It has been observed that the
French protests initially involved students protesting school conditions such
as dilapidated buildings, no air conditioning, crowded classrooms, and poor
domestic economic conditions. However, it did not take long for it to become
riots instigated by far-left political groups, migrants not fully integrated,
Islamists, socialists and communists, anarchists, and even radical
environmentalists, all of whom are adept at intense protesting. I have read some
of the reactions from the political left about the riots. Some say it’s just
the intense French tradition of protest: “The French will be the French,” as
it's somehow in their blood to destroy things to make a point. California Rep.
Ro Khanna called it an inspiring youth movement. Inspiring? More like the
opposite, disheartening. Apparently, in Marseille, in the south of France,
rioters targeted Jewish-owned shops and spared Muslim-owned shops. According to
Steven Burg in the Washington Examiner:
“The French journalist Paul Amar, speaking on a national
news channel, described what happened in Marseille with a clarity that ought to
stop every reader in their tracks. "They came prepared," he said. The
rioters arrived carrying the addresses of town halls along with the addresses
of Jewish shop owners, according to Amar, and on one street in Marseille, every
business owned by a Jew was set on fire while the shops run by Muslims on that
same street were left untouched. A synagogue in Paris has been vandalized.”
Khanna was one of a few
Congresspeople who went to the West Bank without coordinating with Israeli
authorities to drum up publicity about settler violence, which is certainly a
legitimate concern. However, the destruction is on a smaller scale, and while
there is racism and potential ethnic cleansing happening, the biggest problem
is probably the IDF’s seeming complicity in some actions by not intervening and
not punishing perpetrators enough. Hopefully that will change. The country
needs to clamp down on settler violence. It has been noted that the IDF’s
proactive attitude in the West Bank has effectively addressed violence on the
Palestinian side, which has dropped in recent months, likely due to
intimidation from the IDF in confronting it. The average Israeli sees the
problem as overblown, but perhaps they should not see it that way because it
makes those far-right racist citizens make the country look bad and give an
opening for anti-Zionists to claim apartheid. Burg writes:
“When a sitting congressman flies halfway around the
world to manufacture outrage against Jews while simultaneously cheering on the
mobs torching Jewish shops in France, he reveals a set of priorities that is
deeply and dangerously warped.”
I made the following spreadsheet to compare the French riot
damages to the West Bank damages. It is crude but shows that the scale is much
bigger in France.
I have heard activist Naomi
Klein’s reaction to the riots. She says that the heat from climate change is
making schools unbearable for students. She does not mention the simple
solution: air conditioning. France is a country that gets hot. Our buildings in
America are generally all air-conditioned. It is not the heat from climate
change that has killed European citizens but the lack of air conditioning and
the irrational view against it. Other far-leftists are calling it the necessary
globalization of the intifada against the powers in control.
Migrants are heavily involved, as
evidenced by the Algerian and Moroccan flag displays, but Palestinian flags are
also very prominent. I don't think there is a huge Palestinian presence in France, but
support for the Palestinian cause is huge, especially among the left. Some are
saying the bad behavior of the far left will help far-right politician Marine
Le Pen win elections in the spring.
"It's like we had a war," a 78-year-old
resident in central Paris, Mehmet Ozeden, said amid burnt street barricades.
The capital experienced "a level of violence that we
have never, I believe, seen before", Paris Deputy Mayor Lamia El Aaraje
said.
It should be noted that Paris is
ruled by Macron’s center-left (by European standards, which would be fairly far
left by American standards) government, which also includes far-left members
and socialists. It makes me wonder what will happen if Le Pen wins.
It was estimated that between
550,000 and 800,000 people participated in the protests. However, an estimated
5 million people participated in the 2025 No Kings protests in the U.S., with
no significant violence or arrests reported. Thus, we are reminded that
protests can be large and peaceful.
Many schools were damaged in the
protests early on, which makes one wonder about the logic of further damaging
schools to protest damaged schools.
Some leftists blamed the
government for failing to rein in the protests, but France has thousands of
full-time riot police. A new effective riot tactic has been the burning of
e-bikes, which produce large and toxic lithium-ion battery fires. ACAB, meaning
“All Cops are Bastards,” is an anarchist slogan which is very popular in
France. Thus, we have leftists blaming police for failing to keep the peace
while at the same time calling them bastards and saying they are too heavy-handed.
More twisted logic.
Greta Thunberg, the climate darling who
often dons Palestinian clothing and joins Hamas-funded flotillas, joined the
protest. That cements the climate element as being part of the coalition, as it
were. She inexplicably blamed the riots on police brutality:
"French students are out continuously facing
extreme police brutality just for asking for their basic rights. And now it’s
time for us to step up because they cannot carry this alone," Thunberg
said. "They are showing the world, leading by example, what it looks like
when young people are stepping up when the system at large is neglecting them
systematically."
A Fox News analysis identified 54
groups taking part in the protest, including communist parties, revolutionary
socialist groups, labor unions, environmental activists, Muslim student
advocates, Palestinian-solidarity organizations and international media
outlets. Neville Roy Singham, a communist and protest donor who lives in China,
runs a network that calls the protests Anti-Macron protests. If so, why were
the 2025 anti-Trump protests in the U.S. more than five times as big without
any violence? Maybe because the radical groups involved were limited? I’m sure
some were involved, as protesting is their thing, but protesting without
violence, vandalism, and upheaval is perhaps too boring for them. Feeble
attempts have been made in left media to blame Trump for the riots. While he is
no doubt using the riots to his political advantage, saying that he initiated
them due to the resulting higher fuel and product prices since the Iran War
constrained supplies is a very weak argument.
Jonah Goldberg, in an article in
the LA Times, thinks that France’s problems can best be solved by increasing
its economic growth. His words are worth quoting at length:
“In short they argued, as they have for generations,
that the government should spend more on pensions and other entitlements.”
“The problem is that France can’t afford it. It’s
borrowed money to pay for its lavish government sector for a very long time. It
has run consecutive budget deficits — i.e., took in less than it spent — for
more than half a century. In 1974, public debt was around 15% of its gross
domestic product. Today it’s at 116%. Government spending now makes up 57% of
the GDP and France spends three times as much on “social protection” —
including pensions and family benefits — as does the United States, and more than
any other country in Europe and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development.”
“Naturally, the blame for this sorry state of affairs,
according to some supporters of the protests, is on capitalism. French
economist Thomas Piketty says the country’s woes are the result of the state
pursuing the “capitalist logic” of not investing enough in the public sector
and not taxing the wealthy quite enough. In terms of personal income taxes
alone — France has massive payroll and consumption taxes as well — the top 10%
of French taxpayers provide 74% of the revenue. The top 1% provide a third. France
also has the highest corporate tax rates of any OECD country.”
“I’m hard-pressed to see how just a bit more taxing and
spending will solve France’s problems.”
The question is perhaps why, in a
country where the wealthy are paying their fair share, as are the corporations,
and the government is providing good pensions from an early retirement age, are
they complaining so much about austerity and want more government funding for
more social programs? The average French retirement benefit amounts to about
$2,300 per month. The U.S. average SS check is $2,086. Thus, there is some
reason to suggest that retirees are perhaps doing too well. There have also
been complaints about military spending as the whole of Europe must reckon with
a lack of it during the years when Russia was not seen as a viable threat, but
now, clearly, is.
The bottom line is perhaps that
“Fucking shit up” is neither a profound nor a useful social strategy for
anyone. There are no benefits. Protests should be reserved for the most serious
problems in society, not inconveniences and political disagreements. Things
like civil rights, real oppression, and wanting real protection against danger
are when they should be used. There should not be violence. Protests about
basic economic conditions should be the most peaceful. The dangers of an
overcrowded classroom or a leaking school roof are real but mild. The school
heat is more legitimate, but air conditioning would solve that. Of course, that
makes emissions, so the climate movement would not agree to it and would rather
blame fossil fuel producers.
References:
Leftist
media spin furiously on French leftist rioting. Tim Graham. Creators. October
20, 2026. Leftist
media spin furiously on French leftist rioting
Goldberg:
Abandoning capitalism won't save France. The US should pay attention. Opinion
by Jonah Goldberg. Los Angeles Times. October 20, 2026. Goldberg:
Abandoning capitalism won't save France. The US should pay attention
Greta
Thunberg joins Paris protests, underscoring radical three-way alliance. Preston
Mizell. Fox News. October 21, 2026. Greta
Thunberg joins Paris protests, underscoring radical three-way alliance
Ro
Khanna thinks torching Jewish businesses is an 'inspiring' youth movement. Steven
Burg, Washington Examiner. October 20, 2026. Ro
Khanna thinks torching Jewish businesses is an 'inspiring' youth movement
Emmanuel
Macron denounces 'unbridled' violence in France as thousands arrested. ABC
News. October 18, 2026. Emmanuel
Macron denounces 'unbridled' violence in France as thousands arrested - ABC
News
Tear
gas in the metro. Shopkeepers weeping. Students defending the violence: Robert
Hardman in Paris. Robert Hardman, Daily Mail. October 19, 2026. Tear
gas in the metro. Shopkeepers weeping. Students defending the violence: Robert
Hardman in Paris
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