Participatory Democracy

A couple of weeks ago, I started noticing the signature neon yellow safety vests (which are required in every car driven in France) stuffed on the dash in the front window of more and more vehicles every day. Wondered what it was and figured that a protest was brewing. Now it’s front page news.

Just let me say, they really know how to organize a protest here in France. I’m not going to debate the politics of it, but just wanted to document what a super interesting day it was to be in the middle of this manifestation, which is fundamentally a reaction to a tax increase on gas and diesel and a loud cry against Macron.

Protesting with road blocks started last Saturday, with 300,000 people showing up to support the action across France, and was projected to last 3 days. So we decided to simply stay put in our little town. After the fourth day of protests, I finally got the nerve to leave the house to run some errands in Bergerac.

After checking online and not seeing any closures, I headed out on Wednesday, alone, and yep, in the first little town past Lalinde, I gasped at the sea of yellow in the distance— ‘Gilets jaunes’ (Yellow Jackets protest). Shit. Fortunately, they weren’t stopping traffic yet, just slowing everybody down by standing along the road and around the intersection. They even had a barbecue going to feed the troops!

Anyhoo, I ended up chickening out after this first episode, so took the backroads into Bergerac. It was fine in the interior of the town, but trouble was brewing at both major roads into/out of the city. Needed to visit a big box store at one end of town and decided to pick up some groceries while I was parked. Man, the stores were nearly empty. And almost no cashiers. Eery, really. These demonstrations were obviously having great impact on local shops.

I took the occasion to continue placidly with my purchases, but when I exited the stores, I heard the ruckus at the major intersection outside. Semi-trucks were blasting their horns. The black smoke of burning tires was rising from the roundabout. And I wondered if I was going to be able to get through, or if I’d have to drive back to mid-town and take the peripheral road again.

I decided to try my luck, and figured I’d chock it up to life experiences, and got in the middle of it with my little Citroën C3. The semi-trucks were circling the roundabouts laying on their horns, protesters were cheering, and huge farm equipment was parked in the roadway. Traffic inched through, and protestors approached each car for signatures and support of the cause.

Once through this bottleneck, I feared for a worsened situation at the other protest I would have to drive through again. And it was worse, but the dissidents were very friendly, just speaking with every driver and asking for signatures. It took a while to get through, but the experience is one I won’t soon forget.

Of course, the locals have freaked out over the threat of running out of supplies—no fuel and groceries deliveries able to get through. So, yes, there have been massive lines at the fuel stations and the grocery stores have been packed. But so far, there have been no closures due to lack of food or fuel.

Although the French might feel as if they’re being squeezed, the rest of us can only look on enviously at their work/life ethic. French spend more time eating, sleeping and shopping than any other country and enjoy a very high life expectancy. As an outsider, I still think France is a great place to live, if you can get through the demonstrations, of course!