WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, Monde Libertaire - Ideas and Struggles: Sociology of the Yellow Vests (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Roundabouts and Solidarity ---- The Yellow Vests movement began on

November 17, 2018, initially to protest the introduction of a tax on
diesel fuel: a historic event due to its diversity, complexity, and
unexpected nature. The roundabouts, toll barriers, and city streets
occupied by these women and men have baffled politicians and other
political scientists. For Antoine Bernard de Raymond and Sylvain
Bordiec, authors of the book Sociology of the Yellow Vests, Reproduction
and Social Struggles published by Le Bord de l'eau in 2024, this
movement "does not allow itself to be easily grasped by the usual
categories of politics, by the categories of established politics. Also,
those who hastily tried to reduce it to ready-made categories ("left",
"right", "populism") were disappointed."

A kind of enigma for the rationalists of political life. They are of
working-class origin, poorly educated, with little political experience,
without formal organization or leaders and these individuals create a
collective mobilization. They attack the state organization, rather than
the employers. They are interested in the phenomenon of social
reproduction and intergenerational inequalities. And they mobilize on
the roundabouts, the authors develop the symbolism of these places. The
roundabout, a meeting and mobilization device to "dare". In addition,
the heterogeneity of the whole is maintained thanks to the constitution
of small groups which federate, transform themselves, build their
reflection around their social status.

The weight of compulsory expenses

Daily life drives commitment. A fact that creates a trigger, the
question of the car in this case, of the fuel that conditions the social
life of the family. The floor in the book is often given to women who
emphasize the increase in household budgets, that of compulsory
expenses. The cry of protest against fiscal injustice. "We must limit
the MAX of income for the State." A parallel could be established
between fuel considered as an essential good just like bread under the
Ancien Régime, all things considered. All basic products are affected,
What is left as "remains to live"? Young people cannot get by and
intergenerational solidarity plays a role. How to respond to the desire
for social advancement?

A "crisis of governmentality"?

Faced with this social crisis, the contempt for power that continues
even today, the "elites" are totally disconnected from society.
Throughout the pages, the testimonies collected by the authors support
the reflection. How to live in the event of accidents in life, those at
work? How to build local solidarity? There are few social relationships
between locals and uprooted people. Finally, the roundabout, through its
function as a passage, creates links, "a fraternal assembly" of people
who did not know each other. We discuss, we deliberate, we decide on the
actions to be taken. Strategies to avoid political divisions, the fight
against the leadership of "loudmouths" draw perspectives during the
dismantling of the roundabouts. The Commercy Appeal sparked intense
debates as did the Yellow Vests charter. Let us recall the demands for a
popular control mechanism of the leaders. They reflect a "crisis of
governmentality". The permanent debates, the exchanges on fragmented
themes confuse the media, which always seek simplification and have
contributed to institutional contempt. "Beyond the distance from lived
realities, official speeches sound to the Yellow Vests like an
incomprehensible foreign language."

They attack the State and more specifically the sovereign. Their
reflections confront the dilemma between social justice and the greening
of practices. A few years later, the modes of action expressing societal
protest have changed but not the social issues and injustices. Let us
remember the cry of the Yellow Vests: "We are not here for ourselves, we
are here for our children!"

* Antoine Bernard de Raymond, Sylvain Bordiec
Sociology of the Yellow Vests, reproduction and social struggles
Ed. Le Bord de l'eau, 2024,

https://monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=8059
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