French Re-evolution?

[The_Tick]

I was looking to see if anyone had commented about the political upheaval/uprising that is going on in France right now. Entering its 3rd week.

I know we have folks that have served missions there, have kids in the area, and are attached to it. I have none of that.

But from what I see on the news, none of it looks good.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Yeah, things are getting wild over there.

[Jeff Lebowski]

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[LVAllen]

So, you want to know what's happening in France, so JL brings on a Fox News clip featuring a British commenter from the Heritage Foundation. Of course Fox would characterize this as "riots on massive scale" from "the far-left." Unions are joining with high school and university students to say "hey, public services, including education, are not working. Pay attention."

https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/...-protests.html

[Jeff Lebowski]

So, you want to know what's happening in France, so JL brings on a Fox News clip featuring a British commenter from the Heritage Foundation. Of course Fox would characterize this as "riots on massive scale" from "the far-left." Unions are joining with high school and university students to say "hey, public services, including education, are not working. Pay attention."

https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/...-protests.html

I thought the quote was kind of funny. And this is October 7.

[Green Monstah]

This is sort of what the French do when they're grumpy.

[Jeff Lebowski]

This is sort of what the French do when they're grumpy.

I have been to France quite a few times. Seems like there was some kind of strike going on each time.

[Green Monstah]

I have been to France quite a few times. Seems like there was some kind of strike going on each time.

Same. In fact, I took a picture by l'arch de triomphe with my wife and kids, and the next day, a carpenter's trailer full of explosives blew up about 10 yards from where we snapped the pic. The next time I was there, the yellow vests were ticked because the gov't added a fuel tax to fund renewable energy projects and had shut down certain streets.

I'm all about free speech, but not everything is worth being outraged, mes amis.

[Northwestcoug]

Haven't been to France yet. I'd like to go, but I want to time it during the lowest probability of social unrest. That's probably during bad weather...

[Moliere]

This is sort of what the French do when they're grumpy.

Pretty much. There’s usually unrest going on somewhere. My guess is that most of Paris is either at work or sitting in a cafe or park enjoying the sunshine.

France though is having some more economic issues due to their welfare state and I’m not sure how they will be able to fix that, kind of like most of Europe. Their debt is skyrocketing and tax revenues are decreasing due to the business unfriendly nature of the regulatory regime. It’s the classic issue of an overly socialist government that doesn’t allow for actual business to take place, so they fall behind and have to give more welfare and the cycle never ends until a strong president stops it with the cost being no re-election.

Also, if people don’t know, France has a relatively large Muslim population stemming from their colonization of parts of Northern Africa. With the unrest in those African countries, France has had a lot of immigration over the past 40 years and they don’t really have the economy to handle it all, so a lot of immigrants live in slum like areas and live off of government welfare. This is also true for black Africans, but I point out the Muslims due to the protests probably being more linked to Palestinian support.

[BigPiney]

Haven't been to France yet. I'd like to go, but I want to time it during the lowest probability of social unrest. That's probably during bad weather...

They strike at any time of year. Protests are more likely when it is nice, but I have seen train and postal strikes all year.

[BigFatMeanie]

Happen to be in France at the moment and have been here the past two weeks. Haven’t seen or heard anything from protestors at all until today where traffic was really bad in Paris around the Gare du Nord area and we thought maybe we heard some drums beating and people shouting nearby but we never actually saw anything. And no Frenchie had said a word about protests the past two weeks.

[SteelBlue]

Happen to be in France at the moment and have been here the past two weeks. Haven’t seen or heard anything from protestors at all until today where traffic was really bad in Paris around the Gare du Nord area and we thought maybe we heard some drums beating and people shouting nearby but we never actually saw anything. And no Frenchie had said a word about protests the past two weeks.

Moliere with the swish!

Pretty much. There’s usually unrest going on somewhere. My guess is that most of Paris is either at work or sitting in a cafe or park enjoying the sunshine.

[The_Tick]

Well...I don't think that this is normal run of the mill French protesting anymore.

[Pelado]

Well...I don't think that this is normal run of the mill French protesting anymore.

And looks like some violence was breaking out in Italy, too - Milan, Turin, Bologna, maybe others.