Saturday 8 December 2018

Those Gilets Jaunes Demands In Full

Here's a pretty kettle of fish.  None of it reliably 'officielle', of course, because they don't have leaders.  But no wonder Momentum are confused.

Question for A-level Politics students:  Categorise the following demands into 'right wing' and 'left wing', giving reasons.  (4 marks)
Economy/work: - a full review of taxation, with no citizen to be taxed at more than 25% of income; an immediate 40% increase in the minimum wage, pensions and benefits; “mass hirings” in the state sector to restore quality of service in hospitals, schools etc; 5m new homes; make banks “smaller” 
Politics: - France’s constitution to be rewritten “by the people and for the interests of the people”; lobbying to be banned; Frexit: France should leave the EU; recover euros80bn lost to tax evasion each year; halt and/or reverse all privatisations; removal of “useless” speed cameras; complete reform of education system, removal of all “ideologies”; quadruple budget of judicial system, which must be simplified, free and accessible for all; break up media monopolies and halt cosy relationship between media and political class; open media up to the people 
Health/environment: - 10-year guarantee on products to end planned obsolescence; ban plastic bottles; limit power of pharmaceutical companies; ban GM foods, carcinogenic pesticides, monoculture; reindustrialise France to reduce imports and therefore pollution 
Geopolitics: - Pull France out of Nato and foreign wars; end the plunder of French-speaking Africa; prevent migration flows that cannot be welcomed or integrated given current “civilisational crisis”; scrupulous respect of international law and engagements
I might even vote for some of those meself ...  

ND

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Specifcally Left

immediate 40% increase in the minimum wage, pensions and benefits; “mass hirings” in the state sector / lobbying to be banned; halt and/or reverse all privatisations; open media up to the people [what, even more?]; ban plastic bottles [because just silly]; reindustrialise France to reduce imports and therefore pollution; Pull France out of Nato and foreign wars; end the plunder of French-speaking Africa;

Specifically Right - arguably, only no citizen to be taxed at more than 25% of income; BUT (a) see below and (b)...

... many would want to classify "prevent migration flows that cannot be welcomed or integrated given current “civilisational crisis” as Right-wing (but it isn't)

Others: the tax one (a) is subtle because it only mentions income tax and France has a wealth tax, which the Left want to ramp up. But not referred to in the demands.

> 5m new homes - could be R or L
> make banks “smaller” (WTF?)
> France’s constitution to be rewritten “by the people ..." - could be anything
> Frexit - hohoho!
> 80bn lost to tax evasion each year - R & L
> removal of “useless” speed cameras = Libertarian!!
> reform of education system - could be anything
> removal of all “ideologies” (WTF)
> quadruple budget of judicial system, which must be simplified, free and accessible for all; R & L
> break up media monopolies and halt cosy relationship between media and political class; R &L
> 10-year guarantee on products to end planned obsolescence; odd
> limit power of pharmaceutical companies; L-ish
> ban GM foods, carcinogenic pesticides, monoculture; R or L
> scrupulous respect of international law and engagements - a nutter got hold of the pen

Quite a mash-up. Can I have my 4 points?

dearieme said...

They forgot the free pony.

Anonymous said...

And unicorns for all little girls at Xmas!

Hunchback said...

Why is this blog fixating on France?

Lord Blagger said...

Still missing the basic problem. In the UK the state's debts are 13 trillion.

10 Trillion of that is socialist pension ponzi debt with no assets.

Now think France. They retire from 60 upwards. Those born after 1955, its been raised to 67. 7 years lost money. 7 years extra of paying in, plus lost return on that money. Plus it hits the poor hardest.

The state French pension scheme then entitles retirees to draw a maximum of 50% of their annual average earnings up to a limit of €39,732 per year.

Compared to a maximum of £6,200 in the UK.

So French pension debts are vast.

Expect them to raid any private pension funds.

E-K said...

How long before the fucking BBC calls this an austerity rebellion to - yet again - turn it all leftwards ?

This is a Carbon Tax riot.

If the BBC can have Poll Tax, Bedroom Tax then why can't it accept Carbon Tax ?

For the same reason it calls MPs supporting the majority in a referendum 'rebels'.

It commands the language of debate therefore it controls the debate and brainwashes.

dearieme said...


"Compared to a maximum of £6,200 in the UK."

Blethers! What are you talking about, man?

Sackerson said...

"Yellow Jacket" rang a bell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowjacket#/media/File:European_wasp_white_bg.jpg

Nick Drew said...

Kev - there is a lot at stake in the business of framing the French riots

suppose they frame it as Left, like you say, and then Frexit / no immigration become central planks of their demands?

hence the Momentum paralysis on the subject

Nick Drew said...

See this, for example:

"Culture, rather than class, has become the medium through which social issues are now refracted. Working-class troubles have come to be seen less as products of class-based politics than of cultural loss. The cultural Other, whether migrants or Muslims, is increasingly viewed as a threat to the working class. This has allowed the far right to shape disaffection, and to gain electoral credibility.

So far, the gilets jaunes protests seem more anarchic than fascist. It is striking, though, that the most potent protests in France in recent times have bypassed both political parties and trade unions.

The question we need to ask is not, “How should we create a centrist bulwark against populism?”, but “How can we give progressive shape to people’s disaffection?” Otherwise the left will either remain standing on the sidelines, allowing the radical right to take centre stage, or be driven, as has already happened, to promote illiberal notions of immigration, culture and belonging. Whatever the fate of the gilets jaunes, this wider issue – who will give shape to disaffection? – has still to be addressed."

E-K said...

I hate to go tin hat but could this be how civil wars start ?

The picture of tanks with EU flags on them has gone viral.

The grunts have had enough of being told what to do by a hypocritical and politically correct elite. It really is as simple as that.

The Carbon Tax simply does not square with mass immigration. All very well for David Attenborough to tell us to cut back when George and Amal (from behind gated compounds) tell us to take millions of pushy blokes in (with the token mother and child.)

Today Remain will have all the footage it needs to show that Leave are nothing but a violent mob. The UKIP march is a big mistake but the fact that the People's Vote march went unmolested will never be attributed to the fact that Leave believe in democracy and left them unmolested.

If UKIP demonstrators end up fighting then with whom will they be fighting ? Bet the BBC won't be reporting that.

Anonymous said...

I'm not marching today because Mr Cameron laid out in full the result of a Leave vote just before the referendum, and I expect our politicians to honour the Prime Minister's words.

"Your decision. Nobody else's. Not politicians. Not Parliament. Just you... And it will be the final decision... When the British people speak, their choice will be respected. If we vote to leave, then we will leave. There'll not be another renegotiation and another referendum.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA0JENFATjk

Thud said...

Fuck all I'd vote for there, teenage commie kumbyah carp.

E-K said...

I agree with Thud .

The conflation of fish with shit.

Sounds like Brexit to me.

andrew said...


This is an excellent ad for brexit (i know - yawn) - even as a remainer.

Most of these demands / claims seem to be written with the unconscious assumption that a govt 'allows' the citizen to do something and it is something you work 'within'.

The better parts of the UK landgeist sees govt as an 'enabler' and something you build 'on'

The difference is subtle, but I think it is a good part of what the more intelligent brexiteers (tim witherspoon, dyson) keep getting exercised over and why even if it makes the country poorer, it might be worth while.

The economist covered something similar a few weeks ago.

"Some years ago Fritz Scharpf, a political scientist, made a useful distinction between two sources of political legitimacy. Adapting Abraham Lincoln, his theory describes polities that gain “input legitimacy” by electing citizen representatives and then holding them directly accountable, ie, that offer government of and by the people. Others claim “output legitimacy” by enacting successful policies; ie, they offer government for the people."

Nick Drew said...

@ This is an excellent ad for brexit ... - even as a remainer. Most of these demands / claims seem to be written with the unconscious assumption that a govt 'allows' the citizen to do something and it is something you work 'within'

It gets worse - see the Piketty plan for euro-taxation

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/09/eu-brexit-piketty-tax-google-facebook-apple-manifesto

E-K said...

To be fair though, Nick.

This was an *anti Carbon Tax* demonstration and has been hijacked by various others but - more importantly - not called by its proper name by the BBC and various other EU news agencies.

So the unelected David Attenborough (aka the BBC) can go on as the People's Voice at global forum.

The BBC was quick to adopt the pejorative 'Bedroom Tax' (Welfare Reform Act) and the pejorative 'Poll Tax' (Capitation Tax) in order to help see them off.

Not so the Carbon Tax. So any discontent will be blamed on austerity and turned leftwards. The BBC et al will cherry pick the list you have given us and take all the "teenage commie kumbyah carp (sic)" as further evidence of 'what the people want'.

Again. Sorry to hog and repeat.

Nick Drew said...

Cherry-pick they may, Kev: but with Frexit in there, Kev, they have a dilemma

and the immigration demands will give them gyp, too (it comes across more strikingly in the French original)

these are a bit big to ignore

repeating myself too, but keep an eye on Momentum's reaction - so far it's a dog that isn't barking

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Peter MacFarlane said...

Looks a lot like the kind of free-stuff shopping list I used to argue about in sixth form debating society.

Probably about as well thought through, too.