backing down in the face of violent protests sets a dangerous precedent. Macron should have just picked any group and negotiated with them before suspending the hike so it didn’t seem like capitulation in response to the violence. Now they know a few weeks of violence is all it takes to bring the government to its knees, and their demands will multiply.
7
Macron should not have backed down on the fuel tax for two reasons: because now it has emboldened protesters to demand his resignation, and because the fuel tax was the right thing to do for the environment. Rather, he should have recognized the vast problem of limited purchasing power in France and offered a comprehensive solution. What France ultimately needs is a more dynamic economy in its rural and post-industrial areas. Government investment could help, but so would some labor reforms that would be painful at first, like a longer work week, less paid vacation and less protection for workers, so that poorly performing workers can actually be fired and good workers rewarded. Unemployment remains high precisely because workers have so much protection. When a company can't fire it's unproductive workers, wages stagnate and they are more reluctant to hire, or to take risks of any kind. And employees who hate their jobs nevertheless stay in them until retirement in France, because finding a new job is so difficult. Changing careers as an adult is nearly unheard of, while in America it's common. If the labor market can be liberalized even just a little, it will be easier for companies to find the best employees and for workers to choose the career that's best for them, and that efficiency will lead to higher average wages all around. And it will be easier for companies and workers alike to take the risks that ultimately lead to innovation and growth.
1
1. "Greenwashing (a compound word modelled on "whitewash"), also called "green sheen",[1][2] is a form of spin in which green PRor green marketing is deceptively used to promote the perception that an organization's products, aims or policies are environmentally friendly."
2. "In political jargon, a useful idiot is a derogatory term for a person perceived as a propagandist for a cause of whose goals they are not fully aware and who is used cynically by the leaders of the cause"
4
Anyone know where one can affordably purchase a yellow vest in the US? I think I want one...
1
I believe that "casseurs" translates more accurately as "thugs," not vandals.
Casser means to break.
So no, it's not thug, but vandal.
4
The widening gap between ' haves' and the 'have nots' seems to be the big rage factor in most of these comments. Understood. It is a major problem. The US is no.1 in that category, Sweden No. 2, U.K. No 3, France isn't even in the top 10.
All European countries have high taxes on gas. France, even with the increase, is about average in Euro per liter, some countries are higher, some lower.
So - back to the revolution. Revolutions always sound good at the beginning, esp to the young, who love passion and still see good and evil as black and white, - But it's the end result that matters.
The massive protests organized on social media in the Arab Spring which brought down old dictators, all ended up with new dictators, with the exception of Libia, which ended up with anarchy and brutal civil war.
The French Revolution of 1789 ended with The Reign Of Terror of the Jacobins, and in short order, the emergence of a new Emperor.
The volatile and violent period of civil unrest in France that started in May of 1968, which at it's height brought the economy of France to a halt, and who's leaders - de Gaulle and the Gaullists, feared civil war or revolution - ended in June when de Gaulle promised to resolve the National Assembly and have new elections . Then the violence ended as quickly as it arose and when elections were held -the Gaullist Party emerged stronger than before.
I'm not a fan of revolutions. They most often don't solve problems, they make new and worse ones.
4
Gwen Vilen,
True, on the whole, revolutions cause as much angst and damage as the situation that provoked it.
But!...what other recourse to the un-heard, un-respected, hoi polloi have?!
You kick a nice dog often enough it will turn and bite you.
When the desperate are forced into a corner, why not lash out and make the privileged feel some angst too?!
Your own situation is already bad and untenable, will another hardship really change things? (well yes, but in the heat of passion...)
They are being heard and seen now.
Until the bully has some blood and skin in the game too, things don't won't change.
The dog has bitten and drawn blood, lets see where this leads.
3
Truck drivers are planning to go on strike. That's bad news. And that is all because of climate change: we usually demonstrate during spring or early summer.
Protest are not limited to "yellow vests".
They now include High School Students
From The French Evening News, Yesterday
Dozens of High Schools have been shut down, by students angry about M. Macron's education reforms
In some places , protesting high school students were tear gassed by the police
See for yourself
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/education/parcoursup/parcoursup/lycee-les-incidents-se-multiplient_3084831.html
For those who can not follow French
'Second day of mobilization for high school students. In Bordeaux (Gironde), in your face protests, again, are tense in encounters with the police. To disperse the protesters, the police fired tear gas. High school students in the street also in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dome), and everywhere the same claims are found. "Parcoursu" (a web based application to University) , the reform of the vocational baccalaureate, the reform of the general bac, in fact impacts our rights to the future", lists a high school student who came to demonstrate.'
2
@Talesofgenji -- Also, those yellow vests are not of emergency workers as this editorial labels it. In France, they are in all cars, they are intended to be worn by all drivers if the vehicle is disabled. They mean driver in distress.
5
"A relatively mild hike in fuel taxes, intended to lower France’s carbon emissions, proved to be the last straw for a broad swath of people in the provinces and suburbs who believe that government ministers, bureaucrats, trade unions and especially the political class in a wealthy, complacent Paris are deaf to their economic struggles"
That sounds compelling until you compare it with income inequality elsewhere as the OECD reports https://data.oecd.org/earnwage/average-wages.htm#indicator-chart
Here's a few comparisons:
+ Gender Wage Gap: USA 25%, UK 16%, OECD Avg 14%, France 10%
+ Low Pay (<2/3 median wage) : USA 25%, UK 19%, OECD Avg 16%, France 9%
+ Avg Wage : USA $60.5 k, UK $43.7 k, France $43.8 k
The position of France's workers relative to the rest of the OECD, and even the US, seems far from being one that should produce riots in the street. It suggests other factors at work than purely economic ones.
Of the other questions this data raises, a compelling one is why aren't American women in the streets demonstrating for equitable treatment in the richest country in the world?
1
This defends "his needed reforms." It asserts that he needs to find a way to do them, yet "to find a way to defuse the anger."
That is the exact question on which the French public so strongly disagrees. That is what causes the anger.
This article is "take it and like it."
Sure the French public likes change, in both theory and practice. It does not like this change. It is not about reforms in general, it is these reforms in particular.
Macron's election win was about not being LePen. It was not an endorsement of neo-liberalism, nor of a return to Sarkozy's American thinking.
This takes a certain American establishment answer as the only answer, as the needed reform. Sorry, that answer no longer works even in America, and the refusal to acknowledge that is how we got the clown-President Trump, who was at least not that.
6
These protests exemplify why lower and middle class economic reform has to accompany change in environmental policy. People still need to eat, to have safe homes.
6
I haven't been reading the Comments so maybe someone has pointed this out, but I'm reminded of the (now drippingly ironic) averral made ~1980 by Mitterand to the effect that it's hard to feel sorry for a country whose economic problems could be solved with a 50-cent-a-gallon tax hike on gasoline. Ouch.
1
Monsieur, si les pauvres ne paient pas la taxe, qui le fera?
Public transit. Mass transit. Lipstick on a pig.
What is the distance between France's two largest cities and America's two largest cities? Driving the same car, what would the cost be? Hint: less in America.
Now, look at a satellite image of the U.S. at night. West of the Mississippi River, the distance between those lights gets much larger. Add $7 dollars a gallon for their fuel and only bad things happen on the "guaranteed" trip to a happier planet.
3
When popular discontent overflows onto the streets it inevitably does so in ways that are both ugly and beautiful. Such is history. Where this all ends, no one knows. What we do know is that Macron was/is a shallow personality- privileged, untested and full of hubris. In the last few days, he looks shaken and uncertain. I imagine this might be how Charles I or Louis XVI looked when their legitimacy and authority was shaken. How Macron gained power is no mystery. He was able to game a political system with the backing of local and global elites and their bankers at the exact moment that the political center in France collapsed. I for one find it hard to believe that it took this long for the French people to say Enough!
13
I do not understand why no one (meaning the leading politicians of the day) seems to notice the huge disparity between those who are leading comfortable lives (mostly in cities) and those who are being "left behind" whether it is in loss of income level and standard of living or outright loss of jobs until it is too late. I say "too late" because it always is "too late". Most noticeable in the USA, and now in France. Why can they not recognize the problem, which is huge, and address it before it grows and metastasizes? Surely someone amongst these so-called leaders must have the awareness, imagination and the guts to devise a way to mitigate the pain being felt by these "left behinders". Surely this is a necessary thing to do! It was done during the Depression with food stamps and make-work jobs and more. This period of time is another Depression for a huge number of people. When are we going to recognize this and do something about it? We better hurry up before climate change and it's related effects on human populations engulf us all.
6
@carolyn Thank you for your accurate perceptions. Unfortunately, it seems today's elites and "professional" class are much more self absorbed and self congratulatory than their forerunners in the 1930s, and this may be true in France, as well. Although I sense the problem isn't quite as deep there.
1
@Ted Pikul Also, NYT and today's Dems seem to think all whites are "privileged", even if they are living in their cars or in 40 year old run down trailers, and that means their problems don't exist, apparently.
1
If this was taking place anywhere but Western Europe, the press would be howling for Macron to step down. When is the CIA going to start shipping arms to the "moderate" French rebels?
4
No one should be surprised if a similar - perhaps less violent initially - movement erupts here in America if our "leaders" remain tone deaf to the anger and frustration of the working and middle class for being left out of the prosperity enjoyed by Wall Street and the donor class for decades. Like Macron, this anger propelled the "anti-establishment" Trump to victory, and is still simmering, based upon any objective look at the election. The People don't want any more of the "same old, same old", where they pay the price for the excesses of the entitled.
There may differences - again like in France - about what the most pressing problem is, wealth disparity, lack of good paying jobs, gender and racial discrimination, illegal immigration, but the frustration with a government that has seemed to only serve the wealthy and special interests while the rest of us have to deal with these issues is growing. Trump's election did little to sate this anger, and since he's predictably done nothing to keep any of his promises, and in some cases actually done the opposite, he may soon feel the backlash as Macron is.
So far, our system has held, but only because most people still somehow believe in it. But with interference in our elections, and the undermining of of our justice system by those whose duty it is to uphold it, and the warping of what "truth" is, it won't take much to trigger a violent rejection of this system. A reckoning is coming.
2
This is the problem when you face historic levels of economic inequality coupled with very real environmental, civic, and social needs.
The money scale has returned to being criminally tipped to the rich. The middle class are living paycheck to paycheck, with little or no savings, and the poor are working 3 jobs just to make ends meet.
So when you offer across-the-board style tax hikes, 99% of the people simply can't afford it.
There is no civilization in a world owned by the 1%.
We will continue to slide back into chaos and feudal states, unless the rich return copious amounts of their ridiculous wealth to our infrastructures and common good.
The end.
4
perhaps the anger the French are expressing is caused not so much by the insensitivities of the Macron government as by being squeezed between stagnant incomes and a rising cost of living.
perhaps we can solve their problems with a reverse Louisiana Purchase: sell them President Trump who manages to convince Americans in much the same siuation that only he can solve their problems. and, somehow, the most gullible believe him, unlike the more realistic French.
