Is the Yellow Jacket movement the beginning of something bigger?

Here in France there is a feeling like something important is happening and despite the mainstream assumption this will all just blow over as it has done in the past, the movement is growing at a shocking pace and is not (as advertised) just at the weekends or in pockets of the country. Now the blockades are all over France and they are 24/7.

Even here in the South next to the Spanish boarder we are no longer able to get onto the motorway at Perpignan. I was able to shoot this image from the car on Friday when we first learned this to be the case.

no way out

The motorway route to our nearest boarder crossing with Spain has been blocked so if you want to get in and out of the country across the Pyrenees Mountains, it is by the smaller roads only. We know this because one of our neighbours goes daily to the boarder blockade and tells us it is manned day and night, permitting no one to pass.

We are told that 90% of the motorway speed cameras have been disabled and toll stations which would normally be collecting road tax have been shut by the yellow jackets so that the French can now drive these motorways without paying, sending a very clear message to their government.

pass for free  

The media paradox

The mainstream media in France is not reporting on how widespread this has become in an attempt to prevent others from joining. They are instead focusing on all the violence in the cities, telling us that it is being instigated by far right activists. This however is simply not the case. The core of the movement is the white working class, normal every day people like you and me for whom it is not about being left or right wing. It is not even about fuel taxes! It is about something much bigger... something which 99% of the world are feeling as each year it becomes harder and harder to make ends meet.

The French people are not persuaded by their media any more because now they have social media which provides hundreds of independent sources which contradict the mainstream rhetoric.

As a reaction to this yesterday they surrounded a media building in Paris and tried to set it alight, specifically because they are standing against this kind of disinformation, along with a long list of other issues, one of which is the fuel taxes.

If only they could!

The message of the man above is spot on but likely to fall upon deaf ears while people are taking to the streets because they can barely afford food.

Some independent reporters are telling us that it is the police who are inciting the violence with their stun grenades, rubber bullets & tear gas, in some cases cordoning people into areas from which they cannot escape the gas.

Other reporters have provided video evidence of police taking their helmets off to show they have no intention of attacking and the word on the street is that should the military be called upon here, there is a good chance they will simply refuse, not wanting to go to war with their own people.

But where would we go from here?

with us or against us?

What is the rest of the world learning from this?

The French have shown what happens when a large number of people stand up at the same time with the intention of disrupting the system. Even with no leader they are highly effective at achieving their goal. The interesting thing about the way in which they are disrupting the system is that the people themselves don't seem to mind. Almost every car I see on the roads here has a yellow jacket proudly displayed on the dashboard as a mark of respect to those on the 'front line' and they are more than happy to find an alternative route in the name of liberty.

What these disruptions ultimately mean is a steady decline in productivity from across the country bringing the wheels of the great financial machine to a halt, forcing a response from their president. Exactly how that response manifests is yet to be seen.

This morning France's finance minister warned of the catastrophic effects on the economy and the evidence of this is already clear in some of our local shops who have been unable to re-stock.

This is a shot from Paris this morning.

paris damage

Macron is blaming Trump and the effects of social media algorithms for stirring up all this trouble while the French public are laughing at such suggestions.

Trump on the other hand seems to be quite enjoying this.

Trump loves France

The French president is due to give a speech to his nation at 8pm tonight but now that the yellow jacket fever has spread to Belgium & Netherlands it feels like no amount of words will be able to stop this movement from growing further, possibly even beyond the boundaries of Europe.