France in Flames: The Latest on the Riots

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What shocked me about the Yellow Jacket protests and riots a few years back was how few Americans were even aware of it. Today France is again dealing with a wave of protests that makes the Yellow Jacket uprising look like a parlor game.

If you read the stories, some media accounts call it protests, others call it riots.  This is an attempt to bring awareness to those who are unaware or who have only read headlines. I first share a dozen Tweets which show the variety of responses from unofficial observers. I follow this with two BBC references and then pull it together with comments from two explanations from people living in France whose identities I can't disclose.

First, some of the responses from Twitter. 

1.
It’s happening in France!!! 2 mayors mansions have been “burnt down” by protestors! 

The revolution, it seems will start in France. People are done with Macron. 
The protests are so so heavy that THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH POLICE to “contain” the protesters! 
Viva La Revolucion

2.

In western France, locals armed with baseball bats fight back against migrants looting shops and businesses, in scenes resembling outright civil war.

This is coming to the UK (and Ireland) soon, make no mistake about it. All by design, of course.

3.

U.K. leaving the E.U. looks better every year with the forced immigration policy.

4.

Who/what is behind this? It is not spontaneous as is being promoted. What is the global agenda here? Is it the Kochs, the billionaires?

5.

They’re chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ as they torch France.

6.

This can't be good for tourism, remember when protesters used come out in the daylight with peace signs and said make love not war!!!;

7.

(photo of fires, Arab men with AK-47s) This isn’t Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan. This is France where 9% of the population has brought down entire cities!

Where are CNN & BBC now?

8.

Rioters have set large residential building on fire in Grigny, France.

9.

The media gave us wall-to-wall nonstop propaganda coverage about the fake “Russia Coup” last week.
Now, they are silent about the coup and riots in France. Not surprised.

10.

There are reports about the death of a police officer who was lynched earlier in Nanterre. Here is another lynching of an alleged plainclothes policeman in France by Islamists, last night.

11. 

Zebras, giraffes and horses in streets after being let out of the zoo by rioting mobs in France

12.

Bus carrying Chinese tourists attacked in Marseille, France, amid ongoing riots.

* * * 

BBC:  France shooting: Clashes and tear gas in Marseille as chaos continues

BBC: A library was set ablaze on Friday night in a suburb of Metz in eastern France. The incident happened a day after a nearby concert hall and municipal building were ransacked. Metz Mayor François Grosdidier said firefighters who tried to reach the scene were attacked.  

* * * 

Unnamed Source Anthony
The French people are very unhappy with Macron's second term aggressive neoliberal Thatcherism. He only cares about GDP, consumption, full employment, financial objectives and the military. He also made a u-turn towards conservatism and top-down authoritarianism. This has been deeply irritating to the French for at least two years now, most of the population doesn't care about getting rich or consuming more, they care instead about saving the environment and improving their bodily and mental health and collective well-being. Forcing an unpopular productivist retirement reform down the population's throat was the last straw. The disenfranchised youth and ethnic minorities are specially hopeless. Intolerance and white-supremacy has been on the rise and the government does little to stop it.

Incapable of being in tune with current events, he slowly built a gigantic powder keg, just waiting for a reckless cop to light it up for him. I had predicted it would happen about 6 months ago, my only surprise is that the trigger event didn't happen earlier.

 

Unnamed Source Carla

In Lyon I saw a big fence in flames down on the ground floor of a building and the day after at the same place there was a motorcycle in flames almost burned! The quarter where I stayed was not in the center so it was calm and quiet. I only see the troubles on TV. They are people pretending to do it as a revenge for the killing of a young boy 17 years old who was trying to escape from the cops after some  speed excess by car. but in fact it's a protest against the retirement at 64 years. Some people are doing it just for the sake of robberies in the shops which sell food, hifi stuff, sport shoes that will go to  their families or be re-sold... mostly left wing people from immigration...

* * * * *

Interesting that Bob Dylan and his Never Ending Tour has been touring the EU and performed in France the 27th through the 30th. The times continue to be changing. 

Feel free to leave a comment if you have insights to help shed light on these events.

