Macron's Concessions Won't Satisfy Paris Protesters for Long
*By Chloe Aiello*
The famously stoic president of France may have conceded on fuel taxes to protesters, but his decision was most likely a product of circumstance, not an act of altruism. In this case, said Erin Zaleski of the Daily Beast, Emmanuel Macron had no one with whom he could negotiate. But small concessions, like a fuel tax moratorium, won't be enough to satisfy protesters who are wreaking havoc in the streets of Paris.
"People aren't impressed by this concession by the government. They are very suspicious. They are saying, 'Oh well, six months from now, they are just going to reimpose the taxes again so nothing will change,'" Zaleski said.
The protesters "are actually calling for another demonstration this Saturday," she added.
Macron's government on Tuesday announced France will suspend for six months a tax on gas and diesel, originally intended to go into effect in January. The decision follows widespread disruption in the nation's capital, [according the the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/world/europe/france-fuel-tax-yellow-vests.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage), from demonstrations that turned violent and destructive. At least three are dead and about 100 injured in clashes between police and yellow vest-clad protesters, called "Yellow Jackets" or "Gilets Jaunes," named for the for the roadside safety vests they wear.
The Gilets Jaunes movement, which is decentralized and organized online, seem to consist largely of working-class individuals who live and work on the outskirts of cities or in rural France and require their cars to commute. Alice Preat and Joseph Cavetz, students at the American University in Paris who witnessed the demonstrations, said the mix of protesters was remarkable.
"People from all over the country are coming to Paris to protest ー its not just Parisians, which is kind of unheard of in terms of Paris protests," Preat said.
"There's definitely a sense of unity in their cause of anti-Macron," Cavetz said. "In America you typically have some element of polarization where the far left and far right wouldn't attend the same protest, but here its a ... very spread out kind of opposition."
Macron's latest fuel tax would add a few cents per gallon to the price of gas to improve France's environmental rap sheet. It proved a breaking point for protesters, who aren't as concerned with environmental reform as they are disgruntled about stagnating wages and rising living costs.
"Generally French people of the lower social classes take issue with it because they feel that the government is hiding behind environmental policies in order to just tax the poor more," Preat said.
Like Zaleski, Preat was not convinced the protests in Paris would cease after Macron's gas tax moratorium. She added the events of the past few weeks would likely undermine his authority.
"His opposition is going to be able to use the violence over these past couple weekends as justification for any counter moves they want to take against him," she said.
Macron has not historically allowed the will of the people to influence his policy-making ー most recently when he faced opposition over the summer to his railway reforms. But this time is different, because Macron is alone at the negotiating table, Zaleski said.
"What's different in this instance is these aren't unions, these aren't companies to negotiate with. These are very loosely organized protests. It has actually sort of evolved into a movement ... there's no one to negotiate with, there's no company, these are the people in the streets," Zaleski said.
And the protests are especially poignant because they're happening in pristine, photogenic, and touristy central Paris.
"I think he sort of felt caught between a rock and a hard place, because the protesters don't seem to be backing down. And again the fact that this violence erupted in central Paris ... you see fires at the Champs Elysees, you see vandalism at the Place Vendome," Zaleksi said.
Terrell Jermaine Starr, senior fellow with the Atlantic Council and host of the Black Diplomats podcast joins Cheddar News to discuss Russia's attempt to invade Ukraine.
With an increasing number of teachers and staff calling out sick by the day, the state of Oklahoma is turning to an unusual solution. Republican Governor Kevin Stitt has issued an executive order that permits state employees to work as substitute teachers. Shaily Baranwal, founder and CEO of Elevate K-12, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the stance of the U.S. and its allies should Russia make any forays into Ukraine, a seeming response to President Biden's remarks that should Putin engage in something short of a full invasion, there might be some indecision among allied nations regarding what to do. Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the think tank Atlantic Council, joined Cheddar to discuss the difficulty faced by Blinken wrangling unity as tensions run high in the region. "There'll be a smaller incursion, and the president implied, there'll be a weaker response because our European allies have created this horrible situation where they are dependent on Moscow for their gas supply," Cohen explained.
During a nearly two-hour press conference on Wednesday, President Biden spoke on his accomplishments and challenges from the first year of his presidency, and what his administration hopes to accomplish in the coming year. However, his approval ratings are underwater as COVID remains a big concern for voters — as does inflation, noted Tom Bevan, co-founder and president of polling aggregator RealClearPolitics. "The public thinks [inflation] is priority number one, and the administration is concerned about it, they talk about it, but they're not spending enough time on it as far as the public is concerned," said Bevan.
The drama surrounding tennis star Novak Djokovic continues after he was deported from Australia over the weekend due to the nation's COVID-19 vaccine requirements. Djokovic was forced to leave the country on the eve of what was to be his first match in defense of his Australian Open title after three judges ruled in favor of his removal and revealed their reasoning for doing so. Adding to his woes, a law recently passed in France is putting his chances of defending his French Open title in jeopardy. The director of Marist's Center for Sports Communication, Jane McManus, joined Cheddar to discuss the ongoing fallout.
As the midterm elections get ever closer, candidates have been getting creative with their campaigns to stick out and to connect with voters. Gary Chambers, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Louisiana, has definitely attracted attention with an advertisement featuring him smoking a blunt, making a point about the inequity of anti-cannabis laws. "We wanted to bring the seriousness of the moment," he said of the ad. "But we also wanted to make sure that people understand that there are 19 states that are legal right now but Black people and brown people are being over-incarcerated in mostly Southern and Midwestern states in America for cannabis possession."
If some members of Congress have their way, there might finally be a 'TLDR' on sites' terms of service, introduced by the terms-of-service labeling, design, and readability act – or TLDR for short. With this act, users will actually understand what they're agreeing to or the many ways in which their data is being used before pressing 'accept.' J.D. sat down with co-sponsor of the bill and Senator Bill Cassidy, to discuss.
President Joe Biden's first year in office is wrapping up. What has he achieved, and what else remains on the table while the Democrats have control of Washington? Amid an ongoing pandemic and rising inflation, Biden's approval rating is at an all-time low and his party is plagued by infighting. Will he be able to continue pushing key parts of his agenda? Paul Glastris, former Bill Clinton speechwriter & Editor-in-chief of 'Washington Monthly,' joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the president's achievements in his first year, where he's fallen short, and what he must do in order to get more of his agenda signed into law.
Tech giants Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Apple are faced with a bipartisan antitrust legislation effort underway in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The companies stand accused of promoting their own goods and services over smaller competitors on their platforms, holding too much monopolistic power via their app stores and services. Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of Chamber of Progress, a technology industry trade group, joined Cheddar to argue that the bills that are being debated currently could end up hurting consumers, rather than helping.