The Guardian, on Macron April 19, 2018, on Macron
"Macron is far more popular internationally than in France, where dissatisfaction with his presidency has surged to 58% less than a year after his election. Here is a man who owes his power to good luck rather than any vindication of his political philosophy. In the first round of the French presidential election, he scored less than a quarter of the vote, and not dramatically more than three other candidates including the far-right Marine Le Pen and radical left Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Macron’s thumping second-round victory was less an endorsement and more a rejection of fascism.
French scepticism towards Macron contrasts sharply with his own lack of self-doubt. He refused to be questioned by journalists because his “complex thought processes” were ill-suited for such a setting. His denunciations of his opponents would not be out of place on Donald Trump’s Twitter feed: they are “slackers” and “do-nothings”, while workers protesting over job losses should stop “wreaking havoc” and look for a job elsewhere."
---
Macron, with his haughty disdain for all those who he deems less intelligent than himself, had it coming.
3
Consumption based taxes always impact the less affluent. Socialist and Democrats never seem to grasp basic economics: when you ask people to get by with less, you also need to tighten your purse strings. You cannot tax the life out of people and take a high brow liberal view that you know what’s best for all concerned.
1
@George -- This is right about consumption taxes, but wrong about who does them. It is Republicans and their -Lite compatriots who insist on consumption taxes.
Progressive us that sort of tax known as a "progressive tax." That should not be a surprise.
2
This is business as usual for the French. Get a president elected with great fanfare, and immediately begin to hate on him. The French electorate suffers from clinical schizophrenia. They don't want higher taxes, but they DO want all the entitlements. They want change without having to change anything.
1
@Farokh -- They picked "not the Nazi." We can be glad, but also realize that is hardly the entire issue for needed change in France.
4
"A relatively mild hike in fuel taxes".......Has anyone on the editorial board been to France? Does anyone on the board know how much a litre of "petrol" costs in France? There would riots in the streets of the USA as well. The NYT's seems tone deaf on the real expenses that impact a working families life. As of a week ago, 1 litre of gas was $1.53 or the equivalent of $5.82 per gallon. This is before the additional "mild hike in fuel" tax. This is why people are rioting in the streets.
6
"Proved to be the last straw for a broad swath of people in the provinces and suburbs who believe that government ministers, bureaucrats, trade unions and especially the political class in a wealthy, complacent Paris are deaf to their economic struggles. "
Exactly. And one could say the same about the Board of the NY Times , comprised of the elite of NY City, that fails to understand the decimation that has befallen the country side in France.
1. One third of French farms make less than Euro 340 a months.
2. In the name of efficiency, rural hospitals are being shut down. Factories are moved from France (labour costs Euro 35/hr) to Poland (Euro 7.8 hour).
3. Enlargement of the EU to Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, wages 1/3 of France, has filled France with temporary workers willing to work for less
4. Agricultural products made at low wages, from Polish potatoes, to Romanian beef, to Bulgarian wine are undercutting the country side.
5. All this has benefited the urban class, and les plus riches,
It is really not different from what happened in the US in the name of free trade, free immigration, and free movement of capital.
That the Board also fails to understand
The French countryside does not want to wish to wind up like Syracuse NY, once a wealthy City , where GM's Fisher plant, on GM Circle,New Gear Works , Carrier Air Conditioning employed thousands. All closed , after Nafta , and moved to Mexico where wages were 1/6th.
65
@Woof
Bulgarian wine? In France? Where on earth do you get that idea? Just so you know, when you go the markets - the open air markets that sell country produce, dairy and meat - you know where your food is coming from, and it's not Bulgaria or Poland.
It's not so easy for your so-called temporary workers from Eastern Europe to get work in France, and very difficult to obtain things like housing if you don't have a legit job, much more so than in the US. Also, in a very chauvinistic society like France, if you don't speak French nobody is going to help you or indulge you for anything - and many foreign workers are shut out because they can't speak French.
95% of these comments are by people who have no idea how France works and why we got to this point.
7
@Paris
So tell us more about factory closure.
2
Macron is the darling of the neoliberals, including the NYT and WaPo editorial pages. What these privileged classes fail to realize is that you cannot just ramrod environmental taxes through without also addressing severe economic inequality present even in developed countries like France. It is unconscionable to demand the poor care about big-picture issues like climate change when they do not even have their basic needs met.
The president of the Sierra Club put out an excellent op-ed today in Salon where he discussed the need for simultaneously addressing the environment and wealth inequality.
The fact of the matter is that very wealthy have a massively disproportionate carbon footprint compared to the poor. They need to scale back their consumption more than anyone else, and a regressive carbon tax is not the way to accomplish this.
5
"A relatively mild hike in fuel taxes, intended to lower France’s carbon emissions, proved to be the last straw..."
Relatively mild. France’s fuel taxes – already 64% on unleaded and 59% on diesel - is among the highest in the EU. Not to mention that adding fuel taxes in the EU and in states like California are not going to put a dent in AGW. Either the whole world does it or no one does. Guess the odds of that. Until then, it's just a feel-good gov't money-suck.
6
all those who remember John Dillinger, raise hands. he famously said he robbed banks because that's where the money is.
the same wisdom could well be applied to tax policy, but we continue to move in the opposite direction, reducing or eliminating taxes on those with money, and subsidizing the effort by freezing the incomes of those who have to work for a living.
this is not going to work anyplace... but some people are quicker than others at figuring out the scam.
5
Thomas Piketty (Dec 2017):
It is customary to contrast Trump and Macron: on one hand the vulgar American businessman with his xenophobic tweets and global warming scepticism; and on the other, the well-educated, enlightened European with his concern for dialogue between different cultures and sustainable development. All this is not entirely false and rather pleasing to French ears. But if we take a closer look at the policies being implemented, one is struck by the similarities.
In particular, Trump, like Macron, has just had very similar tax reforms adopted. In both cases, these constitute an incredible flight in the direction of fiscal dumping in favour of the richest and most mobile.
For the first time since the Ancien Régime it has thus been decided in both countries to set up an explicitly derogatory system of taxation for the benefit the categories of income and wealth held by the most affluent social groups. In each case the argument is presumed to be irrefutable; the bulk of taxpayers are neither free nor mobile and have no other option than to treat the rich with respect, otherwise the rich will up and leave the country and they will no longer be able to share in their benefits (jobs, investments and other wonderful ideas which ordinary people cannot easily access). Trump refers to them as ‘Job creators’, while Macron refers to ‘Lead climbers’.
Within the richest countries, the working classses have a feeling of abandonment .
7
With dissemination of information like never before the average citizen can see the difference between his life and that of the privileged/wealthy. He/she toils all day, sits in traffic for hours, runs home to a second shift trying to raise the next generation of tax paying citizens, all the while struggling to make ends meet. While your rich debutantes live lavishly, do nothing, and pay less taxes than the working people. There is enough to go around but the ones at the top are not willing to take less so everyone can have a good life. There comes a time when the rich are too rich and the poor too poor as a famous book says.
10
"But the power of social media to quickly mobilize mass anger without any mechanism for dialogue or restraint is a danger to which a liberal democracy cannot succumb."
Our deplorables had a champion and expressed themselves peacefully through election, whereas their deplorables didn't - but you don't like that peaceful exercise either.
"Mr. Macron and the Parliament were democratically elected ... and the reforms they have been pursuing … were what they openly promised in those elections ..."
Perhaps you should start paying heed to your own advice when it comes to our own country.
7
The Times's unabated defense of the failed "establishment politics" is what will ultimately bring down liberal democracy, not social media. Its passionate support of Clinton is what brought us Trump, yet it has not learned the lesson.
If the editorial board claims to support democracy it should perhaps understand that "what France needs" is to be determined by... the French people.
As for the reforms, what are we talking about exactly?
On the environmental front Macron has done virtually nothing. In fact his popular environment minister resigned in disgust a couple of months ago. Yes, a carbon tax is needed but it should be part of a much broader package, a green new deal like Bernie Sanders is advocating in the US. Anything else will fall short of what scientists are telling us is needed to avert catastrophic climate change.
On the European front, the modest reforms he proposed are already dead: Germany and its allies said "nein" - as was all too easily predictable by anybody who had been paying attention. Has the Times heard of Greece 2015?
Macron's domestic "neo-liberal" reforms have - just as predictably - failed to produce any positive result. The main issues are the lack of demand and the fiscal straitjacket of the eurozone, not the labor laws...
One may denounce some of the less-enlightened "Gilets jaunes" as "deplorable" but ultimately if the root causes of the movement are not addressed they will indeed produce political monsters worse than Macron.
14
If Macron wants to reduce vehicle usage he should start in Paris with a congestion charge like London. Parisians at least have the option to use transit unlike in the rural villages.
7
It's rather pathetic how the editorial board fails to even mention that the "relatively mild" tax hike on gasoline equates to a whopping 7 dollars a gallon, if we were to pay what the French are now paying for fuel. That is neither mild nor relatively mild. In addition, that this essay fails to even mention that the reason for the exorbitant fuel price is because of the Paris Accords, where the thinking went that by raising fuel prices on the ones who normally eat cake, the planet will be saved. Let it be known that many times the chant "We Need Trump" was heard from the tens of thousands of protestors. That too has been left out of this strange account.
7
@Len
This seems to be a spreading misconception.
Everywhere I look, the tax increase was equivalent to $.25 a gallon - meaning an increase of about $7 per tank, while also being between $6.50 and $7.00 a gallon. The tax increase certainly wasn't a $7 a gallon increase.
2
I don't suppose climate activists will notice, but the Paris riots were triggered by a small increase in fuel taxes as a first baby step to reducing carbon emissions. That's nothing compared to what activists tell us will be needed to restructure the world economy to save us from (as they tell us) planetary heat-death. Maybe it's time for reasonable adults to step back from ill-considered advocacy of climate activism. Even in its mild forms it invites, portends even, economic collapse, riots, and revolution. Of course, revolution and economic collapse would achieve activist goals, too. When everyone is unemployed and starving, and governments have ceased to operate effectively (no more social safety net) then carbon emissions will drop drastically. Victory for the Climate Cuckoos!
3
The French protests against the urban elites has the same root cause as the Trump movement in the US, globalization, But the urban elite cannot stick labels to it : racist , xenophobic, sticking to guns and bible and being the deplorables - so it is puzzled
9
The democratic urge - the desire for the governed population to be heard - when suppressed and thwarted boils up like pressure cooker left on too long till it explodes. Right now the West is saddled with many democracies in name only that are perceivably and verifiably (See Gilans Page 2014 Princeton study) governed for and by the rich and their corporate interests. If the will of the people is not heard through traditional political channels that have now become choked with money that will will run elsewhere and when the pressure hits a certain point it will run out into the streets. This is not a failure of the protestors. This is a failure of the French governing process and it is a failure that is echoed around the world in the pseudo=democracies come plutocracies that now teeter in North America and Western Europe. All the result of unchecked greed among the business/political classes. It will take a lot to get a Yellow Vest movement going in the US the population is too well brainwashed with the concept that you can make it in America if you're not a loser. Amazingly they even have got us believing universal medical care is for wimps and affordable education is for commies. Who would have known when they used the term exceptional they were referring to gullibility. But no worries we will always be number one! In military spending and Wall Street and bank bailouts.
