FRANCE: NATIONAL STRIKE IS BREWING

Picking up the year-long momentum of the grassroots Yellow Vest populist movement that was sparked by rising petrol taxes, a national strike has been called this Thursday by major trade unions, including Air France, railway workers, truck drivers, teachers, firemen, postal workers, and dockworkers. 

The rallying cry is centered around reduced pensions, income inequality, and the imposition of additional austerity measures.

Polls show some 70 percent of the people support the strikes. 

While many union officials were not supportive of the Yellow Vest movement, preferring instead to work with the Macron government, as worker tensions kept increasing as their living conditions declined, union officials have now agreed to strike.

In one of the most visible shows of strength for the upcoming strike, yesterday hundreds of French firefighters set up a “camp” in the Place de la République, a prominent square in Paris. The “camp” includes beds, food stands, and a blood donor center.

In France, firefighters, like police and certain medics, are not legally allowed to strike. So, the “camp” is a way for firefighters to publicly show their anger over low pay and pensions without actually participating in a strike.

TREND FORECAST: One of our Top 2020 Trends is the “New World Disorder.”  As Gerald Celente continually notes, “When people lose everything and have nothing left to lose, they lose it.” The protests in France, Ecuador, Chile, Lebanon, etc. all share a common disdain for the blatant inequality and the social injustice of government clampdowns. 

This trend will continue to escalate. The further global economies slow down, the more the people will rise up. What will derail many of these movements is protester violence.  While some of that is in retaliation to police violence and/or agents provocateurs, the smashing of windows, the burning of cars, the looting of shops, etc., will negatively affect positive advancement.