Paris has not seen such protests in decades. Yellow vests seem to have overrun the main boulevards of the most famous city in the world. What began as a protest against a proposed hike in the price of diesel has now snowballed into a general protest against the failure of the Emmanuel Macron government to address a whole host of grievances. Yellow vests — the name comes from the vests mandatorily kept in all private vehicles in France — first gathered in an impromptu protest on a mid-November Saturday. They had no leader, no organisation, political or social, and responded to calls on social media. It was a motley crowd from rural and semi-rural areas with a shared grievance against proposed hike of 6.5 cents in the price of a gallon of diesel and 2.9 per cent in the price of a gallon of petrol, to be effective from January 1. Already, the price of diesel had gone up by 23 per cent in the last one year. Diesel is the main fuel for the ordinary French.
Rising fuel prices hurt especially when the incomes were stagnant while urban-centric elites cornered most benefits of economic growth. The French had elected Macron with great hopes. The 39-year-old professional economist, who had earlier served as finance minister in a Socialist Party government, had floated his own party on the eve of the presidential election and surprised everyone by defeating the long-entrenched establishment candidates. But on taking office in May last year, he disappointed the working class, reducing corporate taxes and undertaking much-needed labour reforms. Both decisions were unpopular, reducing his popularity ratings sharply. But reforming the economic and welfare system remained high on his agenda, especially when France spends an inordinately high proportion of its budget on providing various welfare schemes. Raising fuel prices in the wake of the higher global prices of crude oil was the obvious course of action.
However, the middle and poorer sections, already suffering from an economic slowdown, baulked at the proposed hike in diesel prices. On Saturday, November 17, when Macron was away for an international meet, protesters erupted in their tens of thousands, indulging in rioting, arson and general hooliganism. Several shops were vandalised, others looted, a number of vehicles were set on fire. The world famous avenue, Champs-Elysees, had become a battleground, with the police firing teargas shells at the rioting mobs who regrouped to throw missiles at them. Despite the protest, the Macron administration stood firm, not ready to roll back the proposed hike. On his return from abroad, Macron surveyed the destruction wrought by the yellow vests but still seemed unready to yield. However, when the protests showed no signs of ebbing, the French president who had put up a show of firmness, conceded — the proposed hike would be put off for at least six months.
Hoping that the yellow vests were now sufficiently mollified to return home, however, did not materialise. Having tasted blood, now they expanded the charter of demands, seeking the resignation of Macron as president. Other demands included a revision in pensions, higher wages, lower taxes, etc. Apparently, extremists from both the right and the left had intruded the protests and were blamed for the widespread violence. Despite the fuel hike being put off, the following Saturday protests continued, with tens of thousands marching menacingly on the Champs-Elysees and indulging in rioting and looting. Over a thousand protesters were taken in custody, several people, including the police, suffered injuries. This now forced Macron to treat it as a serious crisis for his government. He was to meet leaders of the trade unions and employers’ organisation on Monday before addressing the nation later in the evening. As a French minister said, this was a crisis both for the government and the French society.
Social unrest fuelled by stagnant incomes and rising costs has hit most people in the advances countries. But in the case of France, the relaxed labour laws and a very high outgo on welfare payouts have made the task of the economic reforms far more urgent. At a time when Angela Merkel has announced her decision to quit as German Chancellor in 2021, and Donald Trump has no interest in leading the western alliance, Merkel had fancied his chances of stepping into the vacuum. The unrest at home seems to have diminished his stock worldwide. Meanwhile, the sharp put-down by the French Foreign Minister of Trump was well deserved. The US president had tweeted that France was paying for its folly for signing the 2015 climate treaty and that the protesters were raising ‘We Want Trump’ slogans. The French minister told him to mind his own business and to leave France well alone. By the way, as usual, Trump was wrong. No shouted pro-Trump slogans.
