WEBVTT - The Uprising in France 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:10.240 It's been four months since French President Emmanuel Macron effectively 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:15.560 declared war on French society euphemistically called pension reforms. Macron's 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.479 proposal would increase the retirement age from sixty two to 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:21.919 sixty four, effectively robbing the working class of two years 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:25.720 of their lives. In January, French unions filled the streets 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:29.680 of Paris with trash. Now French workers build brick and 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.680 mortar barricades on highways and set branches on fire on 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:39.639 train tracks. Welcome to it could happen here. The escalation 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:43.400 from protest to uprising is in part a product of 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.800 how Macron forced the retirement age increase through a national 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.479 assembly he no longer controls without the ability to win 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:55.760 a vote. Macron's Prime Minister, Elizabeth Bourne, suddenly invoked Article 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.200 forty nine of the French Constitution, which allows the ruling 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.240 government to force there's a bill into law without a vote. 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.440 Mccron argues that because circumventing parliament to force legislation through 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:11.480 is legal, the move is democratic. Millions across France disagree. 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:16.480 We spoke to two French protesters, Mael, a student in Leone, 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:19.600 and a Gat, a union railway worker at a state 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:23.240 owned rail company about the movement. The two met through 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:26.160 a struggle committee designed to bring people from different backgrounds 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:30.080 and movements together to fight against mccron's reforms and four, 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:34.600 as Mael put it, victories for our class. A gat 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.880 had this to say about Macron's anti democratic sleight of hand. 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:44.960 What they are using right now is a rhetorical trap 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:56.680 which consists of confusing democracy and a constitutionalism. I don't 0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:59.600 know if I'm using the right word, but for instance, 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:04.280 you know that they maybe you know that to impose 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:07.720 this reform, they have been using an article which is 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:13.280 Article forty nine point three of our constitution, and they 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:18.760 say that, well, this article is in the constitution, we 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:23.000 are in a democracy, and therefore this article is democratic, 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:30.200 which is absolutely false. It's a fallacious reasoning. It is 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:34.480 not true. It's the forty nine point three is an 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:40.040 anti constitution. It is an anti democratic article of the constitution. 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:45.000 And this is what they have been trying to do lately, 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:48.919 to say to make us believe that everything that's been 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:57.040 happening is absolutely normal and implies with the democratic standards 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:00.680 of France, which is not true. Also, what they are 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:05.760 trying to do to disqualify any opposition from the left 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:10.080 wing is to say that the left wing party is 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:14.240 actually an extreme left wing party, which it is not. 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:21.480 And it's kind of they are trying to induce the 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:26.880 kind of history in all this and to radicalize what 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:31.520 is not. What we are asking for is simply for 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.480 them to to listen to what we, for once can 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:39.080 call the people. Generally, when you have a protest, it's 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:44.320 only a part of the population that disagrees with the 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:49.040 policy of the government. But this time, honestly, uh, there 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:53.240 are seven seven people out of ten who are who 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:57.520 disagree with this and uh, nine workers out of ten 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.720 who disagree with this reform. Honestly, I think we can 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:05.480 call our selves the people. And in a democracy, well, 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:07.760 what you do is listen to the people, not that 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:11.640 representatives and not the members of the government, but the 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.560 people in the fucking streets. I'm sorry. 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:15.520 Uh. 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:20.080 And and because they do not want to do that, 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:24.520 they try to say that we are radicals and that 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:30.520 we are supported by radical political parties. It's not true. 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.679 Yeah, it's it's very radious situation. 