Report from French-American living near Lyon part 1 of 3

https://voat.co/v/GreatAwakening/2888761

Several people requested that I post regarding what I know to be going on here in France. Admittedly, I don't know all that much that isn't available information already, though I will provide some anecdotes that will help to illustrate the situation here. In full disclusure I am a dual citizen… no, not a (((dual citizen))). French American, born state side, raised between the 2. I live in a small town pop 10k about an hour out of one of the big 5 cities in France, Lyon, which is in the south central part of the country. I work for a major infrastructure company that is in part state run. My current work location is an hour from Lyon in a direction perpendicular to where I live.

This is what I can tell you all about the protests. The movement started a little more than a month ago. Initially it was people talking online and IRL about how they were fed up and wanted to get out and start shaking things up. This was following an announcement that the state would be raising Diesel taxes. Know that for a very long time here in France, Diesel was the most affordable fuel solution for personal transportation, and as a result, probably 60% of all vehicles in France are diesel engine. Our family car is a diesel, so I was among those affected by the price increases. Between January '18 and September '18 diesel price per Liter of fuel went up about 30% to 40% in price erasing pretty much any advantage to using that type of fuel. People were already grumbling about this when it was announced that a further tax hike on the fuel would be put into effect in January '19. That was the straw that broke the camels back. As the discussions regarding having a national protest movement devellopped, it was suggested that people wear the Yellow Jackets we are all required to have in our cars as a uniform for the movement. That caught on real fast.

For several years now there has been growing dissatisfaction with the state of things here. Not everyone has the same gripes, but everyone has gripes. Big ones for a lot of them. Just 6 months ago, the train workers went on a rolling strike, that is to say that over the course of several weeks (about 2 months) they would be on strike 3 days a week, 2 work days and 1 weekend day, in response to privatization of the company and opening to international competition in addition to suppression of smaller regional commuter lines and "restructuration" which is basically downsizing.

I make a point to start with this issue as it denotes the irony of the situation as while the state is raising gasoline taxes as a way to pressure people to use public transportation for commutes and travel, they are at the same time removing portions of the mass transit currently available. I myself commute by train to work, and have seen trains removed from the line even though this line is heavily frequented and oftentimes the train is standing room only, even to the point of being crammed in the train like sardines. Their latest modification to the line is to remove 2 of the first 3 trains of the day. When the new schedule goes into effect, early morning commuters will no longer be able to make to their destinations on time as the first train will be 40 minutes later than it currently is. This forces people who currently use public transit to start to commute with their personal vehicle.

This should give you an idea of the insanity we are being forced to deal with on an increasing basis.

The reasons for the mounting protest movement were varied. In addition to the above, people have been angry about ever increasing cigarette taxes (we are at near 10 USD a pack now). There has been for the past 20 years or more, growing discontent from the medical community, particularly general practitioners as well as nursing staff, who are barred from striking and as a result have not had adequate salary increases since the forming of the EU and who also suffer from oppressive work conditions including long hours and extreme understaffing. Truckers have been complaining about having to compete for work with people from countries who most recently were borderline 3rd world and still have salaries comparable to what was standard prior to entry into the Eurozone. Hardly a work sector does not have major complaints about unfair competition from the poorer EU nations, and rightly so. They are being forced to compete in a situation where their competition costs only 1/3 or less due to differences in minimum wage, operational cost and social system differences resulting in great disparity of tax burdens. Retirees have to deal with living on a fixed income while inflation makes life more expensive each year, the official inflation rate is around 4% but prices have been increasing at a clip of about 10%.

