Protests Continuing in the Street of France While a Unified Europe is Reeling in Paris
By Mohamed Masharqa
Translated by the Centre for Arab Progress
After a thirteen-minute grim toned speech, the president of France addressed his people. He acknowledged the anger of the people and understood the reasons of the protests, and declared increasing the minimum wage to be paid by the government and not by the employers. Furthermore, he cancelled the tax that angered the retired population in particular. He also pledged to work closely with the many angry mayors who had their budgets reduced. Simultaneously, he refused to return the Wealth Tax for the rich, which was a key request from the ongoing protesters since November 17. What Macron considered as concessions was described by the spokespersons of “the Yellow Jackets” as a new bluff that does not resolve the deteriorating economic situation.
Moreover, the professional trade unions, political and student unions renewed their persistence on continuing the protests and escalated their demands for overthrowing all the French political institutions such as the presidency, government, and parliament. For revoking the increase of the taxes on petroleum products could not dispel the crisis, instead it attracted new professional groups such as the environmentalists and the students who demand a change in the examination system. The leaders of various trade unions have also returned, at the same time surpassing the spontaneity and strength of the protesters of the “yellow jacket”, in an attempt to lead the protests for a new series of strikes and demands.
In recent weeks, it is noteworthy that the new anti-political attitudes expressed by the spontaneous protesters were expressed through populist slogans. What was recorded by the international agencies was one of the protesters exclaiming, “You are no longer needed”, referring to the entire French political class, left, right and middle.
It seems that such testimonies are now widely echoed by a large number of the French population. The latest opinion polls indicates that 72% of the French people support the protesters. Contrastingly, there has been a significant decrease in popularity for President Macron to be below 20%, which is a clear indication that his economic concessions has not improved his popularity, but rather worsened the predicament. This president who was always regarded as a moderate leader and was referred to by the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker as the “Glimmer of Hope” and also described by the former British Chancellor George Osborne as “what France needs” is currently in hot water.
What distinguishes the French protests and demands is not their political demands, but also how they intersect with the movements in the European continent, characterized by its populist leftists and rightist character. Furthermore, it is evident that they have lost their trust and confidence in the European political system. Here one can pick up on the answers provided by one of the “yellow jacket” media spokesperson when asked about their legitimacy and representation, as she said “I have 2 million likes on Facebook”. This was said as though it was more important than any corrupt parliamentarian in the national assembly. The significance of this answer has deep ramifications, for we are faced with a clear opposition towards representative democracy and moving towards a more direct democracy. Moreover, we are witnessing a disbelief in the institutions which are disconnected from the voters and alternatively favour the interests of public relations companies, media, and investors.
The other new aspect is the decline of the status of the ideological parties that have lead Europe in the post-World War II period. Perhaps Macron’s party slogan of the “Republic Forward” is an expression of the transformations that the old continent is undergoing. For they have clambered on the wrecks of the prestigious French parties such as the Socialist Party, and synthesized a populist class of the young generation of university student and professionals who hope for purging the archaic French politicians.
Today Macron is drinking from the same cup sipped by the others, as he incorrectly understood the popular mandate of the elections giving him powers and hastily constructed a party with a parliamentary majority. He opted to disregard that the majority of the votes came from their mere rejection of his contender from the right wing nationalist party Mary Lupine, and that they did not vote for his persona or election program. Macron’s problem is no longer about the diminishing impoverished Parisian middle class, but with French countryside and suburbs who were directly impacted by government austerity policies and reduced budgets which included the closure of schools, hospitals, rural courts, and reduced railways services. What worries Macron and the whole French political class is that the new wave of protesters, who won the hearts and minds of the French people, have no clear ideology or philosophy. Further, these protesters have no real framework of organization in accordance to the known party rules.
Rather, they are unified by the common sentiments of disappointment from the political policies and promises which has only increased their poverty and unemployment. The commonality between the protesters is the anger, and the shared emotions expressed through the social media outlets and creating new identity in a world where the role of the unions and centralized parties is diminishing.
Consequently, the image of old Europe is noticeably changing rapidly, and the popularity of Trump is currently the virus sweeping the world, which is grounded on a looming economic crisis. Its impact is surpassing what happened a decade ago when the major financial institutions failed. Now what is being interrogated is globalization, the economy of the open market, and political and economic neoliberalism. It is currently leading to suspecting the necessities of the Cold War which resulted in the fall of the socialist camp. The matter is also related to the regional organizations, the military alliances, the free trade agreements, the climate change, and even the United Nations and its institutions. The USA during the Trump era will no longer freely carry on its back countries, alliances, and organizations.
France with the leadership of Macron will not return to what it was before the ongoing populist demonstrations. It can no longer embody the image of a unified Europe led by the French-German camp. Nor can the awaited successor to the Chancellor, who will replace Merkel as the leader of the Christian Democrats party, save the European unity which is bombarded with populist nationalism. This populist nationalism is overrunning the center and the outskirts of Italy, Hungary, Austria, Sweden, Poland, and Slovenia, to name a few. The commonality between them is their cynicism of the purpose of a unified Europe, and their sense of avenging multiculturalism, human values, democracy and liberalism. They are unified by their anti-immigration sentiments, and fostered by nationalist non-partisan narrative.
In the last and present century have witnessed the emergence of great intellectuals who laid the solid foundation for neoliberal right wing thought (Leo Strauss, Kissinger, Brzezinski, Samuel Huntington, Bernard Lewis, Richard Pearl). This right wing populist wave is sweeping the world today, and it is led by Steve Bannon who is an extremist and racist journalist and served as the White House Chief Strategist. He describes himself as a Trumpian without Trump, and his ideology has been adopted by a man from Brussels for his project to transform Europe. This was dubbed as the “Movement”, which is a coalition of alliances emphasizing the importance of national sovereignty, the closure of borders in the face of migration, and the fight against so-called radical Islam. It has been held as a means of strengthening national parties in the May parliamentary elections.
Conversely, Macron continued to proudly describe himself as the enemy of Victor Urban of Hungary and Matteo Salvini of Italy, both leaders who embody the populist right wing wave in Europe. Concurrently today, he is obliged to move cautiously as the wave of protests in his country are an indication of threat and danger ahead. Not to say the least is the threat of the students of Steven Bannon and the European Right wing to become capable of taking over the French scene.
Meanwhile, Macron will face his first election test in May, when the European parliamentary election will allow voters in his era the chance to express their anger at the ballots. Whatever is the result, it is clear that the star of Macron is fading, and the hopes for a European renewal which was his election slogan are diminishing. Certainly this is a challenging outcome not only for France but for the whole world.
https://www.arabprogress.org/2018/12/12/%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%B1/