What's going on in France?

[Tomuś]

With the introduction of Macron (may last year) I remember reading ohhs and ahhhhs, generally positive outlook on a new, progressive way of running a country. 'Love the guy' 'a legend' 'wish we had him in our country' were spouted en masse, including on here.

Some time afterwards, you get the horrifying pictures of middle-aged civils kicked and beaten seven bells out of on the streets, trying to protest. What's more worrying is that it doesn't get nearly enough attention from the media across Europe.

Always seemd a fraud to me so I may not be the most objective but seeing watching the coverage from Paris is sickening. Happens in one of the biggest European cultures, yet not a word in some of the media. Ignored. It's not the first time since he took the helm, too. Seeing women with badly bruised and bleeding faces saying they were merely standing there after the policemen, acting on Macron's orders, started beating the shit ouf ot them.

Can French posters on here shed some light on it? Can't find a thread, which is weird. Only Trumps and Putins when it comes to politics on here.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...to-grievances-of-low-paid-in-wake-of-protests

There is no end of coverage in France, there's coverage in the British media and there's a piece above.

The protests are supposed to be peaceful but the far right and far left have latched onto the protests and started causing trouble in Paris. Nobody taking responsibility for organising it but Le Pen is certainly behind incitement and so is Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, Farage's mate.

The real protestors are distancing themselves from the violence and also supporting the police.

Stop making wild assumptions.

 

[JPRouve]

Nothing is happening, some twats think that it's a clever idea to throw rocks at people and the police.

 

[Red Defence]

https://www.politico.eu/article/emm...s-to-new-low-as-french-fuel-tax-revolt-rages/

Unsurprisingly they don’t much like him. His approval rating is now 26% (much lower than Trump)

 

[sun_tzu]

Vive la revolution

On a serious note it's almost a race between him may and merkle to see who is going to get kicked out first

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Vive la revolution

On a serious note it's almost a race between him may and merkle to see who is going to get kicked out first

He won't be going anywhere, next election is 2022. The other point is who's going to replace him? Le Pen won't.

One thing I would say without getting into a political discussion is that the protest was originally about the price of fuel but since the price of oil is falling and the price is going down and so the protest has spread to other matters and the price of fuel is still less than Belgium, UK, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Italy for example.

 

[JPRouve]

He won't be going anywhere, next election is 2022. The other point is who's going to replace him? Le Pen won't.

One thing I would say without getting into a political discussion is that the protest was originally about the price of fuel but since the price of oil is falling and the price is going down and so the protest has spread to other matters and the price of fuel is still less than Belgium, UK, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Italy for example.

Melenchon and Le Pen are even less popular, PS and LR don't really exist. The funny thing for people that don't really follow french politics is that Le Maire and Phillipe the two main men behind Macron are among the most popular politicians at the moment, they have the exact same politics than Macron, the difference is that Macron doesn't have a traditional party behind him which means that most people won't like him, he is also seen as the single reason behind the implosion of the two main parties, people are bitter about it, then you have people like me who thinks that he sounds like a twat.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Melenchon and Le Pen are even less popular, PS and LR don't really exist. The funny thing for people that don't really follow french politics is that Le Maire and Phillipe the two main men behind Macron are among the most popular politicians at the moment, they have the exact same politics than Macron, the difference is that Macron doesn't have a traditional party behind him which means that most people won't like him, he is also seen as the single reason behind the implosion of the two main parties, people are bitter about it, then you have people like me who thinks that he sounds like a twat.

Yes, you're right. I think he needs to speak to the people in a different way, he's still quite inexperienced in politics. Taxe d'habitation should be coming soon and if it's reduced as promised he may gain some points.

.

 

[JPRouve]

Yes, you're right. I think he needs to speak to the people in a different way, he's still quite inexperienced in politics. Taxe d'habitation should be coming soon and if it's reduced as promised he may gain some points.

.

I know people that received the confirmation of the exoneration. To be fair, at this point in time he has done what he promised. He is just unlikable.

 

[Sassy Colin]

If you want to protest about the price of fuel, do it in the UK.

Oil price $140 a barrel, pump price £1.40

Oil price $70 a barrel, pump price £1.35

I don't blame the Government for this, btw, they have frozen fuel duty for many years.

The oil companies are taking the piss, and I suggest the same thing is happening in France and around the world.

 

[Abizzz]

Vive la revolution

On a serious note it's almost a race between him may and merkle to see who is going to get kicked out first

That's like saying the Queen and Charles are racing each other to death .

 

[Adisa]

https://www.politico.eu/article/emm...s-to-new-low-as-french-fuel-tax-revolt-rages/

Unsurprisingly they don’t much like him. His approval rating is now 26% (much lower than Trump)

French presidents are never popular.

 

[Pexbo]

If you want to protest about the price of fuel, do it in the UK.

Oil price $140 a barrel, pump price £1.40

Oil price $70 a barrel, pump price £1.35

I don't blame the Government for this, btw, they have frozen fuel duty for many years.

The oil companies are taking the piss, and I suggest the same thing is happening in France and around the world.

I’m behind the government on this.

If they reduce the price of fuel as the price of the barrel drops, demand increases, the price rises again and the money is funnelled out of the country.

By holding the fuel prices, demand is steady and any extra money saved is guaranteed to stay within our economy.

 

[Grinner]

Right, you don't want to be encouraging people to burn more petrol.

