My Perspective of the "Gilets Jaunes" 

Bonjour!  This is David.   I asked Sherry if I could commandier her blog to write about the "Gilets Jaunes".  Some of you may have read or seen news stories about the Gilets Jaunes, so I thought I would give you my perspective on them.

First, what does the name "Gilets Jaunes" mean and where does it come from?  Translated to English it means "yellow vests".   Keep in mind,  unlike English,  in most French phrases the adjective comes second.  This is not always the case,  but it is true many times.  "Jaune" is "yellow" and "Gilet" is "vest.  French law requires that each car is to be equipped with a "gilet jaune" and a flare (I think) as part of the safety equipment.  If the car breaks down while driving, the driver is to put on the "gilets jaune" so they are more visible to other drivers.  Not a bad idea.

The initial purpose of the "Gilets Jaunes" demonstrations was a protest against additional taxes on gasoline.  The new tax was to be used to fund research on alternative fuels and electric cars.  Keep in mind that the price of gas in France and probably all of Europe is close to three times the price in the US.  For as long as I have traveled in Europe (my first trip here was 30 years ago) that has been the case.  Today, by the time you convert liters to gallons and euros to dollars, gas in Paris is close to $8 per gallon!  Which is a primary reason you see smaller cars, more fuel efficient cars and more electric or hybrid cars in Europe.  As a result of the Gilets Jaunes demonstrations, the French government delayed the implementation of the additional gas taxes.

OK, so if those taxes were delayed, then why are we in the 15th week of Gilets Jaunes demonstrations?  Yes, this has been going on for 15 weeks.  Now it is not every day, but it has been every Saturday since late November!  So, what do they want, what are they trying to accomplish?  Well, I think there are two primary reasons the demonstrations continue.  One, they are demonstrating against high taxes in general.  As I understand the French economy, there seems to be an even bigger gap between the "haves" and "have nots" in France than in the United States.  That may be particularly true in Paris!  The cost of living is higher in France than in the US (there are some items and services that ARE cheaper here like mobile phone and internet/cable).  However, food is more expensive here.  Overall,  I believe food is better and healthier here, but it is more expensive.  Housing in Paris is VERY expensive, but it is more reasonable in other parts of France.  Generally speaking, wages are lower and taxes are higher.  While taxes are high here, the French government does provide health care and university education, so there are benefits for the high taxes.  But when you add it all up, the average person has less spending power than in the US.

The other thing the Gilest Jaunes want is a government that is directed by referendum.  They want the population to decide which laws should be enacted and then want the government to enact them.  From my perspective,  this is a bad idea in ANY country.  Take the United Kingdom and Brexit.  The UK had a referendum a few years ago,  and the people decided that they want to leave the EU, the European Union.  Now, please understand, I don't know understand all of this.  First, I never did understand the UK being in the EU but still having their own currency.  So, the people of the UK voted to get out of the EU, and now it is up to the government, the politicians, to figure out HOW to do this.  Anyway, it does not make any sense to me for nations to be ruled by referendum.  One of my favorite people in history is Winston Churchill, here are a couple of his quotes on democracy.

So then, "how do we cope" with the every Saturday Gilets Jaunes demonstrations?  Well, we just do.  The demonstrations take place in different parts of the city.  A few times they have been in "our little quiet corner of Paris".  The demonstrations usually start in the mid to late morning and the police try to disburse the crowds in the late afternoon before it gets too dark.  Saturday's are our market day.  We go to the street food market each Saturday on Avenue du President Wilson (yes, the US President Wilson - who was the President during World War I and helped write the Treaty of Versailles).  We have learned to enjoy going to this market, and we visit the same vendors every week for Fromage at Oeufs (cheese and eggs), bouchier (for meat), legumes et fruits (produce), olives, raisins and nuts and then Sherry's favorite, the florist.  So we do that around 10am and are back to the apartment by noon. While Sherry puts those things away, I go to Franprix the "grocery store" for those things we cannot buy at the Avenue du President Wilson market.  We turn on the TV to see where the Gilets Jaunes are demonstrating, but basically we stay in the rest of the day.  While they may not be near us, we could not go too far in Paris without being concerned with bus disruptions in getting home.  There have been a few times when they were in our area.  A couple of weeks ago they were within 400 yards of us.  That day they burned a car next to where we purchased our DVD player and SONOS speakers.  They also broke some windows at a cafe we have frequented.  A couple of hours later, I went out to get a pizza for our dinner, and our neighborhood had returned to normal.

I did not take this photo, but the florists is "our" florists.

Yesterday, they were close to us but not as close as a couple of weeks ago.  This morning I took my normal walk which takes me across the Seine by the Eiffel Tower, then up to Place du Trocadero.  Here is a picture of one of the statues there.

While the Gilets Jaunes demonstrations are getting annoying, especially as the weather is getting better and we don't want to be at home each Saturday afternoon, at least one of the Gilets Jaunes has a sense of humor!

"A New Gilets Jaunes"

David