Local Artists Make Roundabout Art Tour A Happening

Toledo, Spain by Ken Hanson

Last night Cloquet/Carlton had an opening reception for what they called The Roundabout Art Tour. Eight locations collaborated to assemble this three hour tour of art venues. I dropped by three locations and am impressed, as always, by the variety as well as the discovery of new artists. You can read more about the who, what and where here on Facebook. These photos here were taken in the hour before dark last night.

* * * * *

The Pine Knot was my first stop with a display curated by Ann Markuson who gave a nod to Annie Dugan for her assistance in making this a great art space as well as work space. It fabulous stone walls gives it a historical feel, embellished by lots of art. For this occasion they had a series of paintings by Ken Hanson that had an almost Escher-esque vibe. There was also a large canvas that was transformed into a Pollinator Paint-by-Number community project. This was something new to me and a very clever idea. 

In other parts of the tour there was pottery, photography, crafts, portrait paintings and more. Here's some of what I saw.

Avignon, France

Rome, Italy

Adam Swanson? Very nice.

"Taj Mahal" -- Bill Wise watercolor
(See more at williamwiseart.com)

Chairs and more... down on the corner, on display 24/7

Kris Nelson's Theater seats for Psycho.

In the pop-up space on the corner.

Artist Margie Helstrom adds color to the Pollinator Paint-by-Number.
I added a few details to the body of the bee.

Kudos to everyone involved who made this event happen. 
Special shout-out to all art teachers and Kris Nelson.

Ars longa, vita brevis. 

Don't let your creative urges whither on the vine.

A Rewarding Visit with Charlie McCoy, A Hero of Nashville's A-Team

Charlie McCoy

What do "Desolation Row", Blonde On Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline and Dylan's Self Portrait have in common? Charlie McCoy helped each of these come to fruition as a session musician in the Sixties. 

What do Elvis Presley, Simon & Garfunkel, Perry Como, Roy Orbison, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Ringo Starr, Tanya Tucker, Nancy Sinatra, Gordon Lightfoot, Manhattan Transfer , Jerry Lee Lewis, Waylon Jennings, Chet Atkins, Ray Stevens and many others have in common? Charlie McCoy played harmonica on one or more of their recordings.   

He's also played bass with Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bobby Goldsboro, Charlie Rich and others.... and guitar work with many more, not to mention many other instruments with countless others. And most remarkably, he's still working in the music business, now more than 60 years.

In addition to all this session work with other artists, Charlie McCoy has recorded dozens of albums of his own -- 44 or 45 in all -- including his 1972 Grammy winner The Real McCoy. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, his resume includes an 18 year stint as Music Director for the syndicated TV show "Hee Haw".

* * *

I was introduced to Charlie McCoy by means of Nevada Bob Gordon who last year recorded his album Long Train to Nowhere in Nashville with Charlie as one of the session musicians. When I learned earlier this year that Nevada Bob was returning to Nashville to record a fifth album, I asked if he would again be working with Charlie McCoy. He said yes, so I asked for a favor. 

One of my favorite Bob Dylan books is Daryl Sanders' That Thin Wild Mercury Sound, which I read twice this past year. This book is rich with detail about nearly every aspect of the making of Blonde On Blonde. I would suggest that Sanders' book was the trigger that made me want to reach out to McCoy if he were accessible.

The interview, a mid-day phone conversation, took place on June 14 at 1:00 p.m. McCoy set the time and I privately created a loose agenda. After a brief greeting he set the tone with these opening lines: "I’ve been blessed. I’ve met great people. I still have my health, am still working until the man in the mirror says it’s time."

Nevada Bob @ the Burger Bar
Bristol, Tennessee

Charlie McCoy was born in Oak Hill, West Virginia. "The New River Gorge is there," he said, following up with, "Hank Williams died here." 

(EdNote: Photographer Gary Firstenberg and Nevada Bob have been taking a road trip through country and blues history these past few weeks. This photo of Bob Gordon was taken Thursday at the Burger Bar in Bristol, TN where Hank Williams's driver bought a burger. Hank Williams refused the food but continued popping pain pills in the back seat of his Cadillac. Williams died an hour later at Oak Hill up the road.)

I turned the conversation to Daryl Sanders' book.

“Daryl worked hard on that book,” McCoy said. "When it came to the making of Blonde On Blonde Bob didn’t know what to expect.” With John Wesley Harding Dylan “was more confident and ready. The session times were very efficient. The entire album was cut in nine and a half hours."