 

[Precaution]

But isnt 70% of fuel taxed? You have VAT on top of tax which is basically double taxing, yeah they froze it but that's like me witholding pocket money from my nephew and when i feel like being nice, i throw him a quid (or dollar) now and again.

 

[711]

With the introduction of Macron (may last year) I remember reading ohhs and ahhhhs, generally positive outlook on a new, progressive way of running a country. 'Love the guy' 'a legend' 'wish we had him in our country' were spouted en masse, including on here.

Some time afterwards, you get the horrifying pictures of middle-aged civils kicked and beaten seven bells out of on the streets, trying to protest. What's more worrying is that it doesn't get nearly enough attention from the media across Europe.

Always seemd a fraud to me so I may not be the most objective but seeing watching the coverage from Paris is sickening. Happens in one of the biggest European cultures, yet not a word in some of the media. Ignored. It's not the first time since he took the helm, too. Seeing women with badly bruised and bleeding faces saying they were merely standing there after the policemen, acting on Macron's orders, started beating the shit ouf ot them.

Can French posters on here shed some light on it? Can't find a thread, which is weird. Only Trumps and Putins when it comes to politics on here.

Wow, I can't believe the police were just attacking people going about their business for no reason. Seriously, I can't believe it.

 

[Sassy Colin]

I’m behind the government on this.

If they reduce the price of fuel as the price of the barrel drops, demand increases, the price rises again and the money is funnelled out of the country.

By holding the fuel prices, demand is steady and any extra money saved is guaranteed to stay within our economy.

Except that's totally not what happened at all, it's the oil companies increasing the price out of proportion with the cost of a barrel.

It went as low as £1.05 when oil was $40 a barrel.

 

[antihenry]

Surprised the thread is barely alive. It's been over two weeks now, three people dead, more than 100 injured, nearly 400 arrested and it's still going. And it's happening in one of the biggest and most important countries of the EU.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46417991

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Hard to feel any sympathy if the issue really is diesel. It’s a filthy energy source and even with these taxes, the prices don’t look much higher than most other European countries.

I suspect this is just the usual suspects effectively using social media to do some rabble-rousing.

 

[golden_blunder]

I’m kinda apathetic because it seems people in Paris are always there protesting about something or other

 

[freeurmind]

I can understand why people would be upset at rising fuel prices. Definitely there's larger issues at play here, Macron's policies have been largely in favour of the wealthy and corporations and been hitting pensioners and everyday citizens.

 

[JPRouve]

Surprised the thread is barely alive. It's been over two weeks now, three people dead, more than 100 injured, nearly 400 arrested and it's still going. And it's happening in one of the biggest and most important countries of the EU.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46417991

To make it simple, a relatively small amount of people are striking (190k nationally), they say that it's against a law that increases the price of diesel in order to reach parity with gasoline, initially the idea was to ban it by 2024, now it's by 2040. The policy on the price is from 2014-2015 and from the Environment ministry which makes the current complains strange.

Now some groups decided to use that has an opportunity to go to Paris and create havoc, it's a relatively small amount of people, a few thousands, but that's enough to make a lot of damage.

 

[Penna]

The original peaceful protests were about fuel, but as ever, other people have moved in to take advantage of the unrest. It now seems to be a more widespread protest against Macron.

Of course, setting cars on fire, smashing shop windows, damaging important national monuments and looting aren't any part of peaceful protesting.

 

[barros]

Does the price goes up and down like in the states? That's one thing I hate here, today's one price tomorrow another, good times when premium gas was 80 cents and stayed like that for a while.

 

[barros]

Will Macron do anything about this:

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...iggest-cause-of-worst-air-pollution-in-europe

 

[Adisa]

The French don't half protest.

 

[utdalltheway]

They’re full on alright.
Tbf, I’d like to see more of that in Ireland, with the shower of politicians they have.

 

[JPRouve]

Will Macron do anything about this:

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...iggest-cause-of-worst-air-pollution-in-europe

It's part of the same project called PREPA but I don't know what the actual measures are for nitrogen in particular, it's supposed to be reduced by 50%.

 

[2cents]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[MrMarcello]

Right-wing media in America has twisted and contorted to further scare their viewers here in the States.

 

[Un4givableB]

The french are revolting.

 

[Ubik]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Society founded on revolutionary principles experiences frequent revolts. Quelle surprise.

 

[Silva]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Tarrou]

surprisingly only found out about this yesterday, it came on the news (in Australia) and my Mrs was like oh yeah they are protesting about fuel prices as we watched apocalyptic scenes of the french burning Paris to the ground

 

[shamans]

Is there a single country in the world where the people are by and large happy.

 

[Redplane]

Is there a single country in the world where the people are by and large happy.

New Zealand?

 

[shamans]

New Zealand?

I've heard it's expensive but good shout. Don't hear a lot of kiwi moaners (Aussies are always complaining though).

 

[Silva]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

that's Yvan Benedetti getting knocked out

 

[matherto]

People aren't going to take lightly to being told they seriously need to change their entire lives to combat climate change, mostly because they're lazy and selfish.

Unfortunately nature doesn't much care for lazy and selfish and if we carry on doing what we're doing, we're going to be extinct.

I don't think Macron is wrong for doing what he's done, it's just the inevitable consequence of people only thinking with their wallets and never using their brains.