This is how an editor of the influential daily “Le Figaro” described the predicament of embattled French President Emmanuel Macron – and I can’t find a better one-line description than the title of late French entertainer Serge Gainsbourg “I love you… neither do I!” The shock came out of the blue to the darling of the neoliberal gang (the Deep state’s tool for advancing its NWO/PNAC project), as he lived for 18 long months up high in the sky, in the Paradise of his fantasy, not even noticing that there are thick white clouds that hide the real picture below – and that the clouds get thicker, making the optical result in his eyes ever more remote, blurred and obscure…
The comment by the experienced political analyst was delivered in a discussion held in the national TV studio where plenty of observers, commentators and political activists were invited to exchange ideas about the impact on the next move by the “Gilets Jaunes” of the terrorist act in Strasbourg the day before. For we have a pretty intense week here:
Monday, 10.12.18, marked the appearance of E. Macron on TV with his ill-directed address,
Tuesday evening an Islamic terrorist shoots a bunch of people on the central streets of the city where European Parliament holds a session at the time, and today,
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Wednesday, France is in frenetic mode of discussion, again. Montreuil’s “Gilets Jaunes” spokesman disappointed the audience by stating “we express our condolences to the victims’ families but we will continue the protest this coming Saturday as announced, because we find the President’s offer by far inadequate to our demands…” Asked if there is a central committee or an assembly or leader(s) of the “Gilets Jaunes,” he said “No, we are a free association of all local assemblies, each deciding for themselves, we do not want to become ‘organized’ (like parties), and ‘structured’ (and controlled)…” It is clear that the grass roots, which have been cheated before, won’t give in, even if only by suspecting that the terrorist act will be used by the government to put off the big fire – by asking them to postpone further action, and wait for calm to settle due to natural wear-out. The government’s game is clearly playing for time, but the Yellow Cardigans won’t play ball with a government that says it has heard them but acts as if it hasn’t!
In another audience the participants offered interesting observations/opinions/conclusions, too:
- “People do not trust the government, and the media”
- “There is social injustice – and the President did not address that at all, as he has not done anything in the 18 months in office (except continuing the attitude of his predecessors Hollande and Sarkozy: by neglecting it, as if the problem did not exist)…”
- “Far left, far right, nationalist parties gain from this, even without doing anything themselves” (which I find equivalent to acknowledging that mainstream parties – and implicitly the whole EU political pack – are on the wrong path).
- “The French are in a disarray and need to be united, both vis-a-vis terrorism/immigration (radicalization) and with regard to the deep social injustice that exists”
Reflecting on this it occurred to me that there is distinct parallel between the “Gilets Jaunes” being terribly disappointed – in part because their own demands are full of unrealistic expectations, in the context of an already heavily indebted economy – and the Russian workers peacefully marching with a petition to the Czar-batyushka being opened fire at and dispersed after leaving scores of dead on the white snow of “Bloody Sunday” of January 1905 in St. Petersburg… This reinforced what I uttered before: either date became the starting point of a revolution…
If it rings loud enough, it could be picked up by thy neighbor. Well, what do you know: the wake up call President Macron did not get, was heard over in Spain! Exactly after the debate was closed, during the main news of
the day (20:00 h), first thing we hear is PM Sanchez announcing 22% increase of the minimum wage – yes, 22%, no mistake here! The first thing to my mind was “This guy must have been a professional firefighter: when there is fire in your neighbor’s yard, you must immediately shower yours!”
The big question here is not where the Spanish will get the money everybody knows they don’t have from. The big question is “Who’s next?” Portugal? Greece (whom we have not heard more than three endlessly long months from)?… And the smallest question is when the Germans will shout loud: “Get lost, all of you, bloody suckers!”
And, yes, what I forgot to tell you is that over here in Belgium the local Yellow Jackets staged manifestations in Brussels and elsewhere two Saturdays in a row, pledging to continue – in a gesture of solidarity with the French but with demands of their own as well.
Britain’s Nomenklatura lost exactly as Maréchal Grouchy in the fog around Waterloo. What a night it is, this Wednesday, 12.12.2018! Next news is the vote of confidence to PM Theresa May of UK. Total distraction from the task the Conservative Party has the mandate to accomplish – or rather lead the accomplishment of. Then the same blame is to be assigned to all other major parties, in a disunited Parliament composed by Nomenklaturchiks who are only interested in the opportunity this mess gives them for their personal career advancement. Hence the issue of BREXIT has been politicized to incredible heights! And all these people can’t even see what is going on in the wreck they are lucky to have started abandoning first… Agonizing over “a bad deal or no deal” with a dying creature?
On Thursday we learn that the “Gilets Jaunes” idea has surfaced in Poland. For the time being, it seems to be just local protest against import of (cheaper) produce from neighboring Ukraine but it does not take long before such grass-roots initiative do swell: it’s exactly as a fire in the steppe during the dry season – and I believe the grass has dried out long ago, in the desert of Europe. Indeed, the Old Continent has become a barren land for the ideas of social justice and fair play, the fabrics of social peace and stability. Hence the tide of French anger – cholére being one of the most frequently used word on the posters carried – may soon spill over…
On Friday in one of the TV debates a young fellow carrying a yellow vest is confronted with four or five white collar cadres who ask him why do they not want to stop protesting, what do they want, after the President’s gesture. He is telling them “We don’t earn enough to support our families,” something they obviously haven’t figured out yet. Then he is told “But you know there’s no money, don’t you?” “Yes, there’s money,” – he says – “you cut the salaries of the overpaid officers in the administration, the MP’s, and similar, and you can raise the minimum salary: this would be a good start.” And then there jumps this young beauty who clearly has never worked for more than one person at a time “You don’t have the slightest idea how heavy job it is, to carry these responsibilities, and to work non-stop…” One must simply conclude that these people are actually living on different planets; the “Gilets Jaunes” are here with us on Earth, but the others reside far away on a remote planet, probably Nibiru, which I hear is the preferred place of all who love to escape reality…
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Saturday №5 in Paris – and the rest of France, too. Five weeks into this movement, watching the discussions on TV the following impressions resonate and settle in my mind:
- Apart from the new movement’s reps’ these are mostly deliberations by people who are, represent, or serve the Nomenklatura – and despise any kind of protest; now getting nervous at the sight of something hitherto unseen and unheard of.
- The key: E. Macron has come into power with the promise “change,” and he failed to His declared goal was “to reconnect politics to the people” – and that proved to be just empty rhetoric. Hence we can confidently summarize here – repeating earlier statements – that “Change” has become the swan’s song of all Nomenklaturchiks.
- All acknowledge that purchasing power has been on a steady course of deterioration for quite a long period.
- The movement is unique in that there is no leadership (“elite”), and therefore immunized to manipulation, blackmailing or/and bribing; it must be recognized as a genuine people’s project, requiring a true democratic discussion
(the government must sit on the table and discus with its representatives). The problem of the establishment here is that its well lubricated mechanisms such as “trade unions” (and its professional executives, being Nomenklaturchiks themselves, i.e. levers of the powers that be to control the crowd) are not applicable – hence the entire governing class, whether in power or in opposition, has been caught off guard, and out of tools…
- Being non-political, non-trade-unionists, “Gilets Jaunes” are against the whole political class, expressing the enormous public anger over the current inequality.
- “We will stay here and will return (to Paris, from the periphery) every Saturday until our demands are met!”
- “The Fifth Republic has ran out of breath!” A remarkable statement, displaying better comprehension by some in the grass roots than the big shots with the oversized pretense to lead their kin.
- “We want government’s resignation!”
- “We want referendum to be introduced as a form of public participation into We want (a form of) direct democracy! The future of France is the commune.” A lady representing the establishment was quick to remark sharply here: “Such direct democracy, and commune type of arrangements can work only in small settlements; it is not suitable for a country with 67 million people!”
- “We are against the oligarchs and the financiers”
- “People do want neither politics nor money to be the center of their governance…”
Sunday’s recap: There is a major social fracture, and it transpires primarily through many of the statements by the carriers of the politically correct line, but as well by the observations of independents and the “Gilets Jaunes:”
- ‘They did reject the offer by the President; do they not know that there has been a long economic crisis that we live on through even today, that there is no ..” (It does not occur in this beautiful tiny talking head that the economic crisis is part of Nomenklatura’s guilt, and it is the Nomenklaturchiks who should be penalized for that, instead of leaving the public to bear the consequences – and keep profiting themselves on that, for too long a time).
- “We have to acknowledge that we were all surprised; we did not anticipate that such movement could happen.”
- “For decades the periphery was neglected, and the big metropolitan areas favored thus asphyxiating rural life.”
- “Some 30 years ago we were poor but we had a happy life; today we are poor and we can not even survive!”
- “Stop globalization, fight Big Finance, redistribute richésse, come back to traditional politics!”
- “Unprecedented movement, it must pass onto another level, it must get itself organized!”
- “We want to be heard, we are the people: we protest against the injustice, against the inequality in this country, against the poverty, against the misery in France..”
- “We want lowering the taxes and excises on all products of first necessity!”
- “We want decrease of salaries, benefits and pensions of all elected officials!”
- “We don’t want to live on the crumbs of a bulimic state!”
- “I am European but not of today’s Europe!”
The discourse by “extreme left” and “extreme right” politicians who gained points in the polls – while E. Macron lost badly – saw them immediately accused of populism. Like everywhere else where political correctness is the criterion to get a job in politics, or in the servile media, only the gullible buy it: in a rex publicum (a.k.a. demokratia) popular derives from populus (people), and pertains for both populist and someone who conveys popular messages in order to be elected to public office; in other words both aspire to be liked by the people, and therefore tell people what they want to hear. The only difference between a public official and a populist (as a derogative-meant blame by the opposition) is that more often than not the first is a liar who never fulfills his/her promises, while the “populists” of today do: check President Trump’s promises (minus some in foreign politics that he has put on hold until free from the impending impeachment threat), Hungarian PM Victor Orban’s, current Italian duo’s, etc.
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The French Nomenklatura did get the message that for years large masses have been living at around – and many below – the poverty line; perhaps some got as well the people’s idea that they, the Nomenklaturchiks of all sorts, are the guilty part: elected to correct the problems, they actually have presided over their steady worsening, year after year. Which means they have become irrelevant vis-a-vis the predicament of the masses: no surprise that the most frequently expressed attitude is lack of confidence in the political class.
What nobody seems to have had realized yet is that clearly within this socio-economic system, the Representative Democracy, the situation will continue its current path, and that a radical change of the system is the only effective solution. The instinct of many leads them to propose elements of Direct Democracy; however all envision under that label the Swiss model, which is rather a Hybrid Democracy. Is it good enough for France? It certainly is a step in the right direction, and only time will cast the final judgment; however, the rebels will still need to achieve a start! The establishment’s emissaries already posted a warning: “The (current) social crisis is a threat to (our) capitalist model!”
While leaving them to worry, as they should, I reminisce on something totally different: isn’t it symbolic that one of the most famous Anarchists, Néstor Mahno, ended his time on Earth in Paris? He was the one who established self-governing rural communes in Soviet Ukraine during the Russian revolution and civil war. Indeed, these were short lived Anarcho-Communist formations; idealistic, one might say; yet they survived for about 4 long years throughout war and chaos – and even supported an army strong enough to beat invading German and Austrian troops, the Ukrainian nationalists and the White Russians. It seems to me that the unbroken spirit of Néstor Mahno might have caught up with those of the ordinary French who live around the line of poverty…
Anyway, what a week: The winter of our discontent is here again!