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:36.479 Yeah, this is what I wanted to say about what 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:41.000 they're at their current strategy. Aside from the repression of 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:43.200 which we are going to talk in a few minutes. 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:45.080 This is what their strategy is. 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:51.640 Yeah, Like basically they confuse all of the forces on 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:55.560 the left together. They say that Milansia is funding the 0:04:55.640 --> 0:05:03.080 Black Blog, you know, so it's things like that, the CGTS, 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:08.160 the fee, all of them, it's all the same, and 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:13.520 they all want the destruction of civilization. And I don't know. 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:16.360 That's the discourse on the far right. 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:22.200 Yeah, babies, Yeah, that sounds like you're American, right too. 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:27.480 Yeah, and this is kind of linked to police violence, 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.040 this discourse. When you were talking about how they're saying 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.760 that the constitution is democratic and there's nothing you can 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:41.320 say even though well, the point of the constitution is 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:47.680 to bypass the parliament. I don't know that democratic. But yeah, 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:51.520 so when it comes to police violence, the reaction is 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:56.640 to say that the state holds the legitimate monopoly of violence, 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:02.520 so therefore they can represss how they want. That's literally 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.279 what they're saying right now, which is worrying. 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:09.960 The French police have been incredibly violent in their campaign 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:14.040 to suppress the protests at an ecological action in Sanzoline 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.919 on March twenty fifth. Tens of thousands of activists were 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:21.640 met with helicopters, armored vehicles, and six thousand grenades, many 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:24.840 of which were the French police's new and incredibly dangerous 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:29.680 military grade GM two l CS gas grenades. One protester 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:31.839 was shot in the head with a tear gas grenade 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.520 fired by a grenade launcher mounted on an armored vehicle. 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.719 He remained in a coma fighting for his life for 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:41.880 an entire month. Earlier today, his parents' release a statement 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:44.680 saying that he has begun to wake up, but is 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:48.960 not fully conscious and his life remains in danger. The 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.680 day before, a special police motorcycle unit called Brav M, 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.040 created in twenty nineteen to suppress the Genejean with the 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:59.400 Yellow vest protests, was recorded threatening a group of random 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:01.359 people that had arrested for sitting in front of a 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:05.320 building from The Washington Post. The cop says, quote, You're 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:07.760 lucky to be sitting there now that we've arrested you. 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:11.360 I swear I'd have broken your legs. Literally. I can 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.040 tell you We've broken elbows and faces, but you I'd 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:16.440 have broken your legs, one officer says in the recording. 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:21.040 Limone reported two slapping sounds can be heard, the report says, 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.000 along with an officer saying, wipe that smile off your face. 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.280 Later in the clip, a police officer warns the young 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:30.200 people they have detained. Quote next time we come, you 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:31.840 won't be getting in the car to go to the 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:34.360 police station. You'll be getting in another thing called an 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:38.760 ambulance to go to the hospital. Paris police chief Laurette 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:42.320 Nuez said on Friday he was quote very shocked by 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.720 the audio clip. Mayel and a gat We're less shocked. 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:53.560 This is not really a surprise, unfortunately, because well, our 0:07:54.160 --> 0:08:01.720 lease is not as ah. No, it's problematic, but maybe 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.440 not as problematic as in the US. I'm sorry if 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:09.840 I'm wrong about that. But we also follow sometimes what 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:13.600 happens on the other side of the ocean. And uh, 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:20.560 but I must say that we we have had issues 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:27.440 of police murders on the street, like and police violence, 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:34.440 want and violence, and unfortunately that now it's not new 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:40.800 and there is a newspaper media parts who managed to 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:47.520 find a excerpt of I think it's a group on 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:55.439 Whatsapple whatever of policemen talking about race, war and uh 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:59.520 and all these kinds of things. And unfortunately we know 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.680 that there are such people in our police. 