Why You Can't Wear a Yellow Vest Anymore: Ida Susser on the Battle for Democracy in France скачать в хорошем качестве

Why You Can't Wear a Yellow Vest Anymore: Ida Susser on the Battle for Democracy in France

"You can't wear a yellow vest on a demonstration anymore because you get arrested as soon as the police see you." — Ida Susser In November 2018, something strange happened in France. People from the urban periphery—truck drivers, nurses, teachers, plumbers—drove seven or eight hours to Paris wearing yellow safety vests. They weren't students. They weren't union members. They weren't organized by any political party. They were furious about a diesel tax, but really about something deeper: decades of disinvestment, cut services, shuttered bakeries, and a government that had abandoned them. Anthropologist Ida Susser spent years studying this spontaneous movement for her new book, The Yellow Vests and the Battle for Democracy. Like so many other observers, Susser sought to identify them on the traditional left/right political spectrum. The uncomfortable truth, she discovered, is that many had never voted. Many didn't care about consistent ideology. They mixed and matched political ideology, bricolage-style. Marine Le Pen tried to claim them. So did Mélenchon on the far left. Neither succeeded. The Yellow Vests didn't want either fascist or communist leaders. Theoretical comparisons with MAGA and the Tea Party are tempting. We find the same rage, the same economic disinvestment, same feeling of political abandonment. But, for Susser, there's a crucial difference. The Tea Party was mostly an astroturf movement—manufactured by economic and political elites. The Yellow Vests, in contrast, are authentically grassroots. And these days, in Macron's France, you can't even wear a yellow vest on the street without getting arrested. So an incredulous Susser watched a 75-year-old man, innocently going about his business, taken away by police. His crime? That bright vest. Five Takeaways • They Weren't Left or Right—At Least Not Initially: Many had never voted. They mixed and matched political ideology, bricolage-style. Le Pen tried to claim them. So did Mélenchon. Neither succeeded. They didn't want fascist or communist leaders. • The Diesel Tax Was the Trigger, Not the Cause: Decades of disinvestment in rural France. Trains cut. Buses cut. Bakeries shuttered. Macron became enemy number one. • MAGA Comparison Is Apt—But There's a Key Difference: Same rage, same abandoned communities. But the Tea Party was mostly astroturf—channeled by economic and political elites. The Yellow Vests, in contrast, are genuinely grassroots. • They Refuse Leadership on Principle: Part of a horizontalist movement. They write messages on their backs. They won't name leaders. With surveillance everywhere, it's also safer. • You Can't Wear a Yellow Vest in France Anymore: Susser watched a 75-year-old get arrested for wearing one while standing quietly. The vest itself has become a crime. About the Guest Ida Susser is an anthropologist at the City University of New York and author of The Yellow Vests and the Battle for Democracy. References The Yellow Vests and the Battle for Democracy by Ida Susser: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQXMZJ8K About Keen On America Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States. Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube:    / @keenonshow   Chapters: 00:00:00 Introduction: The battle for democracy 00:01:44 Yellow Vests vs. Occupy, Me Too, Black Lives Matter 00:03:31 Left or right? The question that haunts the movement 00:06:21 November 17, 2018: The world noticed 00:08:24 Diesel tax as trigger, disinvestment as cause 00:10:11 How multi-ethnic was this movement? 00:11:51 Where did they come from politically? 00:13:02 Tea Party and MAGA comparisons 00:16:15 Are they reactionary or progressive? 00:18:50 Is this uniquely French? 00:21:28 Hélène Landemore and politics without politicians 00:25:54 You can't wear a yellow vest anymore 00:30:21 Lessons for American progressives 00:35:15 What do the Yellow Vests think of Trump?