Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Features
  • Comment
  • Store
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Stores Targeted
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Podcast Info
    • Hanania Podcast intro
    • Live Arab Radio
  • Your Views
  • Submit Press Release
  • Toggle search form
  • The American Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (American FRRME) helping Christians in Iraq
    New report on Christians in Iraq shows desperate situation and needs Arab World
  • Winter in Bekaa Lebanon January 2015 Photo courtesy of NRC Lebanon. January 7, 2015 in Bekaa valley Lebanon. Heavy snowfall in Lebanon January 7, 2015. Yesterday staff from NRC Lebanon’s Bekaa office were working with refugees to put in place flood mitigation measures in advance of the forecast harsh storm which hit overnight. Field teams distributed 1,205 plywood sheets and 885 bricks as floor-raising kits for tents in two settlements in the town of Sarain, and 250 wooden pallets to ensure a clear pathway in five settlements in the town at risk of flooding. Niamh Murnaghan, NRC’s Country Director in Lebanon said, “This morning residents of these informal settlements awoke to a knee-deep blanket of snow. With roads impassable in Bekaa, our staff have not been able to reach refugee settlements, but refugees have sent photos of themselves clearing the snow from their tents.” Photo credit: NRC Lebanon/Syrian refugees in Lebanon. January 7, 2015 in Bekaa valley Lebanon. Heavy snowfall in Lebanon January 7, 2015. Yesterday staff from NRC Lebanon’s Bekaa office were working with refugees to put in place flood mitigation measures in advance of the forecast harsh storm which hit overnight. Field teams distributed 1,205 plywood sheets and 885 bricks as floor-raising kits for tents in two settlements in the town of Sarain, and 250 wooden pallets to ensure a clear pathway in five settlements in the town at risk of flooding. Niamh Murnaghan, NRC’s Country Director in Lebanon said, “This morning residents of these informal settlements awoke to a knee-deep blanket of snow. With roads impassable in Bekaa, our staff have not been able to reach refugee settlements, but refugees have sent photos of themselves clearing the snow from their tents.” Photo credit: NRC Lebanon/Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
    AHRC Observes World Refugee Day American Arabs
  • Endorsements: Democrats in the Illinois June 28, 2022 Primary election Activism
  • The Arab Daily News candidate endorsements: Cook County, Illinois American Arabs
  • Endorsements: Republicans in the Illinois Republican Primary Election June 28, 2022 Election
  • Joseph Gutman was appointed by Gov. Pritzker to serve as a Member of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Gutman was a Partner at BDT & Company from 2017 until retiring in January 2020 where he remains a consultant today.
    Gov Pritzker makes more appointments to state commissions, boards but no Arabs American Arabs
  • World Jewish Congress Chairman Ronald S. Lauder
    WJC President Ronald S. Lauder Receives France’s Top Distinction  Activism
  • Project DYNAMO rescues more than 600 people from Mariupol, Ukraine over the last week Major Mariupol rescue operation conducted by Project DYNAMO, more than 480 people from Mariupol as city under violent siege falling to Russian forces. 
    Project DYNAMO rescues more than 600 people from Mariupol, Ukraine over the last week Human Rights
  • US Congressman Sean Casten, 6th District, Illinois
    Congressman Sean Casten joins Ray Hanania Radio Show American Arabs
  • The U.S.S. Liberty photo courtesy of the USS Liberty Veterans.
    Survivors of Israel’s strike on USS Liberty commemorate 55th year June 6 – 8 American Arabs
  • Imad Hamad Director American Human Rights Council
    AHRC Calls for Moral Consistency on Human Rights, Urges President Biden to Pause His Trip to Israel: American Arabs
  • AHRC Logo new Feb 2021
    AHRC hosts an open meeting with TSA & community Activism
  • Former City Hall reporter Ray Hanania, ShawnTe Raines-Welch and Nick Kantas, candidates for Judge in the 4th SubCircuit, and Cook County Commissioner Frank Aguilar.
    Nearly 100 candidates, officials address Arab Democratic Club forum Sunday American Arabs
  • Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor
    Arabs and Muslim blast Mayor lightfoot for racist store closings American Arabs
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Chicago aldermen to host “forum” to explore Mayor Lightfoot’s racist crackdown on Arab stores Activism
Place Charles-de-Gaulle, Prissier, France. Photo courtesy of Abdennour Toumi

From a Social Movement to an Urban Insurgency in France

Posted on December 4, 2018December 4, 2018 By Abdennour Toumi 1 Comment on From a Social Movement to an Urban Insurgency in France
SHARE ...
9         
 
  
9
Shares

  • Tweet

From a Social Movement to an Urban Insurgency in France  

The anger is not about simple social demands for a decent and a better life, it has become for a large majority of the protesters a personal fight with President Macron.

