Paris Riots

looks like its from a movie..

 

"Evoking the spirit of 1968, university activism there has re-embraced its militant roots in the wake of strongman Emmanuel Macron’s rise to power. Students have resisted the Macronian austerity agenda by blockading entire campuses, battling university-contracted fascist militias, and even initiating disruptive nationwide strikes alongside left-wing trade-unions. As the low cost and open-access principles of French higher education dissolve, so does complacency among the working-class students caught in the crosshairs.

In a serious blow to Macron’s flailing bid to tame the crisis, France’s future — its youth — blockaded up to 300 middle and high schools in a week-long stand-off with riot police. In addition to airing their concerns over Macron’s unpopular changes to Baccalaureate exams, these young militants publicly echoed the tax, wage, and labor-related concerns fueling the larger public’s growing resentment of the Macronian project.

The birth of France’s Yellow Vest struggle has given further lifeblood to militant university activism against state repression. When the self-styled emperor Macron acceded to Yellow Vest tax demands in an attempt to curb wide-scale rioting, he effectively confirmed that large-scale direct action is an effective means of putting the brakes on his maniacal drive to starve and kill off the working class.

Emboldened by this historic capitulation, the Yellow Vests have embraced a revolutionary agenda that rejects the regime’s rotten olive branches. Beginning on December 7th, Parisian students flooded the streets to support what was dubbed the Yellow Vest Movement’s “Act IV” — a new phase of mass mobilization that demands the collapse of both the French state and the entire capitalist oligarchy that underpins it.

The Yellow Vest struggle and its powerful student vanguard have reintroduced both quiet whispers and public howlings of revolution to French public discourse, reifying the souls of the Paris Commune martyrs who were murdered by imperialist foot-soldiers as they fought to save their anti-capitalist social order.147 years after the Paris Commune massacre and 60 years after the establishment of France’s fifth post-royalist governance system, some Yellow Vests have pledged to remain on the streets until a Sixth Republic is born — one that is truly free from the all-encompassing terror of the neoliberal state." - Macron Must Go

 

Lets see https://www.google.com/search?q=yellow+vest Click on news ...


Its still going strong. I like their theme protesting cost of living and not taken over by a political party yet .

 

Eh. They'll probably wave the white flag soon. If history is anything to go by.

 

Well they only did that in 1968 because the communist party co-opted them and sold them out.

 

It took George W seven years to hit an 18% approval rating.
Macron managed to do it in less than 2.

 

CrimethInc. : The Yellow Vest Movement: Showdown with the State : Reports from the Clashes in Paris, around France, and across Europe

Although divided as to how to relate to the movement, anarchists and other autonomous rebels chose to get involved in order to confront fascist and authoritarian tendencies from within, undermine the legitimacy of the authorities, and reorient the movement towards more systemic solutions. These efforts bore fruit: fascists have been driven out of demonstrations; anti-capitalist and anti-fascist blocs have marched together in Paris; new connections have arisen between anarchists, autonomists, and other yellow vesters, not to mention rail workers, students, and those who live on the margins of the metropolis; demonstrators have attacked manifestations of capitalism and the state with increasing frequency; slogans from the protests against the Loi Travail and other radical movements have spread among the protesters. Yet the outcome of the yellow vest movement might still benefit any number of different groups, including the far right.

Macron’s government has repeatedly attempted to establish dialogue with the spokespersons of the yellow vests. All these attempts have failed. The majority of the movement has refused any negotiation with officials and seems to reject the political system as a whole—this is why it has been successful in compelling Macron to promise concessions. At the same time, leftist populists and far-right nationalists are poised to cash in on the crisis it has created.

The tension is still mounting in France. For two weeks now, students have been blockading schools and universities to protest against education reforms; meanwhile, trade unions joined the yellow vest movement last weekend, as did other economic sectors. The government is desperately seeking a way to resolve the situation as the Christmas holidays approach. Hoping to avoid a fifth act in the conflict, on December 10, President Macron promised to grant many of the protesters’ demands. Yet the story isn’t over.



There have been copycat actions on three continents now, though it does not appear that the yellow vest movement is about to spread worldwide. France has been somewhat out of step with the rhythms of the rest of the world—a wave of riots broke out in France in 2005, years ahead of the Greek insurrection of 2008, but nothing like the Occupy movement occurred there until Nuit Debout in 2016. Still, the yellow vest movement may offer some hints as to what the next global wave of protest will look like. If what is happening in France is any indication, we can anticipate a new round of uprisings catalyzed by economic desperation, involving a wide range of participants and ideologies—who clash with each other just as fiercely as with the authorities.

 

CrimethInc. : How the Yellow Vest Movement Survived into 2019 : A Chronicle from December 8, 2018 to January 5, 2019

CrimethInc. : Between the Reaction and the Referendum : Nationalism and Direct Democracy in the Yellow Vest Movement

 

• Yellow Vestiges: Inside the Riots of March 16th

• Paris is Ours

• The People are Constrained to Respond to the Violence