10
Neoliberal austerity is a scam. It's a scam in France. It's a scam in the UK. It's a scam in America. Any politician who wants austerity should not be trusted, those who implement it should be sacked
6
@Angry Thank you. Actually, both Clinton and Obama wanted austerity, mostly on the backs of the working class, especially working class seniors.
2
@me
...and those were the good guys.
Let's be honest. If you know the French, they didn't vote for Macron so much as they voted against Marie Le Pen. To think that the French would want their country to resemble the US is a fools errand.
Vive La France!
4
LOL @ "needed reforms."
3
This looks a lot like Brexit. I wonder who is manipulating these yellow jackets. I like it when the French people riot against attempts to weaken their benefits or their unions. This looks nothing like that. This stinks of borscht.
1
1. "Greenwashing (a compound word modelled on "whitewash"), also called "green sheen",[1][2] is a form of spin in which green PRor green marketing is deceptively used to promote the perception that an organization's products, aims or policies are environmentally friendly."
2. "In political jargon, a useful idiot is a derogatory term for a person perceived as a propagandist for a cause of whose goals they are not fully aware and who is used cynically by the leaders of the cause"
4
It's a mix of Leftists, fascists and anarchists, temporarily united by the failure of neoliberal austerity
Neither France, nor the USA, nor any other country need tax cuts for the rich. The highjacking of most of the world's wealth by relatively few people is the factor underlying most of the trouble in the world. Unregulated capitalism will destroy the peaceful world order faster than Trump. The elite classes everywhere truly do not care about ordinary people in their countries, but if they care about keeping some of their money, they better wake up and share some of it. More taxes for the rich, I say, and use the money to subsidize the daily lives of common people.
9
The writers make reference to "...his (Macron's) needed reforms". They're making two false assumptions.
The first is that France needs major reforms. Most French people seems both pleased and proud of the nation that their forebears created. And rightly so. Their social welfare system does a far better job of providing for the people than anything we've been able to come up with. They are more comfortable and satisfied than we are, and much less at each other's throats all the time. I wouldn't be surprised if they slept better than we do.
The second assumption is that Macron's reforms are better, more appropriate, than any of the other possible changes available to the French. Coddling the well-off at the expense of everyone else has never worked, anywhere. Except, of course, if you're one of those well-off.
I can't blame the French for wondering if that isn't his real intention; enriching the wealthy. Himself included.
4
It is time for asset taxes. The wealthy have gamed the system too far in their favor, at expense of the many worldwide. The only question is where. Maybe it will be the French that lead this. Proper revenue will allow proper infrastructure and education across an entire country and put proper pressure on “job creators “ to continuously innovate or move back to where people reliant on paychecks live every day. I thought it would happen as s backlash against Trump, but the Democrats are not willing to lose any of their wealthy voters yet.
4
Ironically the wealth is the very tax Macron cut (ISF) and he raised the gasoline tax to pay for that cut.
Now, I think the ISF was terrible for a lot of reasons, but paying for the cut with a regressive tax is even worse policy than a wealth tax. Calling it green policy is cynical, but clearly duped lots of people commenting here.
We see it as it is : stealing from the poor to give to the rich.
5
When you govern like Louis XVI complete with a "Let them eat cake" tax version, you get a budding protest and political upheaval in the streets. Instead of a regressive gas tax, how about a carbon tax on major industries? Or a luxury tax on those who can afford it for luxury cars and SUVs and business class and above air travel? Or, tax auto registration by fuel efficiency exempting those below a certain income? Macron's myopia speaks, all too loudly, on a day when President George H. W. Bush is laid to rest. Bush, too, was out of touch with the working class not even knowing the price of milk; and, of course, there was his infamous "No new taxes" pledge. The voters spoke loudly to Bush: Out of touch is out of office. President Macron may soon follow in Bush's footsteps.
7
Macron hasn't been backed into a corner. France has been backed into the corner. This is France's crucible.: Move forward or get left even farther behind. My French mother always would say to me, life is not always La Boheme! Sometimes you have to face reality. Macron's a moderate. He's hated by the Left. He's hated by the right. But the right has never had any solutions outside of personal aggrandizement(look at Trump's America) and the Left has consistently failed - just look at the history of any European country.
I think there is sincerity behind the riots. And the rioters have been heard. Macron has to work out the details of a new plan. But the overall plan of change is more important to France and the future than a farmer's riot fueled by the disgruntled Far Right and Left to remove Macron from office and plunge the country back into the prospects of a revival of Vichy France..
1
We are repeatedly told that support for action to address global warming is strong, yet here we have "enlightened" Europeans rioting over "A relatively mild hike" in taxes to address climate change. I think the message here is that the global elite supports action to address climate change, but the less wealthy folks who will be stuck with the bill, don't.
8
Why are the less wealthy the ones who should pay? Why aren't the industrialists and billionaires of the world on the hook? It's not like they don't have the money and are responsible for the bulk of the damages
7
@J. Waddell I think the average person is way more concerned with global warming/climate change than your "elites". The "elites" (your term, not mine) got us into this mess and mostly could care less. And when they are forced into action, they dither, then come up with plans that hurt their finances and investments the least. Witness cap and trade. And Trump and his administration's machinations.
People do care, but governments need to come up with better ways of healing the planet. One very significant start would be to implement "regenerative" agriculture and forestry, which would sequester significant amounts of carbon. Actually, France is a leader in this regard.
imagine if the incomes of the French villagers had been allowed to rise as the incomes of the wealthy have over the past 20 years or so. a gas tax increase would have been greeted with a Gallic shrug. it is only an issue because incomes are stagnant.
whose fault is that?
4
"The power of social media to quickly mobilize mass anger without any mechanism for dialogue or restraint is a danger to which a liberal democracy cannot succumb." How true. It's unfortunate that these "Yellow Vest" thugs resorted to such extreme and random violence in direct response to Macron's taking some modest steps to try to address the problem of climate change, and it doesn't speak well of them. They have gone too far, and now they feel entitled and empowered, but they aren't united or organized and they have no clear voice.
2
The French are saddled with a "Green Tax" while China pollutes all they want. France (or California for the matter of that) could reduce their emissions to zero and it would not make a difference - climate is not just the air above France. As long as countries like China and India etc. continue to pollute as they do, cutting one country's emissions is a useless drop in the bucket. A fantasy. And the working class is being saddled with the high cost of it.
17
France has a history of direct protest, often violent that is very different other western nations. Their workers strike at an order of magnitude higher rates than any other European nation. The violence of the French Revolution, the violence of the Paris Commune in the 1870s'. I wonder if there is serious research into why violence is so much more endemic in the French political process.
3
"Donning the fluorescent yellow safety vests of emergency workers"
There are NOT the vests of emergency workers. They are flimsy plastic reflective vest , required by law, to be carried in every French car. If you fix a flat at the side of the road, you need to wear it.
3
Not to mention motorcyclists in dark rainy streets.
Frankly, the French are acting like spoiled kids.
First, they have a democratic regime (though not Federal), as opposed to 90% of the world.
Second, they have chosen a President one year ago, he was fairly elected (unlike Trump in the US), with a vast majority in the National Assembly and with a clear and courageous, progressive program.
Third, every account says how he works to boost the economy there, and to preserve the environment.
Now, instead of waiting for the results of his policies, the French (or a number of them) are chosing to target Macron for issues he has nothing to do with, that were there before he came to power, and that he is trying to solve.
All that sounds very egoistical, which does nothing to improve the image of the French people for us foreigners, but most of all it seems pretty stupid. I mean, if you want to protest, at least wait a few years. You can't judge the guy when he barely had time to implement his promises (including actually lower taxes, which is what the yellow vests ask for) !
Protesting against Macron today only benefits to the other guys, the "bad guys" who want to diminish democracy and don't care about our planet's future : Trump, Putin, Le Pen and others.
Please, mes Amis, think about it. You are lucky to live under Macron, and you are even more lucky to live in a world where the environment is still not doomed at all. Please, at least try to show some decency !
4
I don’t understand why Americans aren’t taking to the streets in the same way against the onslaught of horrors that is Trump and co!!
9
@S Americans are passive. You can tell from the comments here that most Americans see the riots in France as too violent and an improper reaction to Macron's measures.
In the US you are allowed to protest in a civil way, which does not accomplish anything. How many protests have we had here? Gun violence, Women's March, Immigration, DACA ... you name it. The US government does not care that people are in the streets protesting. Civil disobedience is ersatz.
I say, if the government doesn't listen, better give them a French style riot, so they know that we mean business.
3
@S Maybe we aren't paying $10 for a gallon of gas. And too many people have jobs, that require regular attendance.
5
Globalists losing on all fronts. They stress-tested the working people of France and now their tourist areas are burning like refugee ghettos.
14
Perhaps if Macron's government quadrupled immigration from Africa and Asia it might help alleviate tensions in economically depressed areas outside the major cities of France. We all know that mass immigration increases productivity and helps expand workers' leverage at the bargaining table.
7
The oil companies win again.
.
They are determined to prevent anything being done about Climate Change. Social media have become the preferred tool. They have infinite funding.
.
What is really at stake is the rule of law, the survival of democratic institutions, and the survival of the planet.
5
I wanted to leave the US and move to France; now, I am not so sure. Macron has his hands full, but at least he is not a crook like Trump. I know this is not saying much, but it is true, and I respect him for having the strength to withstand what has gone on lately. The thing I respect the most about the French is their willingness to to take action, instead of fat couch potatoes from the US who do nothing. I am not a violent person, nor do I endorse it, in any way. This noted, activism does not necessarily mean violence. The US, with it's penchant for "shoot first/ask questions later" has now become (arguably) less of a "free state". What a mess.
8
@Easy Goer
This is business as usual. The French protest, and Amercians freak out about it.
I'm in Paris every day of the week. In fact I'm going out to join a friend for a beer shortly right in the centre. You needn't worry, it looks more impressive in the media than in real life. Entertainment is their job, after all...
11
@Andy
" The French protest, and Amercians freak out about it." Exactly!
The Bastille of today is the tone-deaf governing elite that fails to acknowledge the fundamental failure of socialism as a governing model. And then they all act so surprised by the angry reaction of the fools that elected them.
3
What has failed is capitalism, not socialism.
2
Dear NYT Eds.,
If you want a sense or taste of reality, of what it's really like out here in the real world today, ride a public bus or subway.
27
In additional to the gas tax, French drivers are upset about the installation of speed cameras coupled with a reduction in speed limits. Everyone is suddenly getting tickets in the mail.
The unrest will continue through the holidays.
2
It’s almost as if France has a long history of violent reaction to extreme economic inequality.
