Paris, October 27 (RHC)-- The anti-government Yellow Vest movement marched across France for the 50th consecutive weekend. The long-running protest appears to be justified by the continued and extreme unpopularity of President Emmanuel Macron, who has reached the halfway point in his five-year term.
A new poll showed that 65% of France disapproves of his tenure, giving him even less domestic approval than controversial U.S. President Donald Trump. A major difference between the two countries is that France’s mainstream media has largely defended their unpopular president, and chosen to demonize the anti-government sentiment expressed nationwide every Saturday for nearly a year.
The poll covered a wide array of policies and in only one area does Macron have the consent of the democratic majority: 56% approve of his dealings with the European Union. In every other domain -- keeping his campaign promises, economics, inflation, education, justice, the environment, the elderly -- his disapproval rates can reach nearly 80%.
However, active and combative disapproval of political leaders and systems is being shown across the West and among their satellites. Right now, Western-led right-wing economics is forcing the average person to protest in France, Lebanon, Chile, Peru, Haiti and elsewhere. To maintain these policies the official response has often been brutal, with France deploying a vast arsenal of political, judicial and physical repression.
November is expected to be an extremely tense month in France: the Yellow Vests will reach their one-year anniversary amid wide-ranging strikes and protests against the right-wing pension rollback being forced into law by Macron.