An organic, leaderless protest movement with no clear ideology has emerged in France. I've been waiting for this since 2011. Let me explain the French Spring to you.
Firstly, why the colour yellow? In traditional French culture, yellow represents the Mediterranean regions of France which always felt oppressed by Paris. These protests represent ancient regional grievances.
Secondly, why the vests? In the French psyche, the lack of arms represents 'helplessness'. The protests are about marginalisation and the impotence felt by ordinary people.
A respected Lebanese anthropologist has studied the protests and concluded that the burning of cars represents 'anger'. These protesters appear to be unhappy about something, and it's more than just typical French grumpiness.
The best advice we can give the French is 'that's not really tabboulé, it's just a weird salad you call tabboulé'
In overturning cars the yellow vests are symbolically overturning the entire Cartesian premise of France. This is not merely against the authoritarian Macron but a revolt against the centuries old republican order.
Experts are already warning of a 'domino effect' leading the protests to spread from France to neighbouring countries. In all of this it's not clear how we in the East should respond, aside from calling on the French authorities to respect the right to protest.
Lastly, and I say this with supreme delight as a Middle Eastern person, it's clearly all about the oil.
Magnifique
Huh, looks like I accidentally hit on a truth there 
