Event Highlights: The Yellow Vests Movement in France – Background and Analysis
By Aislinn O’Brien, Candidate for Bachelors of the Arts in International Relations and Political Science
On April 17th, the Center for the Study of Europe hosted a lecture by Visiting Researcher Niilo Kauppi on the background of the gilets jaunes or “yellow vests” movement in France. Kauppi began by setting the scene, situating the lecture in the current French context and stressing that political parties and politics in general tend to be contingent on things that no one really has control of. Kauppi offered the specific example of Macron not having the chance to speak on the yellow vest movement as a result of the fire at Notre Dame. After providing a heuristic lens for his lecture, Kauppi went on to describe characteristics of the movement. He noted that the movement is largely anti-system and anti-party and originated with calls for a reduction in the price of petrol. He then broke down the evolution of the gilets jaunes movement into several stages, or “acts.” Act 1, he said, began with the emergence of Facebook pages for the gilets jaunes around November 17th, 2018. Act 2 began around November 24th, with the intervention of Macron who gave in on the fuel tax, raised the minimum wage, decreased the social contribution to pensions, and so on. At the time France was also experiencing problems with the EU owing to its budget deficit of 73%. Finally, on November 29, someon associated with the gilets jaunes movement released a manifesto of 42 points or directives for the movement.
Kauppi described the symbolism associated with the movement, specifically the yellow vest as a political symbol that represents motorists, due to a national law that dictates that all motorists must have yellow vests with them in case of emergencies. Since the movement’s birth, symbolism has continued to be an important aspect of the movement. Notable points on this front include the protests by the movement on the Champs Elysee, a symbol of French Republicanism, which included firebombing of designer stores such as Longchamp. The movement has presented itself in a way that allows for many parallels to be drawn between the French Revolution, such as alteration of French Revolutionary artwork to include yellow vests, evoking juxtapositions of the elite and the anti-elite as a call to legitimacy. However, when it comes to what exactly the movement wants, Kauppi finds this is a mixed bag that is focused on extreme change and seeks largely to change existing institutions, including the public sector and public services. The platform calls for a French exit from the EU, repatriation of soldiers, and a French exit from NATO, among other things.
There have been many subsequent acts. Kauppi joked that we perhaps just saw Act 22 on April 13th, 2019 with Macron offering further concessions on fuel, pensions, and the minimum wage.
Lastly, Kauppi focused on the demographic makeup of the gilets jaunes movement, being that it is half men, half women, doesn’t really contain trade organizations or parties, that there are few young people, that they are lower-income than average but not the worst off. But, he also noted that about half of them have actually never protested before. Regarding their placement on the political spectrum, according to data presented by Kauppi, many of the gilets jaunes consider their movement to belong to the political left. At the same time, around 33% believed they were neither left nor right. While this may seem confusing or contradictory, Kauppi explained that some believe that the left and the right potentially meet at the political extremes. Additionally, he said, the movement largely consists of those who feel abandoned by institutions, including leftist parties, and those who feel that they have been a victim of economic injustice. At the end of the day, according to Kauppi, the movement does not really have a leader, does not really want to negotiate, and rather wants to apply pressure on the French political status quo. The CSE was happy to have hosted Kauppi and is thankful for his lecture on a very relevant topic!
