Paris is in its 11th week of demonstrations calling for a new government. What began with 300,000 protesters all across France on November 17, 2018 has continued week after week, averaging 100,000 protesters each week. Calling themselves the Yellow Vests (Gilet Jaunes), after the yellow vests they are required to keep in their cars and wear to the protests to finally “be seen,” their protests have been marked by vandalism and violent clashes with the police.

Angry working and middle class French people have risen up against what they have concluded is an out of touch elite government that serves itself and the banks at the people’s expense. The middle and lower classes in France have suffered plummeting purchasing power since 2008, and many can barely make it to the end of the month, yet the French government’s recent tax reforms, led by President Emmanuel Macron, fell disproportionately on them while reducing tax burdens on the wealthy.

The movement quickly spread abroad, with protests in, among other cities, London, Manchester, Dublin, Brussels, Basra, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Munich, Stuttgart, Ottawa, Vancouver, Rome, Tel-Aviv, Dublin, Zagreb, Belgrade, Amsterdam, Lahore, and Amman. With several now dead, hundreds wounded and thousands arrested for forming blockades, destroying highway speed cameras, burning petrol stations and cars, vandalizing buildings and monuments, or just for protesting, Yellow Vest demonstrators have faced off with police armed with tear gas, small grenades, rubber bullets, EU tanks, and water cannons. After ten weeks, the protests are raging more fervently than ever, resulting so far in two billion in lost revenue and millions in property damage, and with no end in sight. Protesters are also targeting the banks themselves, and encouraging bank runs.

Week XI was this past weekend (January 26th):

Exactly how did France, other European countries, the United States, and the rest of the West come to rob the working and middle classes of their wealth while the top 1% have enjoyed greater prosperity than ever? The same economic structure that led to a financial crash in 2008 and the Occupy Wall Street movement a few years later, in fall 2011, will lead to a revived Occupy/Yellow Vest movement across the West. 

Stay tuned for the full analysis this week (subscribe to get it straight to your inbox).