In recent weeks, France has witnessed an unprecedented mobilization in the country’s recent history. Thousands of people in many parts of the territory are expressing their anger at the measures put in place by Emmanuel Macron’s government.
At the dawn of a new call for yellow vests to be demonstrated, the tension is at maximum level, and it is impossible to predict today what the outcome of this situation will be.
“Macron is like a deaf wall”
The head of state announced at the end of last week that he would address the people of France on Tuesday, November 27, during a long-planned intervention to present the PEP (Pluriannual Energy Plan), but it was only in the second part of his speech that he announced he would stay on course. This gesture was received by the yellow vests as an act of contempt and arrogance. One of the spokespersons for the movement who spoke following his intervention said: “Macron is like a deaf wall. He shows a great lack of empathy towards the French people.”
Not surprisingly, as early as Tuesday evening, the yellow vests called for two new massive mobilizations in Paris, the first on Saturday, December 1, and the second on Saturday, December 8.
Despite a slowdown in demonstrations in mid-week, the popularity of the yellow vests’ action is at its highest. According to an Elabe survey, about 75% of French people support this movement.
The malaise at the heart of the elite
Since the beginning of the movement, organisations, political parties and journalists have not known where to start. Any attempt at takeover is immediately rejected by the yellow vests. They express great mistrust of elites and want fundamental changes in the system. Their demands are diverse and varied, and go far beyond the simple abolition of fuel taxes. These include: abolition of the Senate, significant reduction in the salaries of government members, enactment of laws by citizens themselves, increase in pensions, etc.
Not having wished to propose concrete answers to the demands expressed at the beginning of the movement, the government is now facing a much more difficult situation. And the situation is all the more serious as the dialogue between the two sides seems to be deteriorating day by day.
On TV sets, journalists, politicians and experts are constantly debating the origin of this “crisis” and possible ways out. There is a great cacophony and deep unease in the media in general, and this seems quite normal, because as Einstein said: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”. So maybe it’s time to listen to the yellow vests and imagine creative solutions that take into account other forms of thinking.
