Despite the worldwide news blackout by mainstream media reporting on the protests in France, news of police brