Many figures of the European establishment regard Emmanuel Macron as the saviour of the European project. Yet his response to these protests – violence, mass arrests and the reinstatement of national service for 16-year olds – would hardly be out of step with the more retrograde national populist and authoritarian regimes. If Emmanuel Macron wants to save his reputation, let alone Europe, he must start leading by example, ban the flashball, and take these protests seriously rather than continuing to lapse in moments of anger into diatribes about scroungers while he lets the riot cops run riot against protesters.If the reaction to Occupy didn't already put to rest all the faux outrage about violent suppression of dissent in countries that the US doesn't like, this should. But it won't. Double standard, you see.
Macron’s response suggests what other leaderless protest movements across Europe will face as systems continue to collapse. The Gilets Jaunes have arisen out of the profound inequality that is fracturing societies across Europe. It is against that inequality that leaders must take a strongman stance. There is nothing strong about attacking protestors who are just trying to make their voices heard....
Liberalism is revealing its real face as "bourgeois liberalism" as the rule of the ownership class based on class privilege. The myth of liberalism as the "end of history"is foundering on the rocks of open revolt by the oppressed.
Open Democracy
Gilets Jaunes under attack
Oliver Haynes
See also
People's Dispatch
In their tenth week of protests, Yellow Vests face brutal police crackdown
Open Democracy
Gilets Jaunes under attack
Oliver Haynes
See also
People's Dispatch
In their tenth week of protests, Yellow Vests face brutal police crackdown
Muhammed Shabeer
1 comment:
“Many figures of the European establishment regard Emmanuel Macron as the saviour of the European project.”
The European project cannot be saved. Everyone knows this, although many people lie about it. France, for example, has a huge trade deficit, and the government cannot create euros out of thin air. Therefore, as long as France continues to use the euro, France is doomed to go ever-further into debt, austerity, and inequality no matter who is president. Marine Le Pen wants to dump the euro, which is why she can never be allowed to be president. It is why she is called a “Nazi.” What does currency have to do with Nazism? Nothing, but the label of “Nazi” always works.
“If Emmanuel Macron wants to save his reputation, let alone Europe, he must …”
Stop. It is not mathematically possible to save the euro-zone, nor save Macron’s reputation. Endless chatter changes nothing.
Notice that serious protests usually begin with shortages of fuel. The next stage involves shortages of food and water, at which point protests become revolutions. That’s where the euro-zone is headed. Government cannot stop it, for they cannot stop crushing the peasants.
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