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:07.400 So the police are they're kind of basically fascists, all 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:13.000 of them. Like they have like one of their unions 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:18.800 which called Alliance, and for the politics for the presidential elections, 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:25.280 they invited the right wing party who are basically only 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:30.520 people who talg with all about genocide. And then the 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:39.240 classic Mariine Japan and there the far right who's openly 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:45.199 calling for a civilizational war with Muslims. So that's the 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:50.400 police unions. And for a little bit of history on 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:55.240 the police, we have, for example, one of the very 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:59.720 violent units that you see arresting people all over friends, 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:06.400 which are called Brigadotic Riminality or back for fort and 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:13.160 these people come from some sort of colonial units who 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:21.080 were in Algeria during the war and when there was 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:31.000 a need to repress populations who previously lived in colonies 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:36.920 and then moved to France to the main country, they 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:41.520 created a lot of very violent units recruited through people 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:46.360 who were in the Algerian war to basically break down 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:49.640 people's house things like this, beat them up. 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:50.360 You know. 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:56.320 It was really colonial practices and all of this kind 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:04.280 of state with as a repression of pour and non 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:08.680 white areas of town where they try to always have 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:13.000 a strong police presence and touch people, they say in 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:17.080 the Act, but they're really making up reasons to arrest people. 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:21.920 Police violence is not new at all, And yeah, basically 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:26.360 it's easier. Need to train all year long against poor, 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:32.479 non white people, and then during protests they come against 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:40.520 people who have come to protests basically, which are generally 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:44.000 different people, but not entirely different people. 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:48.559 Of course, the police response to protests, again says, has 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:52.000 gotten more violence as the Jile Jean protests in twenty nineteen, 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.199 but instead of clearing the streets as Macron had hoped, 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.600 the increase in violence is just narrowing the traditional gap 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:02.160 in more moderate trade protesters and the more radical protesters 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:03.199 found in black blocks. 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:07.720 I've seen people in America in England saying that the 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:12.040 movement is dying down because the inter union protests are 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.600 more and more away from each other. But in the 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:20.560 actual protest people are much much more radical. And what 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:23.120 happens is that the people who are in the front 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:28.240 of the protests before the union and who may potentially 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:30.840 fight with the cops that the Union will never do, 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:37.120 they're more and more numerous, Like four times bigger than 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:42.160 the protests months ago, and so the cops cannot charge us. 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:45.600 Every time they charge, people get around them, and there 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:47.839 are rocks which happen to hit their heads. 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:51.400 I don't know how Yeah, cry ask about that a bit, 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.960 specifically about the dynamic of there being a sort of 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:58.520 I don't know, I kind of divide between the sort 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:00.640 of more builtant people who are fighting the car and 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:05.800 the sort of more moderate like trade union like protesters. 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:09.360 I wanted to ask, I guess, like how firm has 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:13.400 that separation been and what I guess have the unions 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:18.880 been doing here? Have they been trying to contain things? 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.280 Have they been trying to push forwards? 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:28.520 Well, I think it's a very recent phenomenon kind of, 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:32.720 especially the way it's taken from now, because it's basically 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:37.720 a mix of a black block and some le Jeune 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:44.960 and some random already called people, yeah, yellow vests. But 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.360 so the black block it started really in twenty sixteen. 