By Abdennour Toumi 

head shotThe anger and determination of the “Yellow Vests” protests against rising taxes and the high cost of living have turned into riots in the city of Paris as police fired tear gas and water cannon in street battles with activists. Across France and the overseas’ Department region, in the western Indian Ocean (l’Île de la Réunion), people are venting anger and frustration. The protest movement, however, has sociologically managed to reunite the problematic issue of socioeconomic inequality and the political bankruptcy of the conventional political parties and union movements. 

Thus this failure of the so-called institutionalized intermediary body has left the President, his government and party feeling that the winds of change are definitely blowing, which has made a large majority of the Republic “en marche” to panic. “Unbelievably shocking images indeed,” Premier Philippe declared to the media in his visit to the Paris Police Operation Center on Saturday afternoon. 

The most beautiful and chic avenue in the world, Avenue des Champs-Élysées, turned into an urban insurgency field of burnt cars and trucks on its adjacent streets, dozens dispersed to arrest anti-Macron rioters, while more and more people are joining the movement, including high school students in the Parisian suburbs and city provinces, like Toulouse — symbolically the taking of the extremist-nebulous protests stained the l’Arc de Triomphe with: “Macron Démission, Macron Dégage (leave), and we’ll triumph.” 

Ave des Champs-Élysées. Photo courtesy of Abdenour Toumi
Ave des Champs-Élysées. Photo courtesy of Abdennour Toumi

A frontal clash between the angry protest members and the Republic anti-riot police created an element of surprise among the politicians and the media; usually such violent acts occur in France’s banlieues, not in its bourgeois quarters. An element of political violence was revealed by the exercise of power that President Macron has been ignoring, thinking he could marginalize the angry movement, gambling on its political amateurism and angelic militancy. 

President Macron imploded the political parties during his campaign that led to his installation in the Élysée Palace in May, 2017. His’ “New” world attitude and rhetoric governing style established a vertical system that irritated the conventional Union(s), the political opposition, and the people. All went well until last summer, in the wake of the Élysée political scandal, the “Benalla Affaire”, an opportunity that resurrected the opposition from its aches and pains. France of the bottom or ‘du terroir’ has never forgot that hot summer episode of French melodrama politics. 

On Saturday an urban-war was most clearly the topic of breaking news head lines expressed on French News outlets and international media. Nonetheless, France’s political “new” establishment found itself cornered and “incompetent”; on Friday afternoon an attempt at crisis management by Premier Philippe and his team with the “Yellow Vests” representative(s) was a debacle. A communication blow to the government and the President (who was in Buenos aires attending the G-20 Summit). 

The President and his government have been using a demonization tactic to discredit and to some point criminalize the protesters in the use of violence. The end-game strategy to sell the conflict nationally and internationally between peaceful protesters and anarchists who want chaos. The violence that erupted in Paris on Saturday was not a banal protest, according to many specialists on social movement groups, it was a semi-insurrection, said one C-News commentator and analyst. 

Place Charles-de-Gaulle, Prissier, France. Photo courtesy of Abdenour Toumi
Place Charles-de-Gaulle, Prissier, France. Photo courtesy of Abdennour Toumi

Their anger is not about simple social demands for a decent and a better life, it has become for a large majority of the protesters a personal fight with President Macron a hatred towards him, hence towards the French institutions and eventually the police. Though the Interior Minister showed some laxity in his management of the Paris riots, causing some analysts and urban security experts to wonder about a faction of pro-Yellow Vests in the Parisian police. The Minister admitted his misjudgment and estimate of the protesters’ number and determination, “we were wrong,” he told BFMTV. 

Paris’ urban insurgency reveals a France divided between the wealthy class and poor popular class, between the privileged social success and the have-not social struggle of metropolitan France.

Politics in general is based on symbolism and myths; on social media people are already twitting and posting on Face-book about the ‘Battle of Paris II’, in reference to the Nov. 13, 2015 Stade de France and Bataclan terrorist attacks. But the “Yellow Vests” extremist and anarchist factions seemed to be okay with a large majority of the peaceful “Gilets jaunes” protests in part because they unveil the mask of the government’s incompetency and the biased press complacency. 

The violence was not largely the work of a right-wing fringe nor the lefty anarchist movements, according to an eyewitness on the field on Saturday afternoon. These radical groups were overwhelmingly active but surpassed by the number of peaceful “Yellow Vests” protesters who came from the entire French Provinces to demonstrate their anger, mostly young white men and women. 

There was also violence on the margins of largely peaceful “Yellow Vests” demonstrations in Nantes, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Marseille, Lyon, and Lille. But no other city witnessed the anti-system and physical destruction on the largest avenues and grand boulevards as the French Capital. 

It is unfair on the other hand to place full responsibility on the President who has been in Office for one-year and a half. He is trying to break a forty-years-long political taboo to reform the country and find solutions for the French malaise, where the unemployment rate in France stood at 9.1 percent in the third quarter of 2018. The opposition though is trying very hard to capitalize on the “Yellow Vests” anger — but they are suffering from credibility in the wake of this social revolt, because people are no longer trusting mainstream political parties. Even Ms. Le Pen, the Far-Right (RN) party leader, is treading carefully, as is Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of (LFI) radical Left party; both have called for the dissolution of the Parliament as an exit strategy to the sociopolitical crisis, but it will be political tragedy for the President.  

Subsequently a new “political movement” has emerged, a movement that sees politics from the “bottom-up,” one that faces serious imperatives for structural organization, like representation and direct talks initiating negotiations with the officials, local and national elected-representatives. This is the movement’s weakest link so far, and it is seen as an handicap by the media and the politicians, but nevertheless it turned to ridicule the entire President’s establishment and the new Parisian start-up political elite. 

In this conflictual relation between the power and the people, the latter has said loudly that its movement is apolitical and none-ideological. In political science theory there is no such thing, it might be for the moment, as their demands and determination are anything, but political. But their fight with a technocratic President who was elected democratically, may result in the bankruptcy of the classical political parties and their alarmist discourse. 

However, the dynamic of the crisis and its management will change in the coming days.  In the wake of Saturday’s Paris riots the government officials are talking about re-establishing the State of Emergency to master the security question and prevent another security and disorder fiasco in Paris next Saturday, especially critical at holiday time when luxury boutiques and restaurants suffer direct collateral damage in the fight,  Meanwhile the “Yellow Vests” are in a process of structuring themselves to become a reliable partner in the first negotiations with the government, and eventually a political movement à la M5S Five Star Movement in Italy. 

A spontaneous social movement led by ordinary citizens wearing “preventive route” vests have taken the form of an urban insurgency led by dystopian groups to expose a new Prince world, who want to revolutionize the “old” world politics through Dégagisme,  a political term coined during the Arabs’ Spring in Tunisia and Egypt; yet the President was hit by the boomerang effect, and today a large majority in France are calling: Macron dégage, Macron démission, and the specter of a one-term President is haunting President Macron like his two predecessors. 

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Abdennour Toumi
Follow me:
Abdennour Toumi
Abdennour Toumi:
- France correspondent for The Arab Daily News.
- www.bareed-areej.com Editor-in-Chief
رئيس تحرير مجلة بريد الأريج
- Political consultant at IMPR a Think-Tank based in Ankara, Turkey.
- Member at the European Observatory for Arabic Language Teaching based in Paris, France.
- Affiliated with Sociology of Islam Journal and contributor at Middle East Studies / International Studies, Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies Center, Portland State University in Portland, OR.

EDUCATION: Diplôme des Études Approfondies (DEA) in Political Science from Toulouse University I, France. Master’s degree in Law from Algiers University, Algeria.

