Fed up and furious, the protesters fuelled by a class divide
Two very different Frances have come into a dramatic collision during the last 10 days, writes Paddy Agnew
WATCHING the “gilets jaunes” petrol protests the other day, I noticed that several of the protesters were carrying placards which read: “Ras-Le-Bol”. Now, when you make your first solo trip to France — in my case as a gawky 12-year-old — this is one of the first colloquial expressions you learn, an expression that may have escaped you in French class.
Basically, “Ras-Le-Bol” means “to be fed up” or “to have had enough”. And that folks, in one word, explains the genesis of the “gilets jaunes” protesters in their high-visibility safety jackets. As commentators and analysts attempt to explain the movement behind the protests which have sprung up all over France in the last 10 days (and again in Paris yesterday), everyone agrees on one thing, namely that this is a genuine, grassroots movement of thoroughly “fed up” people.
Where the protest goes from here and what its long term aims might be, at this stage, is not clear. The movement has no official leader, no national organisation, it is not run by any political party or trade union movement, of the left or the right — not yet, at least.
Essentially, this started in the summer as a motorists’ protest against rising petrol costs. In reality, it has become a spontaneous protest not just about petrol costs, but rather about wealth distribution and social justice under the government of 40-year-old President Emmanuel Macron.
The “gilets jaunes” have called for the resignation of President Macron. The fact that, according to opinion polls, some 77pc of the French approve of the “gilets jaunes” protests would suggest that this could yet be the biggest crisis faced by the young French President since his election in May 2017. Are the tumbrils, figuratively speaking of course, about to start rolling for the Macron regime?
French protest movements inevitably prompt memories of the 1789 revolution, with their echoes of class warfare. That point was underlined last week by Frank Buhler, a “prominent member” of the “gilets jaunes” and one with a past in the far right Rassemblement National of Marine Le Pen. Buhler told the BBC: “The French Revolution started with flour wars. For us it is fuel taxes...”
Buhler himself is an expression of the “gilets jaunes” experience in that many of his erstwhile comrades have completely disowned him, arguing that he is much too politically aligned, in his case on the right, to be a member of the movement.
Talk of the French revolution is obviously far-fetched but what is intriguingly clear, though, is that this has become a clash between two different “Frances”, between “haves” and “have-nots”, between a professional and business elite on the one hand (championed by Macron) and the impoverished middle classes on the other. It is also a clash between Paris and the suburbs and between Paris and rural regions. (Not for nothing, the protests have been nationwide)
Above all, though, it is a clear expression of resentment with central Macron government. Marcelle Padovani of Le Nouvel Observateur tells me that, amid the current confusion, one thing is clear, namely that Macron is “the symbol of a wider discontent”.
Padovani agrees that it is impossible to know where this movement will go, even if she suspects that it could yet be engulfed by Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (ex-FN). For the time being, though, this is a “Protest Movement” that belongs in the category of Podemos in Spain or the Five Star Movement in Italy, or even of those who voted “Leave” in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
For many protesters, Macron is the perfect expression of a professional elite that has thrived and prospered in times of globalisation, deregulation and technological transformation. He is the “President of the Rich”, the former Rothschild banker who burst on to the world stage last year to become the youngest ever French president. What is more, he did that after just four years in political life, one as a cabinet minister, winning against all the odds with his own self-made party, “En Marche”.
Macron has come a long way from his native Amiens, grafting and networking his way from the elite Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) to the Elysee Palace, with a short stop at Rothschild’s bank along the way. Whilst there, incidentally, he had an advisory hand in Nestle’s $12bn dollar acquisition of a unit from the US pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer in 2012, a job that reportedly earned him a million dollar bonus.
He is the guy voted into office by the elite and the environmentalist green bobos (bohemian bourgeois). The bobos live in metropolitan city centres and ride bikes. The “gilets jaunes”, who in many cases can no longer afford to live in those same city centres, need their cars to commute to work, and to hell with pollution.
The two worldviews clashed this week on the airwaves of TV France 2 when the former environmentalist Minister Nicolas Hulot went head to head with “gilets jaunes” supporter Benoit Julou. The activist called the former Minister “comic”, “far removed from reality” and “willing to see people die on the streets” for the sake of ecological principles.
To which Hulot replied: “Of course, we have got to be worried that people in France can make it to the end of the month, but we have also got to be worried about another issue at stake here — that is the end of the world, or at the very least the end of a peaceful world and that is no longer just a school hypothesis”.
Perhaps such apocalyptic talk is more rhetorical than real. In an email to the Sunday Independent, Yves Meny, Professor at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Paris and Emeritus Professor of the European University of Florence, argues that, while the “gilets jaunes” are thoroughly modern in their use of technology, there is also a deja vu aspect to their protest:
“The ‘deja vu’ aspect is rooted in the history of France and is related to resistance against a centralised power. It started during the Ancien Regime with the peasants’ revolts (the jacqueries) or local revolts directed against taxation and the vexing policies of the king’s representatives. One famous example is the 17 th century revolt in Brittany named “Les bonnets rouges” (The Red Caps).
Prof Meny also suggests that this French tradition of protest is a “normal way of doing politics”, adding: “Too often governments are blind and deaf vis a vis the claims from the social groups (or movements). Since the French revolution, groups are seen as contrary to the ‘public inter- est’ and to the sovereignty of the state.”
That version of “l’etat” has seen President Macron portrayed as an arrogant leader, out of touch with the daily economic struggles of the French. He infuriated many in September when he told an unemployed gardener that he could easily find a job if he would simply start looking in high-demand sectors like restaurants or construction.
“He is arrogant, he thinks he is great yet he is making mistakes all the time”, says Eusebio Val Mitjavila, Paris correspondent for Catalan daily, La Vanguardia, adding: “He is very bright but he has too high an opinion of himself ”.
Then, too, there were stories about a new swimming pool at the President’s summer residence and a €500,000 bill for new porcelain at the Elysee Palace. Hardly austerity husbandry although observers do point out that the crockery is ordered through a state-run factory while the swimming pool comes cheaper than the price of moving the whole presidential security machine to the beach.
Whatever about those explanations, one issue that has not been handled well were the allegations from daily Le Monde this summer that the president’s aide and bodyguard, Alexandre Benalla, had donned police gear (he is not a policeman) and then gone out to beat up protesters at a May Day rally. Despite footage of the incident, President Macron was at first silent on the matter before attempting to downplay it.
One major question remains. Will the “gilets jaunes” or indeed “I’affaire Benalla” call a halt to Emmanuel Macron’s ambitious gallop? With the EU currently rattled by both Brexit and the impending retirement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, there have been signs that Mr. Macron will attempt to grasp the EU helm. Tear gas, riots and citizens out in the streets all across your nation calling for your resignation might just ruin those plans.
‘He is arrogant, he thinks he is great yet he makes mistakes all the time’