Fake News by Omision

If you do a search on the protest in France, you will find it hard to find any information on the topic although it has been going on each weekend across the entirety of France for twenty weeks.  Do not even attempt to find coverage on NBC, MSNBC, CNN, ABC or CBS because it doesn’t exist. Imagine that, hundreds of thousands take to streets weekly around the nation and it isn’t considered news worthy. To top it off, Macron has responded with strong arm tactics that we would expect from the leader of Saudi Arabia, Sudan or Venezuela. Thousands arrested, hundreds injured and several dead. Macron's government has repressed the Yellow Vest movement violently over going on 22 consecutive weeks. Recently Macron ‘s government banned yellow vest protests from being held along Paris’ Champs-Elysees avenue. Now he has taken it even farther, deciding to mobilize the army on this upcoming Saturday as part of the Yellow Vests rallies.

As I stated, this has been going on for five months. For twenty weeks, tens of thousands have gone and continue to go to the streets of Paris and other French cities on Saturday on behalf of anti-establishment gilets jaunes protests. And as the prior weeks, riot police fired tear gas at protesters across the nation because Macron and his administration do not or cannot acknowledge that most French people, especially outside of Paris, live worse now than they did a few years ago and even worse under Macron. For his part, President Macron and his government, in response to legitimate demands, has given his army permission to shoot at gilets jaunes protesters as if to say the rights of the EU run paramount to the rights of French citizens and that even if you open your eyes, European Democracy is merely an illusion.

Why were the gilets jaunes protesting? First to express their displeasure against government policies they do not desire wants and against increasing fuel prices due to the introduction of green taxes that place the environment over the people. There is also the issue of an increasing the cost of living under a former banker elitist President who not only appears to be but who is out of touch with most of the French. This can only be the case if it was more important to deal with climate change by strapping the common citizen with a carbon tax. 

President Macron is steadily losing control. Although Paris is the 2nd most expensive city in the world, most government employees make on average about $1600 a month on average. To compound this, the average rent of these workers as around $1100 to $1200. These are legitimate concerns yet as opposed to address them, Macron basically declares martial law, bans the freedom of protest and assembly, orders the police to shoot his citizens with rubber bullets and water cannons and put the French military on the streets to protect the rich. Truth be told, Macron has France looking like what we would see in Russia, Argentina or Turkey. Only difference if the media saw it there, they would be up in arms and outraged. Especially the leadership of the EU, they would be calling anyone doing what Macron is doing a despot. Add to this that President Macron has signed into law legislation giving security forces greater powers at demonstrations that opponents claim violate civil liberties, you have the making of a plutocratic Tsar.

Like I said, this should be weekly international news in the U.S., but you will never see a peep on CNN showing any footage of Macron’s police tear gassing and brutalizing unarmed #GiletsJaune (#Yellow Vests) protesters in Paris for the 22th weekend in a row today.  The irony is that Macron is calling the #yellow vests terrorists while calling AL Qaeda in Syria freedom fighters and that he is willing to use repression and military might to quash this movement. However, mainstream western media is too busy lying about no one spied on Trump or promoting disproven Russian election interference to report in such real impactful news. But one can best believe that the yellow vest protests have proved the biggest challenge to French President Emmanuel Macron since he came to power, and they will continue to be for as Huxley wrote, “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”.