France's Riots Just Went CRITICAL

The unrest in France just got a hell of a lot worse. Welcome to America Uncovered, I'm Chris Chappell. Throughout the weekend, protests in France exploded, as government buildings were broken into, shops were looted, and police fought rioters in cities across the country. In Limoges, rioters attacked City Hall, a historic building constructed in 1883 and set the ground floor on fire. The fire quickly spread and its iconic bell tower collapsed. In Marseille, masked rioters broke into another city hall, knocked over a bust of Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic, and painted an anarchist symbol and anti-police messages on the walls. In Lyon, they torched the tourist office. In Bordeaux, the mayor says up to 100 shops were vandalized. And on Sunday afternoon, several hundred people fought police for hours around Place de la République in Paris. Alright, so who's to blame for this? On True Social, President Trump blamed the immigration of people from an entirely different world—people with hatred in their hearts—for shattering a once great country and urged France to close its borders and take control before it's too late. Vice President J.D. Vance took a similar view, that Western liberals imported the Third World into France in the name of diversity and compassion, and that they were warned this would happen. But they didn't listen. French President Emmanuel Macron had a different take. Groups from the far left, joined by a number of delinquents and criminals breaking out in extreme violence throughout our nation. So which is it? Who's exactly burning France down? Is it migrants? Antifa? Opportunistic criminals? Well, the answer seems to be a little from column A and a little from columns B and C. So a quick recap from an episode we did last week. In mid-September, high schoolers in the Paris suburbs started blockading their schools over crumbling buildings, rat infestations, and missed class time due to a lack of teachers. These suburbs are some of the poorest areas in all of France. They're also home to a large number of migrants, mainly from North and Sub-Saharan Africa. But it quickly went way beyond just these people. Within a couple of weeks, protests had spread across France, even to places like Brittany, which hosts very few migrants. French intelligence told the government that the whole thing was being steered by Jean-Luc Mélenchon's hard left party France Unbowed, or LFI. They describe it as a maneuver organized by LFI and its ultra-left proxies. And on Saturday, the French Prime Minister reiterated that the people orchestrating the violence were ultra-left groups joined by delinquents who were really just there to pillage and destroy. Judging by the videos we've seen coming out of France, all of these groups seem to be playing a part. We've seen plenty of footage of, let's say, seemingly non-native rioters causing havoc in the streets. But we've also seen plenty of young, pasty-skinned, Antifa-looking people causing trouble as well. sorts of black bloc tactics have existed in Europe for a long time and traditionally draw their support from the children of white college-educated professionals. Oh, and did I mention the blatant displays of cringe? The cosplay, the Fortnite dances. This is the kind of stuff you can only get from a particular group of middle-class nerds. What I'm getting at is, Yes, surely migrants are playing a part. But so are plenty of native French. It's not really one or the other. And this is the part where the story moves beyond just the wreckers, the looters, and the cringe lords. These protests are starting to fuse with other, more mainstream currents in French society. As The Nation pointed out in late September, protests and strike dates are multiplying across key economic sectors in the coming weeks, from healthcare workers and police officers to firefighters, teachers, farmers and truck drivers. On September 8th, a TikTok user named V2 posted a video calling for mobilization on October 17th, the day the riots really started to escalate. An organizer's website put their complaint simply, "...we are tired of paying more and more for fuel, shopping and rent." And it would appear the call to action was heard. Remember the yellow vests? The guys who were protesting fuel prices and the cost of living back in 2018? Well, they're back. Others are using the protests as a way to pressure the government to increase benefits and public sector salaries, despite an ongoing fiscal crisis. Then you've got the unions jumping on board. The leader of the CGT, one of France's largest labor union confederations, one which has historically been aligned with the far left, told reporters that we share the demands. The growing momentum behind October 17th shows the scale of the anger, and wherever the conditions are right, the CGT will be there. What started as a fight over rats in classrooms has turned into a fight over the entire French economy. The French left calls this the convergence of struggles. In America, we have something similar called intersectionality. You take a bunch of separate grievances and fold them into one big movement against the ruling government. And no matter who wins this fight, it's unlikely that France will solve any of the issues fueling the protests. France already runs one of the biggest welfare states in the developed world. Going by OECD figures, more than 30% of its entire GDP goes toward social spending. And one of the biggest ticket items is paying for France's massive and growing pool of retired baby boomers. Economists estimate that their pensions account for more than a quarter of France's annual government spending. And it's only going to get worse. France has gotten so old that deaths now outnumber births for the first time since World War II. What this means is that a shrinking number of young workers will have to pay for an ever-growing number of old people. Sure you could bring in even more immigrants to work and serve as the tax base, but the footage we've been seeing has many French reconsidering. In the meantime, France is having to tax everything it can, including fuel. In France, taxes make up 50 to 55 percent of what you pay at the pump. And the Iran war just made the problem worse. That's why in his address Sunday, Macron put part of the blame for the protests on Trump. Because there are people out there who rightfully feel that the price of fuel is going too high, a price which has increased because of what has happened in the Persian Gulf, a war that France was not part of. To be fair to Macron, the most recent spike in costs really is the Iran war. But here's the thing. The Yellow Vests were rioting over fuel costs back in 2018, eight years before the war even started. And when oil spiked this year, Italy, Spain, and Germany all cut their fuel taxes. France didn't. Partly because it couldn't afford to. And it certainly can't afford what these protesters are demanding. Higher wages. Higher pensions. These all just make the bill bigger. France already has some of the highest taxes in Europe. There's just not a lot of room left to squeeze. And the candidates set to succeed Macron are kind of strapped for ideas as well. Marine Le Pen put out a budget plan promising 140 billion euros in savings by 2032. But look at where the money comes from. About 50 billion euros from immigration reforms. More from cutting France's EU contribution and closing government agencies. But pensions, the biggest item in France's social spending list? She'd actually reverse Macron's attempt at reform and lower the age of retirement. That stuff costs money, people. And more benefits usually means more taxes on things like fuel. Which leads to more protests, more riots, and the cycle continues. And Mélenchon would likely just make France's money issues far, far worse. Retirement at 60. Price freezes. And more spending. You know, the sort of things that are helping to fuel the crisis to begin with. There's no good way out of this. France basically has four options. Raise taxes. Make people work longer. pay retirees less, or find a lot more workers. Every candidate is dodging at least one of those. And while they try to navigate a seemingly impossible situation, France burns. But what do you think? Leave your comments below. I do read as many as I can. But I read every comment on AmericaUncovered.tv, where you'll get access to thousands of episodes ad-free, plus a community chat, livestreams, and more. Just click this button here or the link below. Once again, I'm Chris Chappell. Thank you for watching America Uncovered.