The Yellow Vests, Gilets Jaunes, have taken Paris by storm. Yellow protective vests, mandated by the French government for all drivers, have become the symbol of dissatisfied French citizens. The protesters, many of them from rural areas or districts far removed from the central city, feel abandoned by President Emmanuel Macron and the ruling elites.
Macron has goals to protect the environment and imposed a gasoline tax. That decision stirred Yellow Vest protests and rioting in the streets of Paris. The workers cannot afford to live in central Paris where mass transit is easily available. They drive cars, burn gas and feel the pain of a fuel tax hike imposed by Macron. The Yellow Vests took to the streets and the fuel tax quickly disappeared.
The consistent theme is that people outside the urban centers are taking action to be included in the new social contract.
Sound familiar? Look at England. Britain had their Brexit partisans, those determined to remove England from the European Union. The Brits outside of London got Brexit passed and they too seemed to feel they were getting shafted by the new social contract.
In the USA we have the Trump base who shocked the world by getting Donald Trump elected. They express a desire to return America to its days of heavy manufacturing. That day seems to have passed. Industry has moved to the Third World and may soon move entirely to AI, artificial intelligence… the dreaded robot society.
The new social contract is an elusive concept. The consistencies between these movements is twofold:
1) A nostalgic longing for past conditions.
Belgium protestors were heard chanting something like “We don’t want to change.” Perhaps this was a longing for the days before the big demographic change. Immigration to European countries from Third World countries threatens the status quo. The vaunted charms of the European lifestyle seem under assault.
2) A desire to survive the technological revolution and the resulting society re-boot.
The rich get richer. The educated have enough computer mastery to sustain themselves and even flourish with their programming skills. The robots get jobs once held by the blue collar folks.
Protestors realize there is a re-organization of society taking place. They don’t want to be left broke, cold and devoid of the wine, cheese and pub life that makes for an enjoyable life, European style.
Can’t say that I blame them.
