Photos: Me in Paris, 15th December.

At each act of the Paris protests by the Gilets Jaunes walls are covered in graffiti as a way of propagating their messages and as a symbol of civil disobedience. Infamously the words “Macron Demission” (resign Macron) which is a slogan of the movement were sprayed on the Arc de Triomphe on the 3rd of December (a good photo essay from that protest can be found on the Guardian site).

Most graffiti is sanded away after the weekend but a look at graffiti sprayed on the 15th of December highlights some of the varying ideological traditions and political positions of the Gilets Jaunes.

“Long live the people’s war” Next to a hammer and sickle.

This graffiti in the characteristic red of the left invokes Marxism and the symbols of Soviet communism.

“Asselieneau for president”

Francois Asselineau heads a party on the eurosceptic right, the People’s Republican Union. They agitate for Frexit using similar strategies to UKIP pre-2016.

“The world or nothing”

It could be referencing a 2011 song by Deaf Havana or a 2017 Italian language film about an anarchist island. Although fitting, it seems more likely to be reference to Charles Bukowski’s line “I wasn’t much of a petty thief I wanted the whole world or nothing”. Either way the invocation is of anarchist revolution.

“Macron, Le Pen, Melenchon clear off all of you!”

A call for the three most electorally successful politicians Macron (centre-right), Le Pen (far-right) and Melenchon (far-left) to resign. A non-partisan expression of disillusionment with present politics? A five star style rejection of ‘corrupt’ elites? Or partisan invective from a supporter of the PS or Les Republicains?

“Down with the patriarchy”

A use of the movement as a clear articulation of feminist principles. The e in brackets could be a reference to masculinised language and the debate around the use of genders (le/la) as a grammatical structure in the French language.

Correction: The word patrie in French means country. So what the extra e is doing is making a pun. It reads “down with the country” “down with the patriarchy” at the same time.

“Castaner you are really terrible”

Christophe Castaner is the recently appointed interior minister of the En Marche government. Like Macron he is a defector from the Parti Socialiste. That he has only been in the position two months and is on the receiving end of public anger indicates the scale of the disaffection with politics in France.

A joke about tear gas outside a hairdresers

Found outside a hairdressers, this graffiti is a play on words. It literally translates as tear gas, it ruins your hair, but also means it causes agitation.