Email im at: nourhty@gmail.com
Abdennour Toumi
Follow me:
Latest posts by Abdennour Toumi (see all)
  • The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Is the Neither-Peace-nor-Security As-sumption Dominating Again? - June 7, 2021
  • Algeria: “I Can See Clearly Now” - August 5, 2019
  • Majesty Mohammed VI and General Gaïd Salah Tear Down This Wall! - July 29, 2019

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
9         
 
  
9
Shares
 
9
Shares
9         
 
 Tweet 
Abdennour Toumi, Bloggers, Christian & Muslim, Commentary, Europe, Opinion, religion Tags:France, insurgency, Paris, police action, President Macron, protests, riots, violence

Post navigation

Previous Post: “Arabs and Muslims in the Media” New class at University of Michigan, Dearborn
Next Post: Brett Favre and those Anti-Semitic USS Liberty ‘Supporters’

Related Posts

  • Israeli road signs in Arabic, Hebrew and English. Israel has begun a process of removing Arabic from many of its road signs. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
    UN criticizes Israel’s “Nation State Law” as “discriminatory” Christian & Muslim
  • Joseph Smith Founder of Mormon Church had 40 wives, Church admits Ali Younes
  • USS Liberty Ship's Patch
    Help Wanted: USS Liberty Whistleblower Bloggers
  • Obituary: Omar Sharif, 1932-2015, the back story American Arabs
  • Palestinian Arab American Alex Odeh, with his children, was murdered in 1985. The killing has never been solved.
    Syrian refugees, Alex Odeh focus of Detroit Radio Show American Arabs
  • Asra Nomani details her fight against extremism American Arabs

More Related Articles

Mr. Trump Fuels Jane Fonda and Standing Rock Activists #NoDAPL #BANKEXIT#PussyPower #ThisAmerican American Arabs
Women Peacemakers to Cross the DMZ in Korea Bloggers
Christian Procession at Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestine. Photo courtesy of Maria Khoury Jordan King says he is committed to protecting Christian Arabs Arab World
Egyptian soccer fans put youth disillusion with elections on public display Arab World
Map of Hebron showing location of Palestinian home being taken by Israeli settlers in Israeli occupied Hebron. Photo courtesy of Peace Now Peace Now denounces settler takeover of Arab home in Hebron Arab World
Saudi Arabia, Egypt lead with best Universities Arab World

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
    Nearly four years in office, Pritzker fails to deliver on promises to Arab Americans
    June 12, 2022
  • Palestinian refugees forced to flee their homes at gunpoint by Jewish terrorist groups operating in Palestine in the 1930s, 1940s and after Israel was created on May 14, 1948. Photo courtesy of the United Nations
    Unresolved status of Palestinian rights makes UNRWA essential
    May 7, 2022
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • Hollywood Sign
    Will Smith violence takes Oscar protests to dangerous level
    March 31, 2022
  • NEWS
  • The American Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (American FRRME) helping Christians in Iraq
    New report on Christians in Iraq shows desperate situation and needs
    June 20, 2022
  • Winter in Bekaa Lebanon January 2015 Photo courtesy of NRC Lebanon. January 7, 2015 in Bekaa valley Lebanon. Heavy snowfall in Lebanon January 7, 2015. Yesterday staff from NRC Lebanon’s Bekaa office were working with refugees to put in place flood mitigation measures in advance of the forecast harsh storm which hit overnight. Field teams distributed 1,205 plywood sheets and 885 bricks as floor-raising kits for tents in two settlements in the town of Sarain, and 250 wooden pallets to ensure a clear pathway in five settlements in the town at risk of flooding. Niamh Murnaghan, NRC’s Country Director in Lebanon said, “This morning residents of these informal settlements awoke to a knee-deep blanket of snow. With roads impassable in Bekaa, our staff have not been able to reach refugee settlements, but refugees have sent photos of themselves clearing the snow from their tents.” Photo credit: NRC Lebanon/Syrian refugees in Lebanon. January 7, 2015 in Bekaa valley Lebanon. Heavy snowfall in Lebanon January 7, 2015. Yesterday staff from NRC Lebanon’s Bekaa office were working with refugees to put in place flood mitigation measures in advance of the forecast harsh storm which hit overnight. Field teams distributed 1,205 plywood sheets and 885 bricks as floor-raising kits for tents in two settlements in the town of Sarain, and 250 wooden pallets to ensure a clear pathway in five settlements in the town at risk of flooding. Niamh Murnaghan, NRC’s Country Director in Lebanon said, “This morning residents of these informal settlements awoke to a knee-deep blanket of snow. With roads impassable in Bekaa, our staff have not been able to reach refugee settlements, but refugees have sent photos of themselves clearing the snow from their tents.” Photo credit: NRC Lebanon/Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
    AHRC Observes World Refugee Day
    June 20, 2022
  • Joseph Gutman was appointed by Gov. Pritzker to serve as a Member of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Gutman was a Partner at BDT & Company from 2017 until retiring in January 2020 where he remains a consultant today.
    Gov Pritzker makes more appointments to state commissions, boards but no Arabs
    June 17, 2022
  • Endorsements: Republicans in the Illinois Republican Primary Election June 28, 2022
    June 16, 2022
  • NEWSWIRE
  • Imad Hamad Director American Human Rights Council
    AHRC Calls for Moral Consistency on Human Rights, Urges President Biden to Pause His Trip to Israel:
    May 24, 2022
  • The U.S.S. Liberty photo courtesy of the USS Liberty Veterans.
    Survivors of Israel’s strike on USS Liberty commemorate 55th year June 6 – 8
    May 23, 2022
  • AHRC Logo new Feb 2021
    AHRC hosts an open meeting with TSA & community
    May 19, 2022
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Chicago aldermen to host forum on Arab businesses closed by Mayor Lightfoot
    April 15, 2022

