Protests broke out in France last week to call on higher wages to help workers to make ends meet amid high inflation, and lashed out at President Emmanuel Macron’s move to raise the retirement age in the country. 

Strikes and protests broke out in cities across the country on a national day of action that included a wide range of participants, ranging from teachers to railway workers. There were several public services that were impacted by the strikes, including visits to the Eiffel Tower.

Workers at nuclear power plants in the country also walked off of the job, further disrupting the country’s energy sector. Gas stations are running low on fuel, OilPrice.com reported.

“He pretends to listen,” Philippe Martinez, the leader of the CGT, one of the country’s most powerful unions, told The Wall Street Journal. Martinez said he hopes that the protest on Thursday is a kickoff for a movement, Reuters reported. 

Macron is looking to overhaul the country’s pension system, and part of the push includes raising the age of retirement from 62 to 65 over the next few years. Martinez is demanding that Paris raise the minimum wage to $1,947.80 a month for a 32-hour work week. 

The Trends Journal has reported extensively on the push to unionize and the New World Disorder that includes angry mobs of people tired of the status quo. It is worth noting that students are a major driver in these French protests. We had forecast that the young, who still have the energy to fight, will be major players in these movements as they sink into economic despair. 

There were about 200 protests across the country that included participants from various industries. 

“I’m here because we lack funding in the child protection system,” Esther Tonna, 52, a union representative with the CGT, told Connexion France. “Our salaries are catastrophic. A child protection officer with an undergraduate degree starts on €1,300 a month.”

WSWS.org also reported that refinery workers at France’s TotalEnergies walked out on a three-day strike last week after their union demanded a 10 percent pay increase. The report noted that TotalEnergies paid out a €2.6 billion dividend last week after pulling in $5.7 billion in profits in the second quarter. Its workers saw their salaries increase by 3.5 percent this year, which is far below the 5.9 percent inflation rate. 

TRENDPOST: We reported last month that Verisk Maplecroft, a U.K.-based consulting firm, released its Civil Unrest Index last week and found that there is an “unprecedented” level of risk for civil unrest in over 100 nations due to factors ranging from inflation to wars.

The COVID-19 War and the Ukraine War have been a devastating one-two combination for many economies. As Gerald Celente has often noted, “When people lose everything and have nothing left to lose, they lose it.”

We have been forecasting the “New World Disorder” trend for more than two years. We noted that politicians across the globe are fighting for survival against angry citizens who are taking to the streets in protest of lack of basic living standards, government corruption, crime and violence. (See “NEW WORLD DISORDER TOP TREND: NATIONS SINKING DEEPER, PEOPLE SCREAMING LOUDER.”) 

Also, the deeper emerging market economies sink, the greater the refugee crisis will surge as people will do all they can to escape to safe haven nations. In turn, anti-immigration populist movements will gain power in those nations that want to restrict more refugees.