We turned our conversation to some of Charlie's career highlights and whom he considered some of the best people to work with. Elvis was mentioned first in conjunction with what he labeled the "Memphis Marathon." 

Charlie McCoy, 2021

"We recorded five albums in one week. Mostly movie soundtracks. Every song was his choice," McCoy said. "Normally he had a regular group that played with him. Unfortunately, the movie company changed the schedule and the regulars were booked on other projects," he explained. "Me, Kenny Buttrey and Pig Robbins got the call. We went in not knowing what to expect."

"What was Elvis like?" I asked.

"When Elvis entered a room, he commanded attention. He had a 'presence'... The first thing he did, he walked to each of the musicians and shook hands. 'Thank you for helping me,' he'd say."

McCoy said that Elvis considered the studio his safe place. Outside on the street he was too harried and harassed by fans.

The conversation shifted to McCoy's life in music. “I’m way overeducated musically for this music. I went to the best music school in Florida," he said. 

His life philosophy could be summed up with these words of wisdom: “Apply what you know to the problem at hand.”

We returned to the work he did with Dylan. I mentioned that I was surprised at how stripped down the John Wesley Harding album was. "Very stripped down," he said. "It took only 9 ½ hours to record that album. Dylan was a lot more laid back."  

 

McCoy in Normandie, France, 1990.

"Who were the most interesting people whom you worked with?" I asked.

After some thought Charlie replied…. "The Statler Brothers… more goofing off and more great work. Some, like Marie Osmond, never said a word.  Some really didn’t need a producer. Johnny Cash was totally in charge. Paul Simon was another who was totally in charge. When you look back at his career, he was right."

* * *

“A great musician got his break to Nashville.”-- Charlie McCoy on Dylan 

The story of "Desolation Row" begins with Bob Johnston. I’d always believed Bob Dylan came to Nashville because of  Charlie McCoy’s involvement in the making of "Desolation Row." But McCoy deflected any efforts to credit him for Dylan’s choosing to record in Nashville. "Bob Johnston made that happen," he said.

McCoy provided a little background saying Johnston’s career began as a writer, writing songs for Elvis movies. He pitched some songs to Columbia and he was asked “Did you produce these?” Johnston replied yes, having produced “Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte” which had been nominated for an Academy Award. Columbia asked him to come to New York. Shortly after his arrival someone said, “Come over to Studio B. I’d like you to meet someone.” It was Bob Dylan.

McCoy only briefly commented on the making of Desolation Row. “Eleven minutes of acoustic guitar. The whole time I kept thinking, 'What would Grady Martin do?'” 

(Martin, for those unfamiliar, was a veteran session guitarist on Nashville’s A-Team who played on hits such as Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and Marty Robbins’ “El Paso.”)

Charlie McCoy (L) with Nevada Bob

I asked McCoy what’s been happening today in Nashville. “There are so many fine studio musicians here now. I don’t care that I’m not working with mainstream artists now. Still having fun. We did a whole album with a fellow in Germany. Another with an artist from the Czech Republic."

He wasn’t afraid to make a few critical remarks about today’s music. “What troubles me is that the Internet allows anything of the poorest quality to get made. I want to hear people with a pulse and talent.”

In a wry curmudgeonly manner he took a poke at rap. “Rap music? I don’t use those two words in the same sentence.”

Another change in Nashville is this. “Construction is out of control. The side effect is traffic.” One reason for this growth, he said, was that there’s no state income tax.

McCoy moved to Nashville in 1960. 61 years later and he’s still at it. When we did this interview he was getting ready to fly to  Provence, France to do session work with the #2 recording artist in France, Eddy Mitchell. 

Related Links

That Thin Wild Mercury Sound by Daryl Sanders Turns Readers into Blonde On Blonde Insiders

Website of Charlie McCoy

PHOTO CREDITS
Gary Firstenberg: Nevada Bob Gordon at the Burger Bar and Charlie McCoy with Nevada Bob
Roland Godefroy: Charlie McCoy in Normandie, France. Creative Commons.