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.480 Before this was no real black block all the time 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:57.480 at protests, and the attitude of the unions is that 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:00.240 they hate the black block. It's pretty simple. I mean, 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:05.680 not of course, as everyone who is in a union, 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:10.320 but the unions who organize the protest. They don't want 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.960 anyone in front of them. They want people to go 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:18.600 behind them and follow whatever they want to do. So 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:24.040 they've been really aggressive. But even if there are conflicts 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.240 right now, I would say the fact that the people 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:31.320 in front of the union are more and more numerous, 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:35.000 I think there's somewhat less tensions the unions. I don't 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:40.280 think they feel like they can really push against even 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:43.960 the black bloc or radicals who break stuff. 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:50.760 If I may add in something, indeed, there is a 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:57.960 difference between the attitude of the union directions, let's say, 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:07.520 and people like me, the simple unionized workers. And what 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:13.960 Miles said is absolutely true about the the hate, the Yeah, 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:18.480 they really don't want any black blocks, especially in front 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:24.000 of them. But what I observed in these over the 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:28.800 last few demonstrations is that what we call the cortege, 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:35.720 which is really the very head of the demonstration, even 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:45.960 in front of the unions, the official union group, where 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.720 there are the black blocks and the yellow vests, there 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:52.800 are more and more people. I was I was like, 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:54.840 I was going to say, like me, but I'm a 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:58.920 bit of a still a bit cowardly, and I'm still 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:04.640 afraid of of getting in this kind of place. But 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:11.200 there are more and more unionized workers who mingle with 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:17.040 the black blogs and et cetera. And I you know, 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:22.440 we also have what we call manifestations sauvage, the wild 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:30.080 and and not organized protests that are not organized by 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.520 unions but are kind of spontaneous. 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:39.400 They opened after Macro forced the reform through parliament without 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:42.920 a vote, and people just went in the streets without 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:48.200 the union and they burned. There were images in Paris 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.720 of everything burning. It was that day, and that's what 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:53.880 we call wild protests. 0:16:54.160 --> 0:17:02.560 Yeah, and for the first time I saw unionized workers 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:07.760 joining in. That is crazy, because they were feeling that 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:14.480 what the unions were proposing within the legal and pacifists 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:21.200 and nice frame was not enough because really our president 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:27.119 was really just making fun of us and we couldn't 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:31.240 have it, and what we usually do was not longer 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:36.160 enough for us. And this is really something new. 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:48.920 I asked about the appearance of the Gilijan in the 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:52.000 current protest and what that you thought of them, Mael. 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.640 The student was somewhat dismissive, but the impact that Jile 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.199 Jean had on a GAT and the railway workers was 0:17:58.320 --> 0:17:58.879 very different. 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:03.840 I can say a little bit, but I don't know 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:09.760 much about the yellow vests. For what I saw of 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:14.199 the yellow Vests were a lot of blockages and people 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:20.919 against taxes on gas. And the way it radicalized was 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:28.760 towards some form of radical democracy, but maybe not so radical, 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:34.760 because they wanted the mass movement seemed to end on 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:40.040 the demand for referendums. Basically, they wanted to be able 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:45.639 to call their own referendums, and the demands were not 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:51.399 directly linked to economics. And as I saw them many 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:57.200 very often, and when we saw them in protests in lyon, 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:06.080 they work no weird, but I don't know them very well. 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:10.080 What I saw was that the government repressed them really, 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:13.840 really hard, much harder than the usual protests that we do, 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:15.560 because they were really scared of them. 