>>4132390

Report from French-American living near Lyon part 2 of 3

In addition to these complaints which is not an exhaustive list, but rather to give a general idea, there are also political factors. Macron was not elected as the one the French most desired to have. He was the protest vote against Marine Le Pen, whose father was the long time Dangerous Far Right Literally Hitler candidate that the media has been bashing for at least a generation, if not longer. At least since I have been in France. You must also know that when the time came for France to join the Euro, a referendum vote was held to gauge the public opinion on joining. The vote was heavily against joining, but it was done all the same. A certain portion of the population still resents that, myself included. There is growing discontent regarding Brussels and their non representation of French interests. French culture has been greatly modified in order to adhere to "common Euro values" which has meant always a loss of freedom. In addition, there is growing discontent with the uncontrolled and unchecked immigration into the country. The jungle in Calais has been getting worse and worse over the last year or 2. It has become absolute anarchy. I used to live in the North of the country and went to college just about a mile from where the jungle is, so I know the area rather well, and I still go up that way because I have friends there. The landscape has been completely changed by their presence. The camp is huge, probably bigger than stated. Its hard to tell from the ground, especially when driving by at 90 mph. The people occupying the area are becoming more and more brazen, and increasingly violent. The Calais camp isn't the only one, nor is it the largest. There are several such camps around the country. In Paris there was one setup by the Seine that had to be displaced because it was impacting tourism. Now it is in the banlieue. Here in Lyon there are seveal spread around town. Shanty towns pop up regularly, grow, and then are removed by city order usually due to complaints by local residents following crime spikes.

So understand that when I say that the protests are coming from a variety of groups and for a variety of reasons, understand that this encompasses people and philosophies spanning the full political spectrum from left to right.

Now to what I have seen on the ground. Its funny, on my way to the train station this morning, I passed by a couple of schoolboys, around 12 or so, chanting "Down With Macron" on their way to school. That is what reminded me that I was asked to make this post. Each week and weekend since the start of the protests, multiple roads in the area I live in and the area I work in have been blocked off by the protestors. Generally they block the roads leading to the Autoroute system which are our pay highways. What is referred to as Turnpikes in the US. The ones they haven't blocked, they have opened the pay barriers so that travellers may get on and off without having to pay toll. I not only encounter these in my daily activities, but my coworkers also talk about it regularly. About being stuck in traffic when going through the chokepoints. A few coworkers also participate in the protests, one of whom (which I suspect is a communist) was one of the organizers for the local protest being run out of his village. There are probably as many people in the countryside protesting as there are in the cities. To give you an example, I live in a town of 10k people. Even in our town, there were several hundred people marching down our main street last weekend. They have taken over the roundabout at the Autoroute exit and have been for the most part allowing traffic through. They had farmers with them and so have some heavy equipment at their disposal. Many of the people in my town have the yellow jacket in their windshield (sign that they are in solidarity with the movement) some have it in the windows of their homes.

Report from French-American living near Lyon part 3 of 3

At this point in the writing I have just come back from lunch break. All anyone was talking about today are the protests and blockades. From what they were saying, not only did the local blockades not die down, they have intensified over the weekend and are being run more intelligently than previously. The majority of my coworkers are in support of the Yellow Jackets and a few of them were even active participants. The ones who are not in support are being rather quiet regarding the discussions, though over coffee, one of them spoke up and said that all of this was making him deeply worried about the future of the nation, that he did not think that this movement was in the interrest of the French people for the long run and that it would end badly. This ended with me schooling him about the origins of Macron, the Rothchilds, Agenda 21 and Operation Gladio. By the time I was finished he didn't know what to say. He told me all that was interesting and he would have to think it over. I told him not to take my word for it all, but to read up on it himself.

MSM has been downplaying everything. If you were to believe them, there are only a few hundred people here and there making a big mess of everything. I think this is great, because they are just discrediting themselves since everyone is talking about this and sharing information. This allows people to see the contrast between what is spoonfed to them and what they are able to collectively glean.

Word out this morning is that the National Assembly (basically our Senate) is being blockaded by Ambulance workers, refineries are being blocked by Yellow Jackets, The ports are all blockaded, schools are shut down by students and teachers protesting and the movement is growing by leaps and bounds. There is a mixture of excitement and anxiety in the air. People want something to happen and soon, but there is a level of worry that the state is going to crack down. A number of people are talking about the excessive force the CRS and Police have been using. There are rumors of people having been killed. Videos circulating that are difficult to interpret because of being shot from a distance and without context regarding before or after. Stories of firemen and police joining the protests are starting to be heard, if that is indeed true, than it is over for Macron. He would have to call out the Army or Special Forces and I have a feeling neither will be willing to act against the population.

That is about all I have to contribute to the discussion for now, but I've got my ears open so if anything happens that I find out about, or if I manage to record anything interesting, I'll make sure to post it here.

WWG1WGA