Archive for blockade
and at the end, EUcology always loses…
Posted in Kids, pictures with tags agricultural subsidies, agriculture, And in the end, blockade, EU, EU's common agricultural policy, European elections, European Union, far-right, farmers, French government, French politics, frontpage, Libé, pesticides, protest on February 3, 2024 by xi'an
Dauphine blocked for a few hours
Posted in Statistics with tags blockade, coronavirus epidemics, French politics, Paris, protest, reform, student, Université Paris Dauphine on March 14, 2020 by xi'an
reactionaries behind wheels
Posted in pictures, Running with tags blockade, bonnets rouges, Car Talk, demonstration, Ecology, France, French politics, Fronde, gas, gilets jaunes, métro, RER on November 18, 2018 by xi'an
France was hit by hundreds of blockades yesterday, sometimes with dramatic consequences, as a reaction to the planned ecological tax on gas announced by the French government. As in every occasion French drivers are impacted by new laws or taxes, from reducing the legal speed limit to installing new radars, to tolls for trucks, they react like a Swiss watch, blocking streets and highways, often with success in the end. As in the previous “bonnets rouges” movement (making me wonder why these actions are always connected with clothes!). While being highly privileged to be able to bike to work (or to use the local trains, when they run) and to shop locally, I am struck by the doubly myopic of the protesters, myopy of not seeing the larger picture of the urgent need to cut the addiction to cars with obvious negative consequences in the short term and myopy of seeing these protests as “spontaneous” and “politically neutral” despite the immediate recuperation by the fringe political parties. And thus hope the French government will hold on that measure (despite its poor record so far in terms of ecological policy).