Cate Blanchett As Elizabeth Gives Us Much to Think About and Appreciate

This is not really a review of Elizabeth: The Golden Age, but more or less a few observations and an excuse to share a few photos of the costumes Cate Blanchett wore in this film. Purportedly it is a historical biography, but according to the critics, it's more historical fiction. Though it failed to obtain the viewer acclaim of its predecessor (Elizabeth, also starring Cate Blanchett) it does have some elements of note.

When Cate Blanchett's star began to rise in the East, it seemed the heir to Queen Meryl's throne had appeared. Streep has unquestionably been one of the standouts of her generation of actresses. He range seems to know no bounds. Similarly, Cate Blanchett has tackled a similar variety of challenges and seems to excel at them all. (Bonus points for having been Bob Dylan.)

The significance of the film may be that it zeroes in on two of history's major turning points, the destruction of Spain's dominance of the high seas and the birth of what would become a 300 year global empire, and the establishment of Protestantism and the ouster of Catholicism. 

I can't say the film moved me to my innards, but will note that the cinematography was stunning at times and Cate Blanchett's costumes were fit for a queen.

The film did raise questions for me. Did queens also have to dress so extravagantly? Do they ever get to wear "comfortable clothes"?  How many hours a day did Ms. Blanchett have to spend getting ready for each day's shooting?

These were the days when it was still believed the kings and queens were divine, which was at odds with what the Reformers were saying. Elizabeth herself questions the notion.

The conflict between Catholics and Protestants had begun to rage in many parts of Europe. The Huguenot Wars were taking place in France, and the Inquisition had been continuing in Spain. Against this backdrop, many of Elizabeth's advisors wanted her to take action against the Catholics in England. Elizabeth, in her wisdom, sees no advantage in creating more conflict by "forcing" the people to be "politically correct", Anglican and not Catholic. (Sadly this did become the law of the land.)  Elizabeth is adamant and takes a stand for freedom of thought and belief. She is opposed to any kind of inquisition-like response to weed out Catholics. "Fear creates fear. I am not ignorant of the dangers, sir. But I will not punish my people for their beliefs. Only for their deeds. I am assured that the people of England love their Queen. My constant endeavor is to earn that love."  (Great lines. If only all leaders would do likewise.)

* * * 

Related Link

The Spanish Inquisition Had a Chilling Effect on Freedom of Speech 

Yellow Vest Update: Is It Growing or Running Out of Gas?

When the Yellow Vests disruption began in France late last fall I was surprised at how little the media here were covering it. It was a friend who brought it to my attention and at the time I would follow on Twitter using the hashtag #YellowJackets. The problem with this particular moniker is that a number of U.S. schools also used the same hashtag because Yellow Jackets is their mascot.

To get a handle on what had been happening I contacted Dr. Pedro Albuquerque who lives in Marseilles and teaches economics at the university there. He gave this report at the time. In light of the ongoing violence and weekend disruptions I reached out for an update.

EN: Is the Yellow Vest movement growing or running out of gas?

Pedro Albuquerque: It appears to be the case. The official count of participants in their first Saturday of protests was 288,000, against their lowest participation ever last Saturday (April 27) of only 23,600. A significant proportion of the protesters still active tend to have anarchist or mobbing tendencies, one example is the conspicuous participation lately of "black blocks" (mobs of violent protesters dressing black masks).

EN: Do the Yellow Vests have an agenda? Or is it essentially a manifestation of nationwide discontent?

PA: It is clearly an amalgam of discontents of all kinds, powered by social media. They have been until now unable to coalesce around any clear political agenda. You will find among its participants people from all political tendencies, with the only common feature that they tend to have extremist views.

EN: I’ve read that the Yellow Vests don’t trust the Media. Would you concur or is that just a journalist making hay?

PA: Opinion polls clearly show that they trust the media significantly less than the average French citizen, and that they get most of their information through social media networks only. Some researchers also found that they tend to believe in conspiracy theories much more intensely than citizens with moderate political views. They tend to have similar worldviews of those in the U.S. who use the term "globalists" as a slur, but with some added local colors, for example, according to a poll, about half of self-identified Yellow Vests believe that a Zionist conspiracy controls the world.

EN: There is very little coverage in the U.S. of what is happening in France. Why do you think this is?

PA: I think that this is due to the many other issues that can be considered equally or probably more important by those in charge of European news coverage. Brexit has been occupying press space for a few years now, and quite justifiably. I would say that close to Brexit the Yellow Vest movement is much less relevant. President Macron has also been quite skillful at occupying press space with other pressing matters, as exemplified by his call for Notre Dame Cathedral reconstruction donations, and by the "Great National Debate," the many rounds of nationwide town hall meetings which took place as an answer to the Yellow Vest movement.

EN: What will it take to bring these protests to a suitable conclusion? I can’t help but see a deepening bitterness emerging from the violence.

PA: My impression is that this movement will probably stabilize as it is right now, and will continue to exist for as long as their three main social media networks of reference, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, will remain functioning as they function today. I think the more interesting question is: what will governments do about those social media corporations, which are now recognized around the world as extremely significant disturbance factors in local politics. On this subject, see for example the excellent TED talk of Carole Cadwalladr available at:
https://www.ted.com/talks/carole_cadwalladr_facebook_s_role_in_brexit_and_the_threat_to_democracy

EN: Thank you for your time, insights and perspective.

Photos were grabbed from videos on Twitter.

Update: Yellow Vests Continue to Rock France

In December I attempted to draw attention to the Yellow Vest protests, in part as a means of understanding what was going on and, in part, in an effort to at least help make people aware of what had been taking place in France. Considering how few Americans seem even aware of these protests and have little to no understanding of the issues still, I am sharing this update.

Depending on your source, last weekend was the 18th or 19th week of Yellow Vest protests. It was one of the more violent weekends, the saddest part being the destruction that took place on the Champs-Elysees, at the heart of Paris.

If interested in following what is happening here, I recommend using Twitter as a news feed of sorts. Go to Twitter.com and in the Search button type in #YellowVests.

Here is a March 18 story from the BBC:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47609978

Here is a story about Paris violence, from VOX:
https://www.vox.com/vox-sentences/2019/3/18/18271678/vox-sentences-yellow-vest-protests-paris-violence

Here's a Tweet I captured yesterday:

Here is a March 18 story from The Atlantic about France's "Rebels Without A Cause":
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/03/france-yellow-vest-protesters-want/585160/

Here is my original story in November with helpful insights from an Economics scholar in Marseilles:
https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2018/12/whats-all-this-buzz-about-yellow.html

Twitter Feed -- #YellowVests
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Yellowvests&src=typd

This Mike Huckabee editorial expresses concerns about how the Green New Deal could backfire and produce a similar disruption here. It should be noted that the trigger event in France was a 12 cent gas hike.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/03/19/green_new_deal_would_spark_yellow_vest-style_protests_139779.html

Wikipedia gives an extensive overview of the backstory and current events.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_movement

I believe that what is happening in France is of major significance and that leaders worldwide are paying close attention to the events unfolding on this world stage.

LikeWar, Sock Puppets and Fake News: Social Media as a Weapon of Disruption

This past week I started listening to another powerful, and frightening, audiobook called LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media by P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking.

I'm going to be writing about some of the particulars of this well-researched and well-documented volume, so this blog post is just a warm up. Here's from an Amazon review by Jon Foro:

Were you looking for more reasons to worry about the future, or the present? LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media will fuel your nightmares. P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking’s treatise travels well beyond the disinformation and fake news we’re all now familiar with (right?), addressing the ways the internet and our social networks will be deployed in actual war: recruiting terrorists, inflicting sabotage remotely on a vast scale, and even Matrix-grade reality manipulation.

Bottom line: Disruption is coming and we are not ready. Have you been following the Yellow Jackets situation in France? I find it pretty disconcerting, even scary. Have you ever been caught up in a mob where there is total chaos and violence? Who decides what is best for everyone?

In France, for example, the purpose of the fuel tax is to address Global Warming by penalizing driving. We see it all the time where taxes are used to help modify behavior. If government can't stop smokers, they can tax it heavily.

But the mob, I mean the People, do not want to deal with global warming in this fashion and are rioting, smashing things, flexing their muscles. Like children who get their way by throwing tantrums, what else will they demand that is not in their best interest?

That is an oversimplification, and the current situation is taking place in the now, so this book does not talk about it. Rather, it talks about the power of social media to destabilize, to breed hate, distrust, and stupidity.

The authors take readers on a deep dive into what was really happening during the last presidential election. The Soviet Union was indeed meddling here, but for different reasons than you might expect. The gullibility of extremists on all sides leads to re-Tweets so that incredible (Fake) stories gain traction by being passed along by legitimate "friends." For example, one story that got millions of shares was about the Pope endorsing Donald Trump. This originated in a Macedonian fake news farm where people were being paid to come up with as many outrageous stories per day as possible. Some catch a wave and others don't.

The amount of money devoted to Fake News (or Social Media warfare) in the Soviet Union was 40 million one year and 400 million the next. How much does the U.S. spend on propagation of its own news, fake news, spin doctoring?

Amazon reader/reviewer vickip007 writes:
LikeWar is the manual for warfare in the 21st century, a worthy successor to Singer's Ghost Fleet, and excellent debut work for Brooking. It belongs on the shelf of anyone who wants to seriously understand how war will be fought and social policy developed in the era of Facebook and Twitter.

There is a particularly urgent need for this book at a time when most tacticians have their eyes firmly fixed on enhancing cybersecurity through the protection of systems and hardware. While this is undeniably important, LikeWar reminds us that the information that is transmitted over that infrastructure is no less, and possibly quite a bit more important than the infrastructure itself. This message has never been more urgent than today when democratic nations struggle with balancing the need for an open civil society against the risks of foreign subversion and influence. This is the next great battle. It will be fought in the trenches of Facebook and the swamps of Twitter - wise commanders will bring LikeWar with them as field guide.

Amazon reader/review Michael Burnam-fink wrote:
Computer networks and smart phones connect billions of people, allowing ideas to flow faster than ever before in history. Sometimes, the results can be impressive. The Chiapas Zapatista movement in 1994 was a dial-up and fax version of a network insurgency that managed to bring enough international opprobrium on Mexico that the government blinked, and reached some kind of political accord (Chiapas is complicated). More recently, Eliot Higgins and a team of open source analysts at Bellingcat managed to track down the exact BUK missile system and Russian soldiers responsible for shooting down MH 17 in 2014.

But there are a lot of dark sides. When people connect, the emotion that spreads most rapidly is anger. Lies spread five times faster than truth. Musicians can use social networks to directly connect with their fans, and ISIS uses it to connect with alienated Muslim youths worldwide. Social networks sort diverse citizens into filter bubbles of people who think alike. Eliot Higgin's careful open source intelligence has a paranoid fun-house mirror version in the QAnon conspiracy, where Qultist decoders find hidden messages from an alleged 'senior white house source'...

The future is if anything, darker. Advances in machine learning and AI allow ever more realistic bots, computer generated DeepFakes where a politician can be programmed to say anything, and personalized targeting of people with exactly the propaganda they'll believe.


* * * *
One chapter goes into detail about Sock Puppet Accounts. Sock puppet accounts are nicknamed as such because they conceal the hand that moves the mouth. This Ed Gent article about sock puppets in New Scientist begins like this:
“Sock puppets” are the scourge of online discussion . Multiple accounts controlled by the same user can dominate comment forums and spread fake news. But now there’s a way to unmask the puppeteers.

The title of this naked security by Sophos article says it all: Twitter struggles to deal with the sock puppet and bot armies.

I agree with M Wilper's comments:
A rare book that offers key insights into the history unfolding in front of us. The authors synthesize the widespread manipulation of social media by various powers seeking to skew popular opinion in their favor. The story is very troubling, but I hope that this book and more like it will help us produce the antibodies we need to neutralize the danger.

* * * *
My only concern about the book is regarding how relevant it will be in five years.  I find it to be exceedingly important, however, especially at this current moment in time, for which reason I have asked for it as a Christmas present. I'm currently 2/3s of the way through and find the information exceedingly informative and accessible.

Related Links
The online threat that cybersecurity teams don’t cover
A military expert explains why social media is the new battlefield
The Machines That Will Fight the Social Media Wars of Tomorrow

What's All This Buzz About Yellow Jackets? Here's the Straight Dope from France.

May Day Protests 1971

This past month I made a decision to finally get around to writing about my experience as part of the May Day 1971 anti-war protest. To some extent it was traumatic due to all the violence I witnessed. In another sense it was uniquely my own, inasmuch as I approached it with my own unformed and uninformed personal perspectives, with also contributed to some of my inconclusive conclusions along with a few personal lessons that I've carried with me to this day.