12
First, the article mentions the fact that cars are indispensable to the lives of rural inhabitants. It goes on to say that these reforms are necessary for France.
It might be that living out in the country with space around you, while still being able to get to places where you can socialize and obtain modern amenities is unsustainable. It takes fuel, lots of it. If humanity is going to reduce its footprint and preserve what is left of the natural world, we'll have to make some adjustments, and the high-energy rural lifestyle for persons of ordinary means might be one of them.
2
"The “casseurs,” violent vandals who often attach themselves to strikes or protests in France, joined in..."
We can do without violent 'casseurs,' but we sure could use a popular ethic of being ready, willing and able to participate in *strikes or protests.*
Americans are too numbed by 'entertainment' - or else too (reasonably) fearful of losing the job they have - to participate in strikes or protests.
Yet does any meaningful social change happen without such struggle?? No. Power is not ceded willingly.
We could use a lot more constructive agitation in the US since it's clear the majority of senators and representatives do not listen otherwise.
Or do we have to muddle along with baloney rhetoric and band-aid 'changes' until a substantial number of citizens are furious enough to become violent 'casseurs'??
We can do without the violence, but I'm sorry: There is something admirable, even enviable, in the willingness of the French to protest regularly and forcefully, not meekly and only when it's convenient.
Perhaps it's my imagination or a historic fantasy, but didn't the USA used to have more of that spirit and willingness? We now seem too dumbed-down and 'entertained to death' to rouse ourselves from our screen-induced stupors to DO anything so radically concrete as protest and strike.
19
The gulf between the haves and the have nots becomes ever larger and ever clearer. The editorial board has had their say, with an unsurprising neoliberal ‘let them eat cake’.
14
The gilet Jaunes are not donning the the yellow vests of emergency workers but the mandatory garment to wear in case of a road accident. Everybody is supposed to have one in its car.
This is why the Gilet jaune is being used. A suposed solidarity among drivers complaining about the fuel tax increase.
7
A clear depiction of the New York Times' membership in the same tone-deaf global elite to which Mr. Macron belongs. Just like their delusional belief that Hillary Clinton was going to be elected President of the U.S. And they wonder how Trump got elected.
37
@Anne Not just a delusional belief, they pulled out all the stops for Hillary while doing their best to bury and then denigrate Bernie when they could no longer ignore him. They were hand in glove with the DNC. And a lot of us won't forgive them for that.
7
@Anne: Although I agree that the NY Times too often takes the neoliberal stance, how exactly did electing Trump help to modify income inequality? Executives and others are still overpaid, political power still rests solidly in the hands of the monied, and if anything, inequality is getting worse, not better.
3
This is a very weak editorial in that it does not address the main issue , which is the widening gap between the haves and the have nots, or in Maurassian terms, the gulf between the "pays legal" wealthy bourgeois, "citadins,"and the "pays reel, "small farmers cultivating the soil, tradesmen,living in small towns, workers, victims of off shoring. That is the challenge to President Macron, to reconcile these 2 Frances, and it will not be easy, because the widening gap between poor and the wealthy is not confined to "la belle France,"but is general, and true in the US as well!In California there are billionaires from Silicon Valley, living high off the hog and tens of thousands who are homeless who once had good jobs as well as those who have lost everything as a result of the Campfire. Govt. in California has proved itself incapable, unwilling to solve the crisis, and Gov. Brown is useless except as a tool of the far left and spokesman for "pueblos sin fronteras!" Is Alexander Harrison too harsh? "Je crois que non!"Country no longer appears to belong to the citizenry!Simple suggestion: Every member of the EB volunteer a week or two of his time to help out in the crisis,bring succor to those who r w/o homes, shelter for themselves and their pets! Is that too much to ask? Words are useless in such a situation. "Il est temps d'agir pour aider les autres, ses co citoyens!C'est le defi qu'on vous lance!"
7
In America, the wealthy are not being taxed as much percentage wise as the middle class, and the middle class is slipping downward with no hope of improving. People in poverty are having to work 2 to 3 jobs just to survive. This creates an horrific imbalance and an unsustainable system. If this dramatic imbalance continues, the US may find itself in the same circumstances as the French, with a revolution on our hands.
1
@Robin's Nest, Today it has become representation WITHOUT taxation for the elites.
4
Elsewhere, these protests are much more about the fuel tax than in the New York Times. The reluctance of the Times to tell the truth in the face of obvious unrest and dissatisfaction with a fuel tax solution to climate change, thought up by the rich, implemented by the rich, unduly falling on the not rich, speaks volumes.
Social problems are difficult, and not solved by simpleminded solutions like a necessarily regressive tax that also implies that the poor are most responsible for global warming. Simplistic approaches don't work in a world of seven billion people, and cheerleading such approaches as a substitute for digging down and finding out that climate change will be difficult to react to as a human race, isn't doing anybody any good, and quite a few people bad.
The same goes for simpleminded beliefs that all of the changes needed to produce a sustainable world will be good for business and can be done with no pain. They can't.
While we rave, during the press' over the top week of mourning about the wonderfulness of George HW Bush's "Greatest Generation", perhaps a more down to earth assessment that his generation knew about shared responsibility and shared pain, would be more useful to the young and sated. Not everything in life has a painless version made possible by an app or a twitter campaign.
16
@ondelette
"The same goes for simpleminded beliefs that all of the changes needed to produce a sustainable world will be good for business and can be done with no pain. They can't."
Actually, they can. I recommend reading "The Ecology of Commerce."
Unleaded regular costs the equivalent of $6.50/gal here in France. I’d like to see how Americans would accept that everyday reality.
That said, everyone here believes professional infiltrators have run away with the Gilets Jaunes movement. The local speed camera has been vandalized. It is said we, the common taxpayers, will get the bill.
6
@joymars, That is how much I payed for petrol living in the north of Scotland 20 years ago. One GBP per liter, when the pound was about 1.60 US $.
Our govt greatly subsidizes gas. If they did not mass chaos would ensue, immediately. Also, people could not afford to drive and show up to work. Therefore the economy would entirely collapse.
5
The person who chose the title is either not aware that it calls to mind a movie by René Clément, in which as Paris is about to be liberated, everyone wonders whether the Nazis will burn it down, or I do not get the joke. Are the yellow vests the Nazis? Is Mr Macron walking in the footseps or the Résistants? Is it war?
Mr Macron has axed jobs in vital public services, while spending for new carpet and plates in the Elysée palace. He says he wants to protect the environment but has taken few decisions that actually prove a real concern.
A lot of people voted for Macron because he had cleverly maneuvered so as to be facing Ms Le Pen. I did.
Mr Macron comes across as arrogant and condescending. He has obviously no idea of what it means to have to count every penny.
Of course, the yellow vest movement is dangerous. It has no leaders and, as a consequence, no experience of negotiation, but a lot of rage. This rage has some very real causes: aging doctors who are not replaced, closed hospitals and schools, while often paying more taxes than people in big cities.
If a war comparison were in order, it would have to be with Britain: politicians could emulate Churchill and King George, who led by example, stayed in London and participated in the war effort. There is no grandeur in Mr Macron I am afraid, only delusions of it. But there is no one better to take his place, so I hope he will work a little harder on his people's skills.
7
As a Frenchman living in Paris, several thoughts come to mind:
- this is very much a conflict originating in the smaller cities rather than in the main ones: as good as my example can be, I am still to see a single "Gilet jaune" in Paris while driving every day to work,
- what started as a ground-based protest has morphed into an agitated (by extreme left & extreme right militants, and "casseurs" aka hooligans) movement with conflicting agendas and demands,
- What is particularily complicated for the government is the absence of leaders to talk to,
- We are the most taxed people in OECD and yet, the only solution for politicians is to tax more... Hardly ever does anyone talks about reducing public spending (48% of our GDP)
13
A carbon tax is just moral preening from the left. Democrats should take note here. People only put up with so much nonsense from the government.
11
@M The thing is, here in America, the wealthy are not being taxed as much percentage wise as the middle class, and the middle class is slipping downward with no hope of improving. People in poverty are having to work 2 to 3 jobs just to survive. This creates an imbalance and an unsustainable system. If this dramatic imbalance continues, the US may find itself in the same circumstances as the French, with a revolution on our hands.
6
@Robin's Nest
How do more taxes and illegal immigrants help the middle class?
8
Since we know this movement has largely been born out of social media, why on earth does this editorial not ask about malicious actors on these platforms?
By now, it is clear that Russia is using social media to amplify social schisms to undermine a country's order and stability. It certainly seems likely that Russia would have an interest in seeing France, a NATO ally, and Macron in particular, weakened.
It is irresponsible that the editorial board wouldn't at least raise the question.
5
What was needed was a two pronged response. First, offer to hold talks with someone elected by the protesters themselves, once they actually define an agenda. At the same time, a strong police (and army if necessary) crackdown on anyone crossing the line from protest to violence.
This would show that the government is willing to talk, but is unwilling to be blackmailed into concessions.
4
French motorists are required to wear a yellow vest if they have to stop on the shoulder of a road; as such most motorists have them in their cars. They are not the uniform of rescue workers; they are the uniform of motorists.
.
One way to understand these protests is to understand working class people's attitude to climate change. The greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere are the result of an industrial society and economy that made some people rich, but not them. So they do not take kindly to the idea that "we all must sacrifice" to save the world. Au contraire! They feel that the rich who benefited most from the creation of those greenhouse gasses should be the ones who pay to solve the problem. Working class Americans feel the same way, as do poor countries vis-a-vis rich ones. Climate change is a by-product of the wealth-creating process of our industrial capitalist economy. Those who received most of the wealth will need to pay for most of the fix. So there had better be a check in the mail to balance the gas tax if you're going to raise the price to fill up. The working class would rather take their chances with climate change than pay to fix the problems that created another man's wealth.
9
Dang, the only two solutions with genuine power to move the needle on climate change seem to be off the table for most people. First is massive adoption of nuclear power. Second is pricing carbon at its true total cost.
3
@Don Happily you are mistaken. Read Project Drawdown by Paul Hawken.
It appears high taxes to make a "good" or "fair" society may not be the answer. And the notion that America should be more like Europe is as stupid as it was, when ever it was first suggested.
What if Europe became more like America? Before it becomes more like the Middle East.
Have Europeans ever asked themselves, "What would I do with all the money I earned?" If they haven't, they should.
7
What you fail to mention:
Macron was elected with 24% of the voting public and this was the lowest turnout in French history!
The first thing he did was thank his wealthy donors by abolishing the ISF (solidarity tax on wealth) and replace it with a tax on real estate, estimated at 3 to 4 billion Euros!
Then he added a 5 Euro tax to all habitation including students, and taxed the retired benefits.
He is arrogant and totally out of touch with the major portion of the French population that live on 650 to 1200 Euros a month.
His environmental policies are also lacking conviction. Just look at the Nicolas Hulot resignation!
The media that is behind Macron En Marche, all owned by $$$(Reporters without Borders…- “In France, 51% of the print and online media are controlled by companies from the financial and insurance services sector, which have created complex and opaque shareholding structures that make it hard to identify the final owner.”
Finally where do most people stay when they are in France? I’m sure it’s not in the North or regions like Creuse, otherwise there would be a real understanding of what is going on in France today.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/world/europe/france-yellow-vest-protests.html
PS The YELLOW represents a public that you never see, they are invisible to the politicians.
12
The social media fuelled sudden eruption of violent street protests in Paris though visibly against the fuel tax and the utility price increase yet are essentially rooted in the existential struggle of the common man forced by ever widening income and wealth disparities in society leading to the common perception of the unbridgeable gap between the prosperous elite and the paupersing masses. Thus even in the absence of representative leadership of the protesting Yellow Vest youth President Emmanuel Macron should try to reach the protesters through available political channels and assure such economic reforms that really are inclusive in nature and address the economic needs of the ommon man through creation of opportunities, jobs, and adequate income. In short there's need to establish communication, correct receptions about the governance, and improve the trust deficit with the people.
1
Vaguely reminescent of the occupy movement circa 2010. People are mad, and in many cases with good reason. But things never got past the “people are mad” stage, except a lot of the angry rhetoric got co-opted by Trump supporters in 2016, especially the word “elite” as insult.
And what a marvelous insult it is. Doesn’t matter if you’re billionaire. You call some economist or climatologist “elite,” siddenly they are villains and you are working class hero.
6
Some people have a special relations with Paris, I always did.
In my other life in a former USSR I went to special school in Kiev, it was French/Ukrainian kind of thing, had a private French teacher Mme Irene, singing Edith Piaf, being in love with Chanson generation and the rest...
French people just like us, all different. If you travel across the country it's a probably a sharp contrast from NY or Paris, even in New York if you happen to wonder to a different places, it could sometimes feel like a shock.
We all live in our bubbles.
Apparently no one yet invented the perfect system of Government. Protesters look across the pond at us, they are fearful of next trump.
I don't think it has something to do with jealousy, I think it has more to do with sense of justice and French people very attune to it.
In general, french people are much more democratic than americans. Sure they have their problems with the likes of LePen, who is probably could try again with her familiar Nationalist shtick, don't think she can succeed.
I understand their fear, since we're all fearing the same.
Youth in Europe should try harder to learn history, just like us here.
Willful forgetfulness or ignorance should not be an excuse.
3
The demonstrations in France just shows how the political elite distance itself every where from the ordinary people. Elected politicians need to listen to the masses who elected them. Populism is growing in the EU (Brexit, Italy, Hungary) here and in Latin America also. Climate change is important but the consequences of policies must be focused on the lives of ordinary people.
3
Its interesting how social media once the darling solution of liberals(remember the Arab Spring?) is now simply a tool of Putin and all things evil. The fact is these protests scare the NYTimes because they are a direct attack on a leader very similar to a Clinton or Obama in the US whose detachment from the people is blindingly obvious to everyone watching. Marine Le Pen may be no more of an answer than Trump but those leaders on the "goo d" side had better start listening and learning. And fast because people do not feel they are prospering in the western world.
11
Almost all of the citizens of Western Europe who can afford to own and maintain an automobile are members of the Global 1%. They need to own the responsibilities of that relatively affluent and comfortable status, instead of succumbing to self-indulgent petulance and faux leftism. Many of the wealthy of this gilded age still have a lot to answer for, but reducing petrol consumption is a burden that needs to be carried in common, on behalf of the commons. Pointing the finger upwards at the uberwealthy while denying the consequences of one's own material privilege is empty signifying, in this case.
That goes double- or maybe quadruple- for us, here in the Consumeropolis of the USA. The working and middle class citizenry here doesn't pitch street riots to protest carbon taxes, of course; as yet, the majority of Americans remain all too comfortably ensconced in the narrative of perpetually entitled cheap&easy consumerism purveyed by the commercial media and elected officials who follow the line of the lobbyists who fund them.
I don't know what it will take to wake a decisive number of the somnambulists out of their reverie. But time is running out.
1
I don't understand. Why is there resistance to the government in France? It's not like they have a Vichy government in power like we have in the US. Rather Macron represents the best of European ideals.
3
May '68 in Paris -- I was there -- began in exactly the same way as the Gilets Jaunes of today -- without leaders, without a top-down program. The first day began around noon with 20 to 30 students chased out of the Sorbonne by the police, ignoring an unwritten rule going back to the Middle Ages that the police could not enter the Sorbonne without being invited. That was at noon. By late afternoon there were tens of thousands of people on the streets of the Left Bank. A difference between then and now was that an impromptu and inexplicable joy prevailed that day and in the following three weeks that is missing in today's insurrection. But otherwise, no -- there were no leaders, no programs from political parties, scoffed at then as now. And the lack of support by the largest trade union was a deciding factor in May '68's failure to translate into something that lasted.
1
I don’t know enough about the precise French situation (unlike so many apparent experts here.) But California has a gas tax, albeit more moderate, has caused a lot of grumbling. Fuel tax is a basically a sales tax, and like all sales taxes it hits hardest those who can least afford it. It’s a blunt and dangerous policy too.
(Of course, conservatives seem perfectly happy to levy other forms of sales tax. These days, that includes tariffs. Champions of the people, or champions of the fossil fuel industry?)
3
"A relatively mild hike in fuel taxes" coming on the heels of "the replacement of a wealth tax with a less onerous tax on the real estate of the rich."
Now....through all the smoke and pontification, is it impossible for the Times to see the problem? Was it not the Times who railed against the Trump tax bill or Gary Barnett's buyers at One57 getting a break on real estate taxes?
The people suffering in France are earning less than $25,000 per year and run out of money at the end of every month while those in their palaces have their taxes lowered?
So, what's with the "move along, move along nothing to see here attitude?"
29
What we are witnessing is just the beginning of the rubber hitting the road phase of the "Global Warming" hysteria!
Nobe Prize winner, Frederich Hayak was remarkably prescient in warning that these things always proceed in three distinct phases, in his "Road to Serfdom" masterpiece (whose publication, by the way, was banned in Britain during WWII lest it offend Stalin's well known, delicate sensibilities).
The first phase is the professorial/expert/ bureaucrat phase during which our betters propose a solution to some imagined "crisis" that society faces and, from which, only those professorial/expert/bureaucrats will be able to save us and only if we gratefully accept their self-anointed "expert" prescriptions.
The second phase (which is occurring in Paris, even as we speak) is the rejection of that "expert" prescription by the very ungrateful people who those professorial/expert/bureaucrats wish to "save" and upon whose collective backs, the price for that prescribed "salvation" will be borne.
The third phase occurs when the disappointed professorial/expert/bureaucrats are replaced by the jackboots who will then ENSURE that the "medicine goes down" albeit sans any spoonful of sugar.
14
@vonmisian - A typically cartoonish summary of Hyek (you also misspelled both his first and last names).
Hayek was well aware that government intervention was sometimes necessary, say, to prevent monopolies. You avoid specific phrases by using the meaningless "these things" so as to prepare your slippery slope.
The experts weighing on man-made global warming are not "self-anointed," nor do most of them swan around as one's "betters". Their work proceeds through a painstaking process called the scientific method, which is constantly subject to peer-review and which produces revisions as necessary. The 97% of climate scientists who believe in man-made global warming know a lot more about this subject than economists do. Somebody in this debate is certainly on to something "imagined," but it isn't the scientists or the brighter politicians (and constituents).
Also, American conservatives of the Randian, Austria School-besotted variety have been warning for decades now of the "jackboots" who will swoop in any moment to cart you off to the gulag if we move to single-payer or establish a social security system, or provide state-run k-12, etc., etc. So, ummmm . . . where are they? Could this nonsense just be pseudo-philosophical wind meant to provide cover for the Wall St. grifters?
1
Telling France to support their unpopular. investment banker president is ironic considering the totality of the circumstances.
Don't be fooled by Macron's on again, off again anti-Trump rhetoric. He's an opportunist. In the other room, he is kissing up to Trump, MBS and the top 1% of France. Also, don't be fooled by regressive taxes masquerading as "saving the world". He's just raising revenue after his tax breaks for the rich.
13
Apparently the editors don't get it any more than the politicians.
"Another difference with past protests is the uprising itself. It began and swelled through social media, without organization or a definable agenda, a wave of anger that rapidly swept up grievances from low pay to frustration with politicians of all stripes and on to the disparate demands of groups like ambulance workers or students"
Definable agenda? What part of the fact people are tired of politicians and big money making life unfair by under-taxing the wealthy and putting the burden to the average working person is not clear?
Later there is a comment about "no mechanism for dialogue". Why do they need 'someone' to talk to? Is not the common man/woman good enough? Are they not clear in what the issues are?
Is no one but the working class listening?
21
The only thing saving us from this mess is the electoral college. Without it, elites from NY, DC and LA would be in perpetual control of the White House because those are the population centers.
Macron is learning the hard way that it is a mistake to ignore the ordinary folks. The Democrats in this country have not learned that lesson yet and are still pursuing a big city agenda, which does not play well outside a handful of rich blue cities.
34
@Asher B Well said!
8
@Asher B - So you think that a woman who got nearly 3 million more votes than Trump did so by ignoring "the ordinary folks?" I would love to point out the Orwellian irony of seeing the electoral college as "saving us from this mess" rather than the cause of it, but I think it will be lost on you.
As for those ordinary folks in France, what is going to happen to their rural jobs when it's finally too hot to grow wheat or grapes there? I bet their kids will wish their parents had voted for the "big city agenda."
It's the same old problem. The violence is the unfortunate result of a reaction of radicals of the right and or left catalyzed by a small element of disaffected anarchists with no particular political motivation other than to cause mayhem.
"Show a map of Russia to a German student and he will hand it back with corrections." The Times is omniscient.
2
What would Putin want? All of this.
The social-media fueled, self-righteous, angry mob is now tearing up democratic norms in France, too. It is an entirely insincere, self-serving narrative, that the poorest people are ‘hit the hardest’ by a fuel tax, no matter how high it is. I haven’t met a single person in my life who would truly depend on a car, and certainly not a ‘poor person’. There are far cheaper options for getting around. France has a very decent public transport system - if you must commute (you really don’t, just find an apartment close to where you work!), you should be using public transportation. If you need motorization for your business, it should be able to pay for it, or it is not worth pursuing anyway. This whole thing is not rational, but, like everything born from the internet, purely emotional. Due to the socio-emotional mechanisms of the internet, humanity as a whole is stuck in a state of adolescence that we need to overcome in order to tackle the various problems that our current way of life begets. We have to rise to a higher level of morality, too - to a level that knows the relinquishment of the empty promises of consumerism to ultimately enrich life, not spoil it.
2
@Sebastian
" I haven’t met a single person in my life who would truly depend on a car, and certainly not a ‘poor person’."
You clearly have never been to France and you are as out of touch with reality as Macron.
You live in Berlin, with a decent public transit system. France has great public transit in the larger cities, and between cities. That leaves out most of France, which depends on automobiles to get around.
I would suggest you look up "greenwashing" and "useful idiot", and then reflect before commenting once more.
18
@Andy I do live in Berlin now but have lived in tiny towns before, and for eight years lived very close to the French border, during which time I visited France regularly. I do know what I’m talking about. There is no good reason to own a car no matter where you live, I’m sorry. And just to add a (minor) point about logic/rational argumentation: I would look up “useful idiot” and then reflect on which interests my own position inherently serves, before reprimanding others and denying them the right to comment.
While public transportation is preferable, practically and in terms of cost, to a car in most really big cities of Europe, go a few miles outside those cities and public transportation is inconsistent. And, always very time consuming.
In the U.S., with cities spread out over large geographic areas, travel in a metropolitan area outside the central areas requires a car if you want to run errands and get to work and return home in the same day. New York City’s subway system is now unreliable to the point that people are taking Uber to get to work on time. And the subway/train system in New York City is far more expensive to maintain and expand than in Paris.
In the U.S., in cities of less than couple of million, and in small towns, one must own a car—especially if you have kids.
The rich, such as Macron, are so out of touch with the financial conditions of ordinary people it is shocking. In failing to sense what was happening with his own people he was run over by the wave of extreme discontent and desperation. Then he refused to respond to the first demonstration, then the second, and only when tourists’ Christmas in Paris was threatened with financial extinction did he respond. Macron’s approval rating is down to 26% and 78% of the populace approve of the demonstrations.
Say what you will, but sometimes you must break some eggs and cook your omelette on the hood of a burning car to get the government’s attention. Macron broke himself with his own arrogance.
4
This fuel tax increase is just another example of the toxic supply side economics that have infected most rich countries over the past four decades. Banking crisis?--protect the bankers and apply austerity measures. Climate change?--subsidize the polluters and charge a regressive fuel tax on people who have no other means of transport.
The Gilets Jaunes are just the opening salvo in what will be a protracted conflict between the people who have profited most from degrading the planet, and the people who are expected to foot the bill. 1980s solutions won't solve our 21st century problems.
16
Paris is always confusing to understand. Pleasant to visit, but extreme over reaction leads many to doubt the internal strength of the society. Tourists always visit the old sites, but there is an odd feel of anti Semitic behavior emerging in Paris. Not a surprise that there is so much discontent.
1
Every time I have been to Paris somebody is protesting, striking and marching about something or another.
While the French pretend to be liberal, open minded and tolerant the victims of white French supremacy offer a very different perspective. From Haiti to Vietnam to Algeria to Mali to Senegal to Louisiana to Vichy to Moscow to Versailles and the Bastille there is a broader human context and perspective.
Emanuel Macron is no Charlemagne nor Napoleon nor DeGaulle. And the sun has set on both the French and British Empires. There will be no guillotines.
While Germany must limit it's natural socioeconomic political educational demographic geographic scientific and technological advantages as the price of starting and losing two world wars.
With America retreating from the world white nationalist supremacist autocrats are rising to rule in Europe again. Having shed any Cold War pretense of any socioeconomic political disputes Europe has returned to it's ethnic sectarian roots as the basis for violent civil war insurrection and calls for revolution.
@Blackmamba Hmm...I thought a fuel tax might be involved too somehow?
5
The gilelt jaune are not only used by safety workers
Motorists in France have been required since 2008 to keep the reflective, high-visibility vests — "les gilets jaunes" in French — in their vehicles.
3
I’d like to point out that the yellow vest is not only for emergency workers. Every French driver is mandated by law, since 2008, to have at least one in their car. Thus, it’s originally of government intrusion in French men and women’s daily lives.
6
“But when the government tried to open talks, there was no one to talk to.“
Leaders know when, where, and who to talk to. Macron is not a leader. He is a self-styled ‘Jupiter.’ He’s an “ENArch” technocrat who thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room. Apparently, he’s never understood the old adage- If you think you’re the smartest guy in the room, you’re probably in the wrong room.
France just needs a real leader, one who listens to those he leads.
9
No, this is not what France or any other nation needs. Imposing taxes on energy consumption only harms the 90%, while the 10% continue to consume fossil fuels without care because they can afford it at any price. Its an idiotic idea, very much like the super stupid idea of increasing health insurance deductibles and co-pays so that the 90% stop consuming so much health care.
24
@Ann: Great analogy. These regressive policies are designed to protect those who can most afford to pay from taxes, while the rest of us are expected to compensate for their unwillingness to be taxed. The system has been set up to protect wealth, and exploit everyone else.
5
Emmanuel Macron: "Let them drive Teslas."
22
"The retreat is a dangerous gamble."
Why is that? Yes, generally governments prefer to pay lip service to the demands of the populace. But is it so anti-democratic to actually abide by their will? Or is it merely anti-capitalistic or anti-establishment to do so?
You claim, "A relatively mild hike in fuel taxes, intended to lower France’s carbon emissions".
Stated that way, it makes those darned French seem so unreasonable. But, when you consider that the French pay more than 95% of the rest of the world in gas prices - almost 7$ / gallon, you sort of understand their resentment. You phrase suggests the French as being anti-environmentalist. The French are extremely concerned about climate change and agree with a carbon tax. But a carbon tax on industry first and foremost. The French drive small fuel efficient cars - not gas guzzling SUV's and tend to walk much more than Americans. As such, they don't need an incentive to pollute less with cars - they already do.
Finally, you state, "But when the government tried to open talks, there was no one to talk to"
That's the crux of it, isn't it? With nobody on the other side to bribe, what can be done, other than to follow the will of the people? Anarchy - so very scary to the very top tier of society. The very people that continue to prosper when the rest flounder. Anarchism scares these people the most. The rest of us are starting to wonder it there isn't something of merit there to consider.
20
Once again social media strikes. And one has to ask how much of this is being manipulated by outside forces (or do even need to ask the question as this point?)
I was listening to an interview on french news of three participants in the riots, three buddies from outside Paris who decided to go there to participate in the protests and were arrested and now facing sentencing (up to 3 months hard time.) All three were in their early thirties with lower middle class jobs, and were terrified at the prospect of losing their job because of this, but most notably they weren't even sure why they showed up when asked.
Yes the French love to protest, and no one likes a new tax, but this is way over board and stinks of overt manipulation with protests spreading unorganized to high schools (by far the easiest of populations to manipulate via social media.)
Is social media the Achilles heel of modern democracies?
72
@M I was over in France this last spring with relatives. The older, rich generation love him because he gives them tax breaks and promises to fix the environmental issues. But, the young see no benefits for themselves........actually, they are watching them disappear. The up rise is justified..... just not well organized.
8
@Julie yes agree there are legitimate grievances, and I understand the many layers of French society, having grown up there. Protests like this are nothing new, but the way they are spreading and being flamed is, and it does raise a question of how easily liberal democracies can get manipulated via social media.
12
@M
Macron has done what he believes is the best for France. Can the same be said about Trump's "Tariffs"? No. He wrote I am the "Tariff Man", which I believe is his version of the "New Sheriff in Town", with a pistol on his hip. At least the masses are doing something, which is more than can be said for most people in this country. Violence is wrong, but action is healthy. We are incredibly fortunate in the US to have the right to vote. Far too many either take it for granted or (worse), don't even do so. Trump needs to be removed, but legally and in a non violent way. Go Mueller, and if he doesn't help, please vote Trump out of the White House.
6
I hope that the mass media will underline the fact that the original intention of pollution and carbon taxes was Not as 'additional' taxes. They were meant to be 'revenue neutral'.
Instead of taxing income and profits which benefit society, tax pollution and carbon emissions. Revenue collected is supposed to be used to reduce income taxes across the board.
But Governments are exploiting Climate Change to simply add more taxes.
6
"But when the government tried to open talks, there was no one to talk to."
This is because you cannot talk to a mob. And it isn't clear that you can ever give a mob what it wants, since there isn't any clear cohesive measurable issue at stake.
The French protesters are angry, in part, because the average monthly wage for the working class in France is 1,700 euros/month.
Raising the taxes on this salary is close to criminal. Forcing up the price of gasoline will make it even harder for these people to get to work to earn their inadequate salaries. Does this even make sense? This is a regressive tax in the purest sense of the word.
In addition, a recent article in the BBC pointed out: The tax would also raise €34bn ($39bn; £30bn), although according to news agency Reuters, just €7.2bn will go towards the environment.
So only 20% of the tax will be used to improve the environment, whatever that entails. Of course the reduction in the amount of driving will also improve the environment...but the working class will be hit the hardest.
And when the effects of global climate change begin to impact food production, we will see even more angry mobs, around the world.
Fasten your seat belts, the road ahead is very bumpy indeed.
84
If only 20% is going to the environment, then presumably the rest will go back to this same group of protesters through transfer payments. If that's the case, the tax is just sliding consumption preferences towards things like electric cars, which would be great given that France is nuclear powered.
3
@John McDavid
I hope you're right. And I'm all in favor of raising the price of gas, but it needs to be offset for those for whom a euro less here or there matters most, or else it really is regressive in many of the worst ways. Personally, I hope to see some OECD country with the guts to take the plunge on instituting a basic income framed as a prebate for rising costs due to punishingly high upstream taxes on the extractive energy sector. But I'm not holding my breath, and suspect @elained is probably right that things are going to get way worse before they get better.
3
@elained The tax is on deisel, not regular gas.
2
The root cause of the French protests stems from the citizens being outraged over President Macron’s high gas taxes. Dig deeper & we discover the riots are caused not just by a huge hike in fuel costs, but that the increase was due to a draconian increase in fuel taxes to reduce fossil fuel consumption in order to meet the Paris Climate Accord. Yet to fight climate change as many Democrats want that's exactly what we would have to do here. Obama’s former OMB director, Peter Orszag, told Congress that “price increases would be essential to the success of a cap and trade program. The majority of U.S. voters will never go for this. Period. Gas in France is about $6 a gallon. Can you imagine what would happen in the U.S. if a Democratic President imposed a $3 climate change gas tax? All this in an attempt to lower the temperature of the planet by 2 degrees over the next 100 years to see if it will alter the weather. This, even as every bit of evidence has concluded that China’s international coal plant construction alone makes that absurd goal a total impossibility. Pure insanity. France has one of the lowest carbon footprint for its electricity grid thanks to their nuclear power - so why go so hard on gasoline? Because the inmates are running the asylum, that's why. Inconvenient truth. When a government tries to enact a green tax to support carbon reduction when income inequality is increasing, people will react to their immediate situations without considering the future.
116
@ Bill Brown Your point about the political difficulty of gas taxes are well taken, but you are wrong to point to China’s coal consumption as a reason to do nothing about carbon emissions. China is a massive and diverse economy, and has done more than almost all other countries in expanding the affordability of renewable energy.
Yes, they struggle with ramping down coal consumption—Germany does too—but they are doing all the right things. Many of the planned coal plants will not get built, and the ones already built are not running at anywhere near full capacity. Just a year ago, the Chinese started the world’s largest carbon market, which will include coal-burning power plants.
The Chinese could have sat back and pointed to America’s much larger cumulative carbon emissions since 1850 and said “this is your problem to fix, your contribution is more than double ours,” but instead China invested in renewable energy R&D and started new industries that now drive decarbonization around the world.
Sorry, but pointing to China as an excuse for doing nothing is an outdated and inaccurate argument.
57
@Nick P
China currently outputs about twice as much CO2 as the US, has grown rapidly since the year 2000 and will certainly catch up with the US in historical cumulative emissions, it is just a question of when. Even if they cut their growth in emissions to zero tomorrow they will still be producing record high emissions for many years to come.
12
@Bill Brown, When one's immediate situation is to survive the day it is easy to lose focus on the future. A 50 cent per gallon tax increase is substantial for people living near the poverty line. In rural areas the mode of transportation by default is the car so this tax places an undue burden on these people.
12
Isn't it the government's obligation to talk to the people and know what they want and need rather than the people's obligation to talk to government? "There was no one to talk to." ? There is always someone to talk to.
9
This editorial is uncharacteristically out of touch with events and the mood on the ground. The violence seen in Paris last weekend is not caused by the usual vandals who show up at every demo. The press footage shows much larger crowds of mixed social backgounds who are mostly attacking symbols of wealth like banks and luxury shops. I am not saying that is a good thing, but the yellow vest movement is certainly not manufactured by social media. How and by whom it will be channeled remains to be seen, but it is really and truely born of genuine social suffering from the violence done to the middle and lower classes by Macron’s and past administrations’ brutal economic policies. I am surprised that a normally progressive paper would qualify extreme, crippling austerity as ‘needed reforms’.
I think many U.S. observers are deeply uncomfortable with volent forms of protest and a common knee-jerk reaction is to reject related demands out of hand. France, on the other hand, has insurrection as its national founding leitmotif, so street protests generally have more acceptance as a part of the political process. As for the threat to democracy, you have a point. Macron, like Trump, was fairly elected according to the agreed rules of governance. However, like Trump, Macron’s mandate is technically valid but morally weak. Only a fraction of his electors voted for him. Most were only voting against the far right candidate. He failed to judge the shaky ground he was on.
55
@JenInMontreal: You write "France, on the other hand, has insurrection as its national founding leitmotif, so street protests generally have more acceptance as a part of the political process."
Insurrection is part of the national founding myth here as well, but we need to remember it was a top-down insurrection driven by the upper-crust who were unhappy at the mother country cutting into their profits. So, while we pay lip-service to revolution, the central tenet was "Don't get in the way of my making a buck."
13
@JenInMontreal
Thanks for bringing up the massive role pure chance played in Macron's "landslide" win over a truly historically awful opponent. If the week leading up to the 1st round had gone differently, it could have been any combination of Le Pen, Melanchon, Macron, and Fillon duking it out, and there's very little chance any other matchup would have been nearly as favorable to Macron. The magnitude of his victory was an accident of history.
2
Who would have guessed a carbon tax would be an epic failure. How can the French not be on board with saving the planet?
2
@eddie We are already saving the planet compared to everyone else, and especially the US. THe French already have the smallest carbon footprint of all wealthy nations.
Btw, this is not a carbon tax, it is a greenwashing tax grab 80% of which will be spent on everything but the environment.
10
@eddie
The failure is on who they try to make pay the tax. Fuel in France is already ridiculously high - proof that French leadership has targeted the average folks for years. A carbon tax, levied against the companies that have both profited on the back of the environment and who have contributed to ruining it - that's where it ought to be levied. But in France as elsewhere - the very rich don't want to see their profits shrink. It's not the idea - it's the application.
21
Here’s a novel idea — impose the tax on the companies and people who have profited mightily for a long time from polluting the earth, creating climate change, and creating an economic and taxation system that benefits the corporate sector and the rich. Internalize these costs to those who created these problems. Seems simple.
7
Carbon taxes like the ones they imposed in France are a political loser. Politicians seem to need to learn this the hard way.
4
It looks like something the Russians cooked up.
2
I would like to suggest a reflection on the phrase said by Mr. Philippe and reported in the article: "It is the anger of the French who work and work hard but still have difficulties to make ends meet, that they find their backs against the wall". Let's try replacing the word "French" with "Italian" or "English" or "American" if you prefer. What do we get? Moviment Five Stars and League in Italy, Brexit in Great Britain and Mr. Trump in the USA. Or am I wrong? Best regards from Padua (still EU).
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@Flavius
Great pseudo.
Perhaps the only similarity is fatigue with double speaking greenwashing politicians.
3
Social media was hailed when the uprising was the Arab Spring but with the Yellow Jacket swarm, social media is the culprit. Guess the good of social media depends upon who or what is being fought or targeted. One group of oppressed is better than the other here with this. Why can't the French facilitate social media for their concern(s)? Exactly as people did in Egypt and elsewhere. The future of uprisings will always include the use of social media from here on in. I am only guessing it frightens or upsets the powers that be. It most certainly is a threat to the moneyed, power class.
Helps the peons organize and distribute the tumbrils better.
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Yellow vests used by the demonstrators are mandatory in any registered vehicle within EU. They are to be worn during emergency stops on highways, which is not a bad idea, especially at night or in reduced visibility conditions.
Your car cannot pass yearly inspection/cannot be registered if you don't have a yellow vest in the car together with the first aid kit. If you are stopped by police they can ticket you if you don't have it in the vehicle.
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@observer;
This yellow vest is a metaphor for the cascading indignities the French endure. I addition to the fog of radar that fines them for going 2-3 km. over a now lowered speed limit, there's also the the camera's that can tell if your seat belt is fastened and mail you the fine. There's a fine for not wearing "approved" gloves on a motorbike (but flip flops are OK), the onerous cost of getting a driving license, and on and on. None of this (small sample) is offensive but taken together presents a paternalistic oppression that finally became too much with a misguided fuel tax piled on top. I'm surprised it took this long to explode.
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"Mr. Macron, without much political experience...."
How can a child have much political experience?
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@george eliot Obama?
When I look at our 2016 election, Brexit and now France, I think of Russian interference. Remember the protest in Houston that was orchestrated online by Russian troll farms? I suspect this is the same thing. I would hope everyone would take a step back, and take a look into what is really going on, make logical decisions not emotional ones.
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@Missy you cant write off every expression of popular frustration as 'Russian Interference' if there is evidence in this case show it until then dismissing the protests just based on a red scare hunch is irresponsible and disrespectful to people who are suffering.
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Right because it's much easier to just imagine that the Russians are manipulating everything then to consider that there is a systemic problem in the world today.
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@James D I can if the "movement" started and spread online. Our own government won't take this seriously, and there are real consequences. All i say is take a step back and investigate. Most protests don't go violent so quickly.
Mainline parties, French and US, are parties of the rich; they haven't a clue anymore what the bulk of people need. US is just a plutocracy, that's why this isn't known. Very poor representation except for the rich.
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The subtitle of this article should replace "The popular yellow vest movement..." by "The POPULIST yellow vest movement..."
Are the Russians and their populist allies (e.g. Mme. Le Pen) involved in promoting the protests?
4
The French are not going to put up with it. Never have. Despite the screaming of the new far right in France, the country is a social democracy, with capital letters SD. We in the United States could learn a lot from them.
Instead we roll over for Trump.
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This was started by taxes viewed as regressive. It seems more like the "give a mouse a cookie" endgame of Bernie/social democracy politics than anything right wing.
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I conclude from your wise words that if liberal governments want to prevent that people with grievances "mobilize mass anger without any mechanism for dialogue or restraint", that they should make it the business of government to resolve those grievances. But president Macron prepared for the job by being a Hallmark investment banker, his deals served up to him by the elite of the elite; and once in power he devoted himself to elegant ceremonies such as only the French can pull off (what compares with the Palais de Versailles), and climate trendiness. Macron is the French rooster alright: a classy feathery bantamweight. Thank heavens the French political system is alive and well...and kicking. In the streets. Political leaders only respond to very energetic protest. Very few leaders in history acted out of love for their people, somehow power (and I guess the struggle to get it) makes them sensitive only to its inner workings: the intrigue, the luxury, the thrill of getting away with things (think of President Hollande, colourless except when it came to mistresses hidden from other mistresses). Hereditary leadership proved unworkable, now elected leadership is in crisis. I cannot imagine what comes next. Maybe leadership by lottery. Or what Occupy and the yellow vests are hankering after: anarchy. Ruled by Facebook. Help! I want to get off.
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We can now see the devastating impacts on the world as a result of the misguided policies of Obama, Merkel and now Macron regarding immigration & dystopian climate change policy. Europe is splintering. Merkel & Macron & Obama are political history. Right wing parties are winning all across Europe & Britain has chosen Brexit. The people in the streets are marching and the peasants have brought their pitchforks. Time for the Globalists & Elites to honker down in their plush security bunkers before we begin to see the excesses of the French Revolution.
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If people, including so-called progressive/elitist politicians, really care about curbing the devastating impact of global warming/climate change, why don’t they stop eating/producing meat since the global livestock industry creates more greenhouse gas emissions than all cars, planes, trains and ships combined?
Save Earth by eating fewer animals and more plants!
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Yeah, this isn't true. Agriculture accounted for 9% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2016. Transportation alone was 3x that.
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@John McDavid
Your statistics are rather misleading since they only represent U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. My comment was directed at global greenhouse gas emissions. Animal agriculture produces approximately 14.5% whereas transportation produces approximately 13%.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/world-on-a-plate/2013/sep/27/environment-food-ipcc-emissions-greenhouse-gas-livestock-vegetarian-meat
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@Zareen Most people I know don't eat meat. I not only haven't eaten a four legged animal in over 50 years, I also do my best (with a limited budget) to eat whole, local, seasonal and organic foods.
I haven't noticed that progressives own the agricultural and meat industries, or are in a position to change them other than with their purchases.
So, yes, eat less meat, eat whole foods, eat seasonal, eat local, but make a cogent argument!
How about subsidizing the electric vehicles to a degree that people stop buying gas / petrol driven vehicles over time. Once the battery prices drop, electric vehicle prices should drop. Not sure if carbon tax on fuel will help. People still wont be able to afford it. China has the right policy in this regard. I am holding off buying a new vehicle until I see cheaper/ more choices in the ev market...until then, please don’t raise my tax on fuel !
5
@vs: one idea might be to extend bus lines and trains to these small rural areas.
Another might to be push companies to let more workers telecommute, so they do not HAVE to drive into the city.
To get people to switch to electric vehicles (or hybrids, like the Prius)….how about tax credits and deductions?
If people could buy a Tesla (*are they sold in France?) for $75,000 BUT….deduct the cost from their taxes over a 5-6 year period….how many would happily do so? Perhaps with a government-backed "no downpayment" loan?
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, people!
Just taxing people and thinking "oh the stupid sheeple will just accept it"….is not going to work in today's economy.
1
“In the view of the demonstrators, Mr. Philippe and his boss heard their anger only when they started torching cars...” That's ACTUALLY what happened, from any view, not just from “the view of the protesters.”
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This regressive tax increase hits working class people and on the face of it, appears to be meant to balance out a tax cut to millionaires. Macron's environment minister resigned less than a month ago because Macron only pays lip service to the environment. Yet the NYT lends legitimacy to Macron's greenwashing. Then you have the temerity to pretend to know what France needs? What we don't need are uninformed opinions passing as advice.
Macron is a political amateur. He barely squeaked by a crew of pirates bent on pillaging and sinking France, and was only voted in because he faced a truly calamitous candidate, Marine Le Pen. Everyone gave him his chance, but it's now clear his legitimacy does not extend beyond his cult following of 22%, if that.
The French expect their President to represent ALL the people. Yet Macron has not hesitated to show his disdain at every turn to anyone in France who isn't already a millionaire. It's as if Mitt Romney was elected in the place of Barrack Obama. This greenwashing regressive tax grab was just the straw that broke the camel's back.
It is clear Americans are inured to Presidential stupidity and you'd consider Mitt an improvement over the current situation, but Macron's amateur hour is over in France. He's an insult to the majority of the French and he must go. It's up to him to decide whether he resigns or is dragged off his throne by a pitchfork carrying mob.
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Why on earth do wealthy, elite foreigners/non French citizens like the members of the NYT editorial board think they should be the ones deciding "what France needs"??
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@me “elite”
There goes that word again, aimed at anybody who disagrees with you, while draping yourself in the mantle of being a man of the people.
2
@me - NYT does it all the time. They love to lecture other countries because, you know, they belong to the exceptional USA.
11
@RB - Murphy's Law #5: Nothing is impossible to the man who doesn't have to do it himself.
7
Stereotype or not, this is a "dog bites man" story. People impacted by tax object to tax. People in France object through protest movements. Wherever there's a protest there will be hooligans. Opposition party will latch on to whatever the protesters' cause is reputed to be.
1
Yet again social media causes disruption and violence with no coherent goals and solutions because there is no leadership, just lots of people running wild. The Arab Spring that we all cheered on didn't turn out too well. It too was fomented by social media. Chaos and a worsening of Egyptian freedom is what remains, except maybe in Tunisia. All around the world false rumors are being spread that cause violence. Ya it's nice to keep up with your family and 5000 friends, but for me the cost of participating in the social media phenom is too great. I hate to see what is going on in the la belle France. I was happy to see Macron elected and I believe there would be serious consequences if he is forced from office with Marine LaPen waiting in the wings. Vive La France and the European Union too.
11
What the powers that be fail to realize, is that working people, those of us who twist the wrenches and push the paper, have had enough of being told by the owners of this society and their opportunistic minions, what we should or should not want, or what we have to tolerate. Trump is symotomatic of this in the United States. There are a good percentage of people who voted for him not because he would be good for America, but because he might monkey-wrench the system. As unthinkable às this might seem, there are those of us out here who hate and despise this system, and pray for it's inevitable implosion.
27
Waiting for implosion .... wonderful... NOT !
How about people devoting some time to civic engagement on a local level, voting in primaries and general elections for intelligent responsible candidates, stop encouraging ‘ populist ‘ frauds like Trump, and rejecting the politics of whine and finger pointing.
If you want a ‘system’ that addresses income inequality , education , transportation , tax reform , environmental conservation etc ... look around people !
There are candidates who are ready to work effectively on these issues ... they need support !
Whining on social media and burning cars will achieve nothing except open the door for extremist ideologues and authoritarians.
5
The reason for these riots was Macron's commitment to tackling climate change by raising the gas tax.
The French rejected this soundly. So did CA, peacefully.
Stopping climate change is like peace on earth: both are impossibilities.
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@R. R.
Eh--not true. We actually voted to keep the gas tax in Ca.
2
@R. R.
Don't be a dupe, get informed.
This is a greenwashing tax grab.
5
The problem with raising the gas tax is that it hits the poorest people the hardest. Rich people never worry about a couple of cents on a gallon. People in Paris most don't own cars.
The bigger issue is the tone deaf attitude of these governmental decrees. Here in Boston, the "powers that be" are talking about implementing a congestion tax on cars entering the city. This is always the first line of attack, raising taxes on the people who can least afford it. If France is serious about reducing carbon emissions, maybe the first thing they should do is talk to the people in the provinces who need their cars? Find out what could be done to reduce that need. If I need my car to go to work every day, and you raise my gas taxes, what am I supposed to do? Stop working? Go on Welfare? How about working with the EMPLOYERS to allow people to telecommute? How about implementing public transportation that is convenient and reliable for people. Do those things FIRST, so people have a chance to react to any tax increases with actual reductions in their driving habits.
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@MarkKA I lived in the Boston area for my first 46 years. I always took the T into town whenever possible - not because of congestion, but because parking cost and arm and a leg and the train trip to & from North Station and then the subway to where I wanted to go was cheaper than an hour's parking.
That said, I hear you. T access in the hinterlands outside 128 is, at best, spotty. I just happened to live about three miles from a train station in Rowley, so it was OK for me, but it really needs to be improved.
3
The violent opposition to a mild fuel tax increase demonstrates that the highly touted Paris Climate accord was always empty political rhetoric signifying nothing.
28
Perhaps leaders the world over, including the US, should began paying attention to the middle and lower classes and cease formulating policy that caters to the wealthiest.
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@caljn Not just catering to the wealthiest but actively undermining the working and middle class with mass migration that lowers their wages and increases social service costs they can't use the convoluted tax code to get out of paying.
8
Another commenter referred to Emmanuel Macron and his political colleagues at the top of French governance as "amateur politicians with no political clout or real legitimacy." Heavens, they were all voted into office democratically and seem to be pursuing agendas consonant with the programs on which they campaigned. What greater legitimacy is needed?
It seems to me that whatever remedy the French public demands is best sought through citizens' votes in the next election. Burning-up Paris is self-indulgently self-destructive, not to mention juvenile. It may feel good now but the damage wrought is deep and long term.
12
“All we are saying, is give Macron a chance!” As an American who believes that Trump has deliberately diminished democracy, I was exuberant when the French voted for Macron instead of the far right wing Marine Le Pen. With The crumbling of democracies worldwide, we need Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron as leaders in the EU, the last bastions of liberal democracies.
We all must remember that it was just a brief 70 years ago that Paris was burning under the Nazis and their collaborators.
We also must remember that Putin and other autocrats would love to see Macron out of office.
France is a beautiful country, and its revolutionary cry of liberty, equality, and fraternity are ideals to strive for, not to be confused with the utilitarian price of petrol.
Be blessed that you have Macron at the helm who is willing to listen and learn rather than Trump who blusters and belligerently blunders at the cost of the world’s economy and safety. Vive la France, but safeguard your leader, liberties, and lifestyle.
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@Ichabod Aikem "Be blessed that you have Macron at the helm who is willing to listen"...
Well, you obviously don't know much about Macron.
He is not the type of politician who "listens" to anybody. He is in fact an autocrat in a democratic system which grants too much power to the head of state when his or her party has a majority in the National Assembly. Above all, you are making a very typical mistake for a non-French person when you make a reference to the Révolution. There were in fact 2 revolutions : 1789 AND 1793. Then there was Bonaparte, gradually from 1797 until 1804-1815. Of course, Bonaparte styled himself as a democrat but was in practice a dictator. I can assure you that Macron and his inner circle belong to that very last brand. He is no liberal AT ALL (French or European version) and, for instance, is currently ("en douce" as we say in French) introducing a bill in Parliament that will kill many civil liberties and freedoms in court proceedings and the judiciary. I could give you many, many more examples.
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@Daniel
Thank you for your response. I was alluding to the Revolution of 1789. I would like to know your opinion of how France would be faring under Marine Le Pen had she won.
13
@Ichabod Aikem
well said ! Le pen was the other option with Mélenchon. It is quite a symbol to have seen both far right and far left activists fighting side by side among the yellow vest.
The movement got his Reason and Macron need to control much more his government (especially Philippe, Darmanin and Lemaire)
. The problem is that Bayrou has been forced to leave the government too soon. He's much needed into the coalition around Macron.
2
Alright but this op-ed, while it brings the American audience some measure of what is happening in France, does not go all the distance.
I am a Parisian and I can tell you that there are many French people who happen to live in big cities and who do not need a car (in France, distances are not like in the US) who do agree with the people who do need a car and can't stomach any further fuel tax increase (yes, we beat Sweden or Denmark as the EU state with the highest taxes).
What your piece fails to explain is the level of detestation and hate of many French people against people like Macron, his primer minister Edouard Philippe and also against former president Hollande. They are nothing more than "hauts fonctionnaires" turned amateur politicians with no political clout or real legitimacy, completely out of touch with everyday life, corrupted and entirely sold out to special interests. Macron and his staff full of self-serving "hauts fonctionnaires" have made an incalculable number of smaller or bigger mistakes which now coalesce in this explosion. Famed abroad, he is reviled in the country because the French resent any resurgence of monarchism or imperialism, the brand of domestic policies introduced by him.
Seek out the meaning of "pantouflage". Read the recently published book La Caste by Laurent Mauduit. Do your homework on how France really works.
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@Daniel
35 years ago I married into a French family. You may speak for yourself but your views are hardly representative of France as a whole.
7
@John lebaron Being elected does not automatically mean you are legitimate. I think you Americans currently have a head of state whose legitimacy remains in question for obvious reasons.
+ yes : Emmanuel Macron is an amateur. He has no political career behind him and famously said he was proud of it while on the campaign trail. Yes it enabled him to campaign as a newcomer. Yes it has to be recognized that being the president of the French Republic with absolutely no prior political experience was meant to be difficult, to say the least.
As for Emmanuel Macron's program or electoral platform, his was a pot-pourri of old promises that had never been implemented by anyone before him. He easily outperformed the other candidates only because the leading candidate François Fillon saw his candidacy marred by serious corruption allegations and because Marine Le Pen literally blew up her chances during the TV debate between the two rounds of the presidential election.
And not many people in France condone the destructions. I was born in Paris and am very worried but this is all Macron's fault. What people do agree with is the opposition to further tax increases and opposition to the fact that tax increases always affect the same ones and the less affluent ones. This is not very difficult to understand.
Finally as for French governance and democracy, why don't you buy a copy of La Caste by French journalist Laurent Mauduit (éditions La Découverte, september 2018) ? Just read it !
14
@William White:
It seems that the French populace are not as willing to surrender to their local petty bureaucrats as those bureaucrats historically have been to the neighbor with whom they share part of their eastern border. A great development for France!
2
As a protester said : "you're talking about the end of the world, I'm talking about the end of the month."
105
@Aronnax Thank you! This comment should be a NYT pick, imo.
9
@Aronnax Well said!!!
4
@me I absolutely agree ! ;)
3