Why the Yellow Vest Protests Should be a Wake-Up Call for the Center-Left.
The center-left wants to make use of, perhaps even rehabilitate the far-left into their political tent. During the recent yellow vest protests, we’re seeing far-left people ally with moderate to far-right elements against a climate change tax. We can presume that they are doing this because they feel the climate change tax doesn’t go far enough, so naturally they will join some riots. How is leftist progress to be made if anything short of a huge leap leftwards makes far-leftists join their supposed enemies in rioting? The answer should be that said progress can’t be made: these far-leftists are not going to cooperate with anyone.
The smartest leftists know that the above is true and this may be contributing to their panic, which is apparent if you consider the following. The ignominious behavior from Macron and the media over this protest is related to that and here is what they are doing if you didn’t notice: Macron said he would scrap the fuel tax but what he meantwas that he would delay its implementation. The media has been reporting this as if the fuel tax is gone permanently when it is in fact only delayed. I’ve also seen media reports (falsely, it seems) claiming that the protesters are accepting the lie and going home. Their goal seems to be this: lie to the protesters, get some of them to leave, break the rest up with tear gas and fire hoses, then implement the tax. It’s a dirty, desperate trick and it doesn’t seem to be working.
When it fails, the center-left has two choices. One, they can admit that their coalition doesn’t exist. Two, they can pretend it exists but fear the riots should they ever attempt a concrete implementation of their proposals again.
Other implications: Macron will obviously not be re-elected, he may have to resign, migrants have surely inflamed these protests well beyond their normal parameters (they are willing to join in with legitimate protests, not just riot on their own, which arguably makes the migrants a threat to those who brought them in), the Eurozone can possibly tick a stable country off of their list (what’s left now besides Germany and a few small countries?) and if people in France can act like this, you can kiss any chance goodbye of enacting policies like this in several other countries.
In sum, the fantasy of big tent center-leftism as we have known it is finished. The only question now is if they acknowledge this or simply go quietly into the dark.
Posted Dec 6, 2018, 8:18 AM UTC · edited
This is just not accurate. The Yellow Vests are protesting the carbon tax and the high cost of living in Paris. There are no "leftist" Yellow Vests joining the protests who believe the carbon tax is too low. There is absolutely no support for that theory. They are protesting because the carbon tax is too high. I've read through many sources, including French newspapers, and watched some of the television interviews. All reports are in agreement about this.
Besides, anyone who's ever met a French person knows that none of them ever want more taxes.
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So you're saying that leftists are against a carbon tax now?
Parisians are protesting for two reasons: (1) the carbon tax and (2) the general high cost of living in Paris. If there are leftist protestors they are going to be there for the second reason rather than the first. This claim that it should be a "wake-up call for the center-left" is therefore nonsense.
No. The rioting and protests are not about carbon tax any more, they're about the working class getting gouged by various different types of taxation, living standards getting worse every year and the cost of living continuing to rise. Whether you're left, center or right, these are issues that affect everyone. Even the most ardent environmental socialist cares more about putting food on their table than about climate change.