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:19.880 Yeah, because I took part to the yellow vest movement, 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:25.400 and I tend to disagree a bit with your analysis 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.720 on this. Yeah, no problem, no, no, no, no, it's 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:31.600 just a I'm just saying, and it's not an attack 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:36.000 at all. At first, I must say I hainted this 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:41.880 movement because well, just long story short, it began in 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:46.639 twenty eighteen, and in twenty eighteen there was a big 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:50.960 movement in the SENCF where I work in the Railway 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:57.040 Public Company because the current it's very funny because it's 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:00.520 the current Prime Minister who was the tra and Sport 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:02.080 Minister at the time. 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.720 They just view them around, they keep we keep seeing. 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:13.320 It's absolutely I can't stand that anyway. I have a 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:19.800 personal vendetta with this woman. And we had been trying 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:26.080 to fight off the well, they kind of started to 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:30.160 kill off our company. It's only now dying of its 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:34.240 slow death. But this is where it really well, this 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:37.960 is where the end really began in twenty eighteen for us. 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:40.680 You mean by privatization, they're killing the content. 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:45.000 Yeah, we are not private yet, but the door has 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:52.040 been opened one yes. And so it's been a really 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:58.200 really hard protest for us and we in the end 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:05.919 we lost. It was really hard, and after that we 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:09.879 we've been I've seen these people the yellow vest stand 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:15.600 up and take on our songs to make them their own. 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:19.560 The famous only lap. It started with the in the 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:24.359 railway world, and it really started in Lyons. I was 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:29.480 there and suddenly these people whom I did not see 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:34.240 by our side a few months before, started to invade 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:37.600 the streets and sing our songs. I was really outraged. 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:45.800 I was furious, and then I fortunately I spent time 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:48.960 with the people who are more intelligent than me and 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:54.760 who said that it was worth going to see these 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:58.520 people and see what was on their minds and what 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:02.280 they were thinking, especially because there were people who had 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.720 never before protested, They had never been on the street 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:11.320 to demonstrate about anything, and they were right to do that. 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:15.320 And it all started with the price of oil and 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:25.680 of gasolina. And I found that really really insignificant, and 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:29.160 in fact, it really opened my mind about the reality 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:31.320 of other people, because I do not have a car, 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:34.320 but some people have a car, and they needed to 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:39.800 live together, to make a live in And not only that, 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:44.440 but the motives of the protest. They roaded and roaded 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:52.320 these people. They got politicized at such a speed, a 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:58.880 high speed. This is incredible because quite rapidly the what 0:22:58.920 --> 0:23:03.920 they were demanding were. It was not simply the lowering 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:07.879 of the oil price. It was also more democracy, it 0:23:07.960 --> 0:23:13.600 was more social justice. It was against the cancelation of 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:20.080 attacks unfortune of the great fortune of people on great tealth, 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:25.760 and on climate. Also, it merged with a lot of 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:29.320 climate demonstrations and it broad it really it was about 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:34.000 really a social model and what world we want to 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:38.840 live in tomorrow. And so this is why I say 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:43.639 this movement was really incredible. It was also incredible because 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:47.080 it was taking place without the unions. It depends on 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:51.359 the regions. In France, in Leon, for example, there is 0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:55.320 no love lost between the Yellow Vests and the unions 0:23:55.800 --> 0:23:59.080 the direction of the unions. But in other regions like 0:23:59.119 --> 0:24:03.480 in South and France or in the North, it's very different. 