One of these lessons is a total distrust as regards mob violence being something that "just happens." In DC 1971 there were organizers who spent 2 years orchestrating the main event that served to draw people to the Capitol for that weekend.

To this day I am suspicious when I hear that a mob has risen up in concert to protest this thing or that. Or that a "caravan" has organized itself spontaneously to "break in" to America.

Two weeks ago a friend from France who lives here in the States asked if I'd been following the news regarding the "Yellow Jackets." I had not. And if you're like I was two weeks ago, then you may wish to read a few links at the end of this article.

Basically, the past four weekends now tens of thousands of people have been putting on yellow vests and protesting. The gathering masses have become mobs who are burning cars, smashing windows, looting. If you are on Twitter you can do a search for >Yellow Jackets< and follow the story.

Photo by Randy Colas on Unsplash

To gain more insight on the Yellow Jacket uprising, I contacted Pedro H. Albuquerque, Associate Professor of Economics at the KEDGE Business School (Bordeaux and Marseille) and asked if he would provide more insight for American readers.

Pedro Albuquerque: So you saw all this mayhem about the Yellow Jackets, yep, quite impressive news. New phenomenon on that scale in a rich country. We had Tienanmen Square, Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street as precedents, but this scale is totally new.

EN: Is there a "leader" of the Yellow Jackets?

PA: NO and YES. If you are thinking in terms of traditional political leaders, according to the established laws and practices of the French Republic, the answer is NO. Many tried to appropriate this social movement and become their leaders, for example, extreme left, extreme right and conservative political leaders, union leaders, celebrities etc. but none had any success. It's a movement driven by irrational feelings of anger and hate against the "system" and against "globalization," with very little common ground and values otherwise. The carbon tax was just a convenient trigger. So no, they have no leaders. But still, YES, they have a leader, in the sense of new politics driven almost purely by social media, and his name is Mark Zuckerberg. We just do not know to which extent Zuckerberg is a willing or accidental leader. As in the recent case of Brexit, this is yet to be found out.

EN: Is it mob rule?

PA: Again, the answer is NO and YES. NO, because there's an endogenously arising order determined mostly by the usage rules of Facebook, and also by the usage rules of Twitter and YouTube to a lesser extent. And YES because once groups of people in this movement converge on the streets towards the forces of law enforcement, the result is almost inevitably mob rule.

EN: If the government can't cover the cost of necessities, what does the public intend to see as outcome?

PA: I don't think this is really a question of necessities, most of the Yellow Jackets, by the standards of poor and middle income countries, would be considered well-off. Studies show that most did not enjoy reductions or significant reductions in purchasing power, it is mostly about perceived realities than it is about economic realities. But their perceptions are real for two reasons: compared to other regions of Europe, people living in rural or far suburban areas of European metropolitan centers know that their incomes have been progressing much less fast than those of people living in cities, and they also know that their infrastructure of services does not see the same advancements which can be seen in urban centers, and in some cases they have even seen the collapse of public services. They also get the feeling that some global industries, like tech, finance and upscale services like movies, have accumulated most of the wealth creation of the last 30 years. This has created an enormous anger towards government and sometimes also towards rich, highly educated, or foreign people living in advanced countries, meaning, anger towards any group that succeeded or have benefited from the social and technological developments of the last 30 years.

I do not think that the government will have any problem offering the Yellow Jackets financial and political "gifts" as it promised, After all,  some have estimated that active participants in this movement represent only 0.8% of the population. The real problem is that the socially destructive and politically chaotic dynamics created by social media platforms, as seen during the election of Donald Trump, the Brexit referendum in the UK, the election of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, and now the Yellow Jackets in France, are going to become only more disruptive and more pervasive around the world. We should expect then to see the same happening in any other country, at any moment, triggers and timing depending mostly on the decisions made by the top management of social media megacorporations. Only time will tell if, as a result, democracies will fall or will learn and adapt by curbing the power and socially destructive effects of social media megacorporations on society.

EN: Thank you for this perspective on recent events in France. 

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Related Links
BuzzFeed's In Depth Overview
Yellow Jackets on the Twitterfeed
Ramifications of the Riots