Some thoughts after spending time with gilets jaunes on roundabouts & toll-booth barricades in the south west and also from spending time with gilets jaunes from the north east 1/10
Some in Paris have suggested all gilets jaunes are driven by fake-news and conspiracy theories on Facebook, & are somehow uneducated. That was not what I found and it would be a mistake to think that… 2/10
I met people who had in the past run their own small companies (building/maintenance), some who worked in the public sector (school assistants, nurses), or who were self-employed or skilled...3/10
They knew the tax system inside out, they had been paying in as bosses and workers, there was a sophisticated level of political debate and an exasperation. A few had voted Macron and were disappointed… 4/10
There was big range of political views on the same barricade – from leftwingers and ecologists opposed to nationalism, to people who had voted for nationalism in the form of Marine Le Pen... 5/10
All said they were united in fury at Macron’s way of running France – what they called his top-down approach cut off from ordinary people’s experiences. Everyone could angrily quote examples of Macron’s “arrogance”... 6/10
At barricades, people felt Macron was presenting himself abroad as a progressive “saviour” of France & Europe in the face of nationalism and populism, but they said at home he was alienating so many people that he was pushing people towards populism...7/10
People felt their taxes were not being properly spent, that there was waste and the state was using taxpayers’ money to prop up the lifestyles of the political elite. People wanted more and better public services...8/10
Many said they were angry with the European Union, that it costs too much, that it promoted capitalism and inequality and a cosy political elite, that it didn’t protect workers...9/10
The people I spoke to said the daily protests across France – at roundabouts, on toll-booths — would continue. They felt the gov hadn’t helped. “It’s too late for small measures” said one...10/10