The Tabboun Column

The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
  • Tabboun
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    The Political Grapevine/The Tabboun, Friday Dec. 16, 2021
    December 16, 2021
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    Tabboun: Chicago remains strongest Palestine voice
    September 7, 2016
  • The Tabboun: Israeli human rights violations hit
    June 30, 2016
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    Tabboun: Himes questions troop deployment to Syria
    November 3, 2015
  • The Political Grapevine Political Tabboun. Original photo by tim-mossholder-KX1BBNY69Ao-unsplash
    The Tabboun: Dearborn removes statue of racist former mayor
    September 29, 2015

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

  • ZiyadBrandLogo-2016BlackRedBackgrnd.jpg
  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Sices-Ad.jpg
  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Ad-Pantry-essentials.jpg
  • HANANIA Arab News Op-Eds
  • Ukraine conflict gives Palestinians chance to redefine their conflict
    March 9, 2022
  • Mishmeshan PHC medical center destroyed in Syrian Government assaults. Photo courtesy of UOSSM Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations
    President Biden’s dyslexic policy in Syria is a mess
    October 20, 2021
  • Annissa Essaibi George and family
    Annissa Essaibi George faces “race hypocrisy” in campaign to be Boston Mayor
    October 20, 2021
  • Jerusalem image of Jews and Arabs walking together. Shutterstock. Courtesy of Arab News Newspaper
    Jewish Michigan lawmaker leads push for Two State Solution
    October 7, 2021
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib, book cover. Photo courtesy of Cune Press
    Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib
    November 1, 2021
  • Girl Fighters, new book on Yemen Book Cune Press
    New Book: Girl Fighters: Break Tradition in Yemen 
    October 25, 2021
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • American Arab CHamber President HassanNijem accepts the Proclamation from Chicago Ald. Roderick Sawyer at the Chamber dinner March 30, 2022
    Chicagoland celebrates Arab American Heritage Month
    March 31, 2022
  • Hollywood Sign
    Will Smith violence takes Oscar protests to dangerous level
    March 31, 2022
  • 03-30-22 Arab Chamber Heritage Month Flyer
    Arab Chamber to host Arab Heritage Month dinner March 30
    March 14, 2022
  • “Rupture”, the psychological thriller produced by MBC STUDIOS, has won Best Saudi Film at the 2021 Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF).
    MBC GROUP’s Rupture wins Best Saudi Film at the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival
    December 15, 2021
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at Gab.com, MeWe.com and IDobbinate.com, the alternatives to Facebook and Twitter Censorship.

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2022 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme