In Brief The Facts: The French government recently announced plans to make "unauthorized" protests illegal. This is coming as a result of the Yellow Vests movement.

Reflect On: What is an "unauthorized" protest? Does this mean protests can only be legal in France if it's 'authorized' by the government?'

The Yellow Vests hit the streets and began raising awareness about the latest economic austerity measures in France that have impacted everything from gas prices to taxes for the middle class. The distaste for how things are being governed in France has been building for many years and has simply boiled over into this movement.

Similar to most mass protests we’ve seen over the past few years, mainstream media constantly focuses on the violence that’s often brought forth only by a few people, which steers attention away from the actual issues they’re protesting against. In fact, I would not be surprised if people were hired to purposefully cause destruction to deflect away from the actual issue, which would give the authorities the right to intervene and impose more security measures. A similar situation happened here in Toronto for the G20 summit a few years ago.

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One of the most significant facts about the Yellow Vests movement is that law enforcement and even the military started to realize that what was happening was wrong, siding with the people rather than the elite. They started identifying more with civilians than the superiors giving them orders to do things they no longer believed in. This means that the global elite is in a very precarious position, and this is why we say ‘change starts within.’ It starts at an individual level.

As with any demonstration, when something like this happens and gains significant attention, the focus shifts away from the concerns of the citizenry and toward the ‘violent protest’ narrative.

Now, it’s being reported that French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced plans to punish people who hold ‘unsanctioned’ protests “after seven weeks of anti-government unrest.” This is according to the BBC, which focuses on the ‘anti-government’ initiatives instead of bringing up the actual concerns of local citizens. Why doesn’t mainstream media talk with the actual protestors? Why is there little effort being made to understand their perspective? Why is only one perspective constantly shared by the mainstream media, allowing the underlying issues to go completely ignored? And why have protestors been lumped into one category as ‘violent’?

The BBC goes on,

His government wants to draft new legislation that will ban troublemakers from protests and clamp down on the wearing of masks at demonstrations. He said 80,000 members of the security forces would be deployed for the next expected wave of protests. Protesters smashed down the gates to a government office this weekend. In other chaotic scenes in Paris, demonstrators fought riot police and cars and motorbikes were burnt.

Again, the violence narrative was shared, which provides a convenient excuse to implement these types of extreme measures.

Don’t believe it? Look at all the mainstream headlines. As usual, they are all about violence and how order will be restored (order out of chaos, ordo ab chao, the timeless strategy of the elite). Meanwhile, the actual reason that so many ordinary citizens would go to the trouble of protesting is buried somewhere in the article and given little importance. The New York Times’ ‘Macron Inspects Damage After ‘Yellow Vest’ Protests as France Weighs State of Emergency’ is a perfect example. We have to ask ourselves: Would a grassroots movement of concerned law-abiding citizens (which most citizens are) motivate these ordinary citizens to set someone’s car on fire? How could destroying another citizen’s car actually help the movement? Looting and breaking store windows? Why would law-abiding citizens take their frustrations out on innocent retail vendors? Would ordinary citizens contrive to harm civilians with bombs and gas attacks? – Richard Enos

The announcement to crack down on ‘unauthorized’ demonstrations came into fruition when Philippe appeared on French TV channel TF1, who said the government would support a “new law punishing those who do not respect the requirement to declare (protests), those who take part in unauthorized demonstrations and those who arrive at demonstrations wearing face masks.”

“Those who question our institution will not have the last word,” – Mr Philippe said

Obviously, this narrative is strongly backed by most politicians. Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the Republican party, tweeted that the move was not enough. Senator Bruno Retailleau supported the Prime Minister’s plans, stating that “hooded” troublemakers who participated in protests “must be severely punished.”

Meanwhile left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said the planned measures would mean that “demonstrators can no longer demonstrate.” In a Twitter post, he described Mr. Philippe as the “king of the Shadoks”, a reference to bird-like cartoon characters featured in a popular French TV series who are known for their ruthlessness.

What’s Really Going On?

In a recent video interview from the ground in Paris, Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange spoke to a well-informed anonymous citizen discussing the fact that mainstream media is doing everything it can to minimize the size and seriousness of the Yellow Vests movement. This citizen seems to capture the real mood and motivation of the Yellow Vests movement, discussing its origins and the reason it has continued to grow.

We’ve been covering this movement since it began, and it’s quite clear that it’s much larger than what mainstream media is making it out to be. In reality, this movement is comprised of hundreds of thousands of protestors, if not millions. The BBC is reporting that there were approximately 280,000 who turned out in November, with cities like Rouen and Caen comprised of approximately 50,00. But again, the narrative here focuses on rioting and violence. It almost reminds me of false staged attacks, such as the chemical gas attacks in Syria, to justify certain security measures.

In this case, it would mean no more protests unless they’re ‘authorized,’ whatever that means.

Mainstream media has also been caught doctoring photos of the protest, as seen below. You can read more about that here.

The Takeaway

Something very special is happening on the planet right now. More people are waking up and starting to realize that, as a collective, we no longer resonate with different aspects of this human experience. We want change, and many of us are willing to take action. The role of conscious media has never been more integral, allowing more people all over the world to get involved thanks to a clearer understanding of what is going on.

Solving the issues we face within ourselves, our systems and our structures all comes down to elevating our consciousness to a place where we no longer reside within a vibration that’s filled with hate and disconnection.

Enough with the polarity, the fighting, the comparisons. Let’s begin unifying together to bring forth a more peaceful state of being, putting an end to the deep state once and for all. Without our participation, they have no power. And I believe we are seeing glimpses of this in France.

Related CE Articles On The Yellow Vests Movements

Why The Yellow Vests Movement Could Erupt Into A Modern Day French Revolution

Yellow Vests Update: CNN Says They Are Creating Chaos, But Are They?

The Deep State Has A Big Problem In France, Here’s Why

French News Channel Caught Doctoring & Changing Sign of Yellow Vest Protester