The explosions in Paris and the march of tens of thousands of people are exposing a serious crisis in the West!

The original goal of the "Yellow Vests" movement was actually very simple, that is, to oppose the government's proposed carbon tax on fuels. The tax reform is part of the French government's implementation of the relevant provisions of the 2015 Paris Climate Treaty.

According to the European Commission, diesel and petrol prices in France have now reached 1.46 euros and 1.55 euros per liter, significantly higher than the EU average of 1.38 euros and 1.39 euros. Diesel gasoline is a necessity of life, involving thousands of households, so this measure caused dissatisfaction among the general public, followed by a wave of social protests.

Although there are only a few hundred thousand or more protesters on the streets, the supporters of sympathizers are all over society. According to polls, 80 percent supported the protests.

The "Yellow Vest" movement, which broke out on November 17, 2018, is held every Saturday in Paris in conjunction with other major French cities, and the protests have entered their ninth week. Compared with the social trends that have occurred in France in the past, this "yellow vest" movement has many unique features worth noting.

First, the wave of protests was "spontaneous" and no formal organizers could be found.

Due to the sheer size of the "Yellow Vests" movement and the complexity of the participants, the entire operation was in a state of serious loss of control, and the only sign was the "Yellow Vest" worn by the protesters. According to the general law, protests like this, which occur every year, basically end before Christmas. This time, after New Year's Day, it made a comeback, with a greater momentum and a great potential for long-term combat.

Second, the wave of protests is highly violent.

Although a large number of police officers were dispatched to suppress the bullets, batons, tear gas, and explosion-proof water cannons seemed to have no effect, burning cars, smashing restaurants, robbing shops... Paris became a scarred battlefield. According to figures announced by Paris police, a total of 133 people were injured in the december 1 riots last year, including 23 police personnel, and a total of 421 perpetrators were arrested. Public opinion generally believes that this is the worst riot since the "May Storm" in 1968.

Third, the goals of the protest movement continue to deepen.

The initial requirement was to abolish the fuel surcharge, which was a relatively simple objective. Later, the protests expanded to oppose the government's reform program and dissatisfaction with the decline in living standards of the population at large. President Macron decisively took a concession in the face of the protests. In a televised address, he responded positively to the demands of the Yellow Vest campaign, announcing four measures including: the elimination of a carbon tax on fuel; An increase of €100 in the minimum monthly wage; Overtime pay for employees is no longer taxed; Require enterprises to pay year-end bonuses to employees and not pay taxes; For retirees earning less than 2,000 euros per month, social security contribution tax will no longer be raised. However, these reassuring measures have not been echoed by protesters. The people involved in the "Yellow Vest" movement then put forward a 48-point appeal list to Macron, covering many fields such as people's livelihood, democracy, economy, and education. This was also difficult to imagine in the past, and it is clear that those in power are ill-prepared for the profundity of the movement.

Fourth, the wave of protests is moving towards "universality."

The main participants in the "Yellow Vest" movement were originally groups such as truck drivers, but as the movement deepened, the group of participants continued to expand, and now there are incidents of middle school students blocking schools, peasant complaints have also taken to the streets, the dissatisfaction of judges and lawyers is rising, and even the police who confront street protesters and maintain urban order have joined the protest team. Now, not only "yellow vests", but also other colors of "vests" have also used the Internet to express different demands. The "yellow vest" has actually become synonymous with the protests of the whole society in France.

Fifth, the "yellow vest" movement has a tendency to politicize.

In the past, the various social protest waves in France were often not political, that is to say, in addition to the participation of trade union organizations, political parties often avoided suspicion and deliberately avoided getting involved (in fact, it is difficult to avoid involvement). The "yellow vest" movement began without political color, and even the initiators, organizers and planners could not be found. However, as the movement developed, the politicization became increasingly strong, especially the ultra-right National Alliance (i.e., the National Front before the renaming) and the radical left-wing organization "Indomitable France" and other explicit support and advice. Especially with the European parliamentary elections imminent in May this year, all parties should use the "yellow vests" to accumulate strength and seize votes.

Sixth, the political goals of the protest movement have become clearer.

The yellow vest's initial demands were simply the abolition of fuel surcharges, followed by economic demands such as higher incomes, and more recently the explicit demands of the yellow vests to the government were to oppose the French rulers (French President Emmanuel Macron himself), oppose current policies, and oppose the established political system (that is, democratically elected representative system). Popular movements of a similar nature, probably the first time since World War II, have emerged in France, and are potentially irrepromising. Therefore, the spearhead of the "yellow vest" movement since the beginning of this year has been directly directed at the seat of the government, the National Assembly and other institutions.

Seventh, the targets of the "Yellow Vests" campaign are directed at the mainstream media.

Many protesters have pointed their finger at the mainstream media through the Internet, believing that the French mainstream media has focused too much on the violence of the demonstrators and deliberately ignored the violence of the police against the demonstrators. Protests have targeted the media and journalists since the beginning of this year. The influence of the French mainstream media on the movement was greatly weakened. The media was originally a channel of communication between protesters and officials, but now in a sense it is even "adding fuel to the fire" counter-effect. At the same time, French network information has hit the entire public opinion field with unprecedented violence and is becoming an important source of information for the French people.

Eighth, populism shrouded the "yellow vest" movement.

The rise of populism in France is already an indisputable fact, in the 2017 presidential election, the far-right National Front exalted populism to seduce the people, defeated all traditional left and right parties in a round of voting, ranked second, and competed with Macron, who was "not left and not right" and morale was strong, which lost the presidency, but the ghost of populism has not dissipated. The loudest slogan of the "Yellow Vests" movement is "referendum by the people", which is to challenge the current structure of the state, and the demonstrators have proposed, "Our elected representatives voted to make decisions against our interests", asked the French authorities to conduct a series of referendums, referendums on decisions involving the interests of the people as a whole, and the voting topics were also directly raised by citizens, and even borrowed radical left organizations to propose the establishment of a "Sixth Republic".

The above eight characteristics show that the French "yellow vest" movement is not a single social protest demonstration, but a "great combination of resentment, anger, humiliation and despair".

In fact, France's economic and social crisis has a long history.

As one of the seven major developed countries in the West, After World War II, France had a period of rapid development of "brilliant thirty years". With the economic growth, France has established a complete social welfare system, which can operate in the period of rapid economic development. However, since the 1970s, France has entered a period of economic slowdown, the social insurance deficit has been rising year after year, the national treasury has become increasingly empty, and the high welfare is unsustainable, so the public complains.

The biggest drawback of high social welfare is that the labor costs of enterprises continue to increase, and the competitiveness of enterprises and countries in the international market gradually declines, with the result that after entering the 1980s, France's economic growth has been hovering at a low speed for a long time, or even retrogressive, the government debt is high, the unemployment rate is high, and the purchasing power of households continues to decline. As a result, social discontent has increased greatly, and social movements have become frequent and turbulent.

Macron held high the banner of reform and entered the Presidential Palace of the Elysee Palace. In the first and a half years of administration, major actions such as the reform of the Labor Law and the reform of the state railway sector were also introduced, but a fuel surcharge reform hit the southern wall, the "yellow vest" movement deepened, Macron became the target of public criticism, and after more than a month of social movement, "Macron's resignation" became the core slogan of the protest movement.

The real reason why france has difficulty implementing reforms is not the lack of understanding and support of the people, but the lack of real motivation for reform by those in power. This situation is not determined by the quality and attitude of those in power, but by the French political system.

Since the founding of the Fifth French Republic in 1958, it has been 60 years, and the traditional two parties on the left and right have taken turns in power. Over the past 60 years, economic and social problems have become increasingly serious, but neither the Socialist Party nor the Conservative Party has been able to effectively change the passive situation.

Some rulers have made a small "reform" for a certain link, which is not complete, and only seeks political achievements and votes. In the long run, the broad masses of the people have been deeply resented by this inaction, repeatedly expressing protest and dissatisfaction through the votes in their hands.

In the 2017 presidential election, the traditional Conservative Party and the left-wing Socialist Party both fell in a round of voting, and the traditional two-party rotation of governance disintegrated. The "Yellow Vests" movement reflects the institutional crisis of French democracy.

Politically troubled France is in fact a microcosm of the West, an institutional crisis that exists in other countries as well. The rapid spread of the "yellow vest" movement in other European countries is a testament to this. At present, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and other countries are rapidly infected, and senior populist government officials in Italy have openly expressed sympathy and support for the "yellow vest" movement, and even in Canada and the United States.

The mainstream U.S. media recently warned that the same movement could emerge in the U.S. as the disgruntled population also expands. This kind of doubt and dissatisfaction has already had a sign in the United States in 2008, and the "Occupy Wall Street" movement in 2011 can be said to have set a precedent for the "yellow vest" movement. This shows that the "yellow vest" movement took place in France, but it reflects the shortcomings and crises of the Western democratic system as a whole.

The "Yellow Vest" movement also shows that Europe was once full of confidence in the democratic values it created, and now, the anti-authoritarian ideology and the failure of the traditional party system have made the European people deeply doubt the significance of traditional democratic values.

The inability of Europe's long-term economic recovery, the low ability of government to govern, the confusion in the face of difficulties, and the collapse of traditional values have gradually lost confidence and patience among the middle class that originally supported the existing democratic system. The centrifugation of the middle class has caused the political foundation of European countries to be shaken, so the traditional political structure has disintegrated, political and social turmoil, populism, anti-globalization and so on.

The glory of traditional politics no longer exists, and the revolutionary consciousness in the bones of the French people has made this dilemma manifest and expanded in France. This is also the reason why the "yellow vest" movement took the lead in France and spread to other countries in the West.