0:24:03.800 --> 0:24:08.400 And soon they began to protest together and the Yellow 0:24:08.480 --> 0:24:13.840 Vest they they they gave us a new a fresh 0:24:13.880 --> 0:24:17.840 new breath. It was really a fresher breath of fresh air. 0:24:18.840 --> 0:24:27.080 There was such spontaneous, they were so spontaneous and so angry. Also, 0:24:27.320 --> 0:24:30.199 you know, they they they remind they reminded us what 0:24:30.240 --> 0:24:33.000 it was to be angry and to have the right 0:24:33.119 --> 0:24:38.280 to be angry and not to be helpless in front 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:47.040 of an unjust policy. And it really changed changes. And 0:24:47.080 --> 0:24:51.159 as just like I said that earlier, that in this 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:55.760 very movement, the movement we live in now, there are 0:24:55.440 --> 0:24:59.040 there are unionized workers who mingle with the black Dog 0:24:59.080 --> 0:25:02.399 for example, well, there were a lot of us unionized 0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:09.760 workers in the Yellow Vest too, and so yeah, it 0:25:09.960 --> 0:25:11.400 influenced us a lot. 0:25:12.119 --> 0:25:16.040 I think we can say that if twenty sixteen added 0:25:16.080 --> 0:25:19.960 a black block to the protests, now with the Yellow 0:25:20.040 --> 0:25:23.840 vestic change completely the way we protest as well. All 0:25:23.880 --> 0:25:30.120 the blockages are like much more regular, and the way 0:25:30.160 --> 0:25:34.080 we're people fear less, you know, to demand things and 0:25:34.240 --> 0:25:38.879 to organize without unions. I think we can say that 0:25:38.920 --> 0:25:45.360 it definitely changed things. Yes, Also personally, I think that 0:25:45.720 --> 0:25:49.520 if I say wrong things about Yellow vests, why, I 0:25:49.560 --> 0:25:55.200 don't know. The important is because yes, the concerns about 0:25:55.840 --> 0:26:00.359 oil gas price was not one of buying because I 0:26:00.400 --> 0:26:02.200 live in the city and I don't have a car, 0:26:04.880 --> 0:26:10.600 So I think it affected more the country, the countryside 0:26:10.720 --> 0:26:14.520 of France, which is more concerned with gas prices, yeah, 0:26:15.480 --> 0:26:22.159 than big cities. Also because we already have lots of 0:26:22.160 --> 0:26:31.359 political movements here, so like it's conven different. I don't know, 0:26:31.520 --> 0:26:34.159 this is sport very well, to be honest, maybe I 0:26:34.160 --> 0:26:35.080 should just show up. 0:26:37.280 --> 0:26:39.639 No, I mean, it's it's interesting to me because I 0:26:39.680 --> 0:26:45.040 remember when the Jilla Jehan's protests started up, there was 0:26:45.080 --> 0:26:47.840 a lot of debate outside of France and kind of 0:26:47.880 --> 0:26:52.480 like westerners observing the protests to are these guys. Is 0:26:52.520 --> 0:26:55.400 this something that's like a positive movement? Are they all 0:26:55.480 --> 0:27:00.840 right wing? And it's interesting that the in which kind 0:27:00.880 --> 0:27:04.040 of all of these different sort of eras of protest 0:27:04.080 --> 0:27:09.560 movements in France have melded together for this most recent 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:13.280 kind of uprising. Like you've got you know, the the 0:27:13.680 --> 0:27:16.520 you've got these trade unions, you've got Gills Jen's, you've 0:27:16.560 --> 0:27:21.360 got the Black Bloc, all sort of working as different 0:27:21.400 --> 0:27:25.600 pieces of this of this uprising, you know, based on 0:27:25.680 --> 0:27:28.359 kind of the different tactics of their eras. That's fascinating 0:27:28.400 --> 0:27:28.560 to me. 0:27:28.880 --> 0:27:34.280 I was discussing and saying that it's kind of a 0:27:34.320 --> 0:27:40.080 feature of movements about pensions, even if they can be 0:27:40.280 --> 0:27:43.359 very different, that they tend to attract a lot of people. 0:27:43.840 --> 0:27:46.760 And at first the protests were not very radical at 0:27:46.800 --> 0:27:51.800 all compared to protests we could have with similar sizes. 0:27:53.400 --> 0:27:58.040 But gradually the movement is radicalizing a lot, it seems 0:27:58.080 --> 0:28:03.840 to me, the people who are in and the fact 0:28:03.840 --> 0:28:07.479 that it tends to mobilize everyone at first, even if 0:28:07.520 --> 0:28:11.040 it's not very radical, when it's created this sort of 0:28:11.720 --> 0:28:15.639 mingling of everybody. There's a Yellow Vester Union, the Black Bloc, 0:28:16.880 --> 0:28:20.399 everybody except to political parties because they're useless. 0:28:20.440 --> 0:28:34.239 But alongside the radicalization of protesters from all walks of 0:28:34.280 --> 0:28:38.280 life inside France, there's been a surprisingly strong international reaction 0:28:38.360 --> 0:28:40.720 from other European workers and activists. 0:28:41.120 --> 0:28:44.600 You know, I'm wondering. You know, during the Black Lives 0:28:44.640 --> 0:28:48.720 Matter protests in the US and twenty twenty, international attention 0:28:49.280 --> 0:28:52.840 was significant, and it was to some extent useful in 0:28:52.920 --> 0:28:55.520 terms of helping to raise money and stuff for different 0:28:55.560 --> 0:28:58.400 bail funds. People from all around the world helped to 0:28:58.440 --> 0:29:03.200 that extent. But I'm wondering, is the degree of international 0:29:03.200 --> 0:29:08.480 attention by other countries left wing movements on what's happening 0:29:08.720 --> 0:29:12.600 in France right now? Is it having an impact directly 0:29:12.720 --> 0:29:15.400 or is it just sort of like noise. 0:29:16.600 --> 0:29:21.400 Well, on my part, it seems to be a lot 0:29:21.440 --> 0:29:25.480 of noise, yes, because a lot of people seem to 0:29:25.520 --> 0:29:32.320 misunderstand completely the situation, and yeah, they just give their 0:29:32.360 --> 0:29:38.720 opinion and that's fine, I guess. But I think there 0:29:38.720 --> 0:29:44.880 may be actual solidarity with some militants. I mean, I 0:29:44.960 --> 0:29:49.280 know among anarchists that there are an archists who come 0:29:49.360 --> 0:29:55.800 from Italy, Switzerland, Germany and other countries who try to 0:29:55.840 --> 0:30:00.479 help actions and protests and I'm pretty sure that among 0:30:00.560 --> 0:30:06.760 unions there's international solidarity as well, but maybe I got 0:30:06.840 --> 0:30:08.200 you should say something about this. 0:30:08.880 --> 0:30:13.040 Yes, there is international solidarity. Honestly, this is not something 0:30:13.120 --> 0:30:19.120 I was expecting. But for instance, last week in Belgium 0:30:19.440 --> 0:30:27.320 there are workers from a total plant that actually blocked 0:30:27.760 --> 0:30:35.160 the freaking port and to prevent them from sending product 0:30:35.760 --> 0:30:40.360 to substitute it from to the product that was blocked 0:30:40.400 --> 0:30:46.080 by protesters in France, and that was This is for me, 0:30:46.160 --> 0:30:51.480 This is absolutely wonderful. And yes, so yes, there there 0:30:51.560 --> 0:30:59.400 are international solidarities. We have been in our inter professional assembly, 0:30:59.520 --> 0:31:03.880 because we have a local inter professional assembly, and we 0:31:04.040 --> 0:31:11.360 have been expressing our gratitude to the people in Greece, 0:31:11.560 --> 0:31:19.720 in Argentina, in Spain, in Germany who expressed their support 0:31:19.960 --> 0:31:25.880 openly and personally. I was really surprised to see how 0:31:26.000 --> 0:31:31.400 many people actually were being attention to what was happening 0:31:31.480 --> 0:31:36.680 in our country, and it gives us, well, it gave 0:31:36.840 --> 0:31:43.000 strength to many people, and it also gives hope because 0:31:43.400 --> 0:31:50.400 I realized that, well, you know, the main leverage we 0:31:50.560 --> 0:31:55.560