What is the Parisian Maidan?

Recently, Macron began to demonstrate excessive autonomy from Washington. Is that the reason? The fight against rising gasoline prices or something more? So you can formulate the main question of what is happening in France in connection with the protests of the "yellow vests". And on December 1 - the day when the unrest sharply intensified - put the question squarely, reports fox news live stream free.

For a month now France has been shaken by protests - and this is not something unique for this rebellious and freedom-loving country. Another thing is interesting: the motivation of the protesters, their slogans and demands, composition and leaders. On the basis of all this, it is quite possible to conclude that the “yellow vests” carry something unusual compared to the protest actions typical for France.

Let's start with the fact that in France there is a strong trade union movement. Bringing hundreds of thousands of disgruntled workers to the streets, stopping the movement throughout the country with a strike of railway workers or pilots - this is in the nature of things. But here we come to the first nuance: “yellow vests” is not a trade union movement. Moreover, it cannot even be interpreted as a protest by professional drivers and car owners who are threatened with rising fuel prices.

It is clearly seen that there are no long-distance drivers or taxi drivers in the front ranks of the protesters, but very young guys (and, not least, many girls) who almost certainly belong to schoolchildren and students.

The reason for the protests is some kind of ridiculous. Yes, Macron raised taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel for environmental reasons, but this did not cause any sharp jump in fuel prices. Not to be unfounded, we turn to the comparative table of gas prices in all European countries.

Amazing, right? The price of gasoline in France has decreased recently, and amounts to 1.47 euros per liter, which is no higher than in neighboring countries - Germany, Switzerland, and in Italy gasoline costs just 1.61 euros. And what - for this reason, already MONTH some very motivated young people do not stop the violence all over the country, dozens of cars burn, build barricades, throw stones at special forces, stand under water cannons in the winter and are not afraid to get into the police by the hundreds?

Of course not. Just for some reason this does not focus on most of our media.

The first and main requirement of the pique "vests" now is "Macron resigned!". The complete list of their desires goes far beyond the boundaries of the price of gas: the increase in the minimum pension to 1,200 euros, the minimum wage to 1,300, limit the maximum salary to 15,000 euros, return energy companies to state control, lower the retirement age, increase army financing, police and courts, and for some reason - psychiatry. All together it looks extremely confused and dissimilar, and it is completely unclear how to conduct a dialogue with the protesters on this fantastic platform in general?

But maybe this is the whole point: to fill the protest with aggressive, but completely non-specific content, obviously impracticable, but catchy, populist and sympathetic to the masses? Apparently, it is.

“Yellow vests” have no key figures, there is no leader with whom it would be possible to responsibly discuss a number of concessions or reforms. Protest faceless and uncompromising.

And one can not say that it is extremely reminiscent of what happened in France 50 years ago - the “red May” of 1968, which de Gaulle resigned. Apparently, in the French soul there is a trigger that can be activated using beautiful words like “freedom, equality and fraternity” or even “Be realistic, demand the impossible!” - and the Frenchman is ready to run headlong in the direction of the barricades. However, it is much more symptomatic that the Saturday protests were held in the absence of Macron, who flew away to Argentina. That was exactly how the 68th of May passed - without de Gaulle, who was now in Iran, then in Romania. He returned - and the country is unrecognizable.Making a fire in the house when the elders went away on business - this similarity of childish behavior can be seen with the naked eye.

Our site has already written that the whole of such a revolutionary and anti-bourgeois “red May” played into the hands of the United States, which began to tire of the extremely independent French leader. Maybe this is the case now?

Recently, Macron began to demonstrate excessive autonomy from Washington. He angrily says that France is not a vassal of the United States: “The United States is our ally, this is the history of our relations, and we will always remain allies. We were together, when it was hard for us, we were together at the most difficult moments of history. But being an ally does not mean accepting a vassal position. In order not to be a vassal of the United States, it is necessary not to depend on America in a number of positions, but to preserve the sovereignty and identity of both the French and the Europeans”.

Or he comes up with proposals to create a single European army as opposed to NATO with a very clear goal: “When I look at the modern world, I see an increasingly divided Europe. When I look at the modern world, I see new authoritarian governments emerging on the borders of Europe that are arming. We are faced with many attempts to interfere in our cyberspace and our democracy. We must protect ourselves from China, Russia, and even the United States. ” Yes, of course, it is China and Russia that most threaten France ...

All in all, this does not look like a real attempt to overthrow the current French president, but as a completely expressive “message” to him to be more moderate in his “Napoleonic plans”. Will Macron catch the hint or ignore him? So far it seems that the second, judging by his harsh reaction to the protests and the promise to punish the rioters - until the introduction of the State of Emergency. What then will follow as the “second stage” of the pressure strategy?

P.S. It is noteworthy that the French intellectual elites, in particular, those who were professional “revolutionaries”, appreciated the seriousness of the situation as well as the most sensitive indicator, as far as revolutions and coups beyond their own country were concerned. So Bernard-Henri Levy, a friend of Bosnian Muslims, Mikhail Saakashvili, a fighter against the regimes of Gaddafi and Bashar Assad, as well as a fiery speaker from Euromaidan stage - suddenly all of a sudden signed up as a guard and called on all protesters to leave the streets. Is it not because the most experienced eye of a specialist, who saw a dozen "Maidan" and coups, saw the characteristic "signs of the end" in what was happening and sincerely frightened for their own home and life?