The last few weeks have seen important challenges to some of the main European countries, and these have posed significant questions regarding the future of Europe in general in the forthcoming period. These developments have been particularly witnessed in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, all of which are major actors in Europe. In the case of France, which will be addressed here, the challenges posed by the “gilets jaunes” (yellow vests) movement have seemed to be more serious than in previous protests. The new movement has not, unlike its recent predecessors, been confined primarily to first or second-generation immigrants to France, as was the case for protests in the French capital Paris and other major cities over the past few years. On these previous occasions, the protesters mostly came from minority ethnic, linguistic, religious or cultural backgrounds different from the mainstream of French people of European origin. However, the protesters that have been seen in France over the past few weeks, though they have come from different backgrounds reflecting various sections of French society, have included people from the mainstream. The socio-economic nature of their demands and the reasons for their protests have been clear, reiterating the fact that all over the globe, and more particularly throughout modern and contemporary history, the main motivations for mass street protests have been primarily socio-economic rather than political. Such protests have later developed to include or even focus on political demands, but they have rarely started out as such. While some media reports have compared recent events in France to the uprisings known as the “Arab Spring” that took place in late 2010 and throughout 2011 in several Arab countries, I tend to agree more with those who have considered them, at least until the present stage, as closer in nature to the series of socio-economic protests that took place in many North African countries from 1976 to 1978 and were referred to as “bread riots” or “food riots” in the media. By their supporters they were described as “popular uprisings,” while by the governments of the countries concerned they were described as “thugs' uprisings”. However, one also needs to reflect on the historical specificities of the French people and more specifically of their record in modern and contemporary history. It is, after all, the French Revolution of 1789 that has been designated by historians from different, and occasionally conflicting, schools of thought and ideological affiliations as the starting point of modern history. The revolution has often been called, once more by a consensus among historians, “the mother of all revolutions” in the modern and contemporary period. It laid the foundations, particularly through its principles of “liberty, equality and fraternity,” for the development of many ideologies from the end of the 18th century until today, and it became the model for many revolutions to come, not only in Europe, but also all over the world. Yet, the French Revolution did not achieve a swift victory. Instead, it took decades for it to succeed, together with cycles of revolution and counter-revolution as well as various attempts at foreign intervention, until it became well-established in French society. The former royal family was restored to the throne, and Napoleon Bonaparte established himself as emperor for a period. In 1848, a wave of revolutions swept Europe, primarily France, after which the French Republic consolidated its power. However, the pioneering nature of the French Revolution and its subsequent developments was not the only time that the French people played a unique role in the making of human history. A second occasion came in their heroic resistance to German occupation during World War II. The French people set an example to others in Europe and other parts of the world by their perseverance in resisting the occupation despite the massive use of violence and collective punishment by the occupying forces and the huge losses they suffered because of their steadfastness in confronting them. This stand by the French people, and their eventual victory, provided hope for many European and non-European peoples in their struggles against foreign occupation all over the world, motivating them to stand loyal to the resistance until they had liberated their territory. It discouraged any voices among them warning of the possible defeat of the national resistance movement by the foreign occupation and calling for surrender to the occupiers. A third milestone was the famous uprising of French young people in May 1968. This opened the door to a series of similar uprisings in different parts of the world, particularly, though not entirely, in Europe and North America. The 1968 youth uprisings benefited from and interacted with the then rising New Left in Europe, which rapidly extended to North America and parts of the Third World. They protested against prevailing conditions, and in the French context they were a reflection of what sections of the French youth perceived as a perversion, and even betrayal, of the ideals of the French Revolution of 1789. The 1968 youth protest movement challenged the leadership of then French president Charles de Gaulle, despite the fact that he had led France to liberation from Nazi occupation in World War II and had played a leading role in the overall victory over Nazism and fascism in Europe in 1945. In addition, it was de Gaulle who had established the French Fifth Republic in 1958, a regime which continues today. However, because of the challenge of the youth protest movement of 1968, de Gaulle had to resign in 1969 when his proposals for new policies were defeated in a popular referendum. All these things shed light on the specificities of important sections of the French people in modern and contemporary history, particularly as far as their patterns of thought and action are concerned when dealing with situations arising in French society. 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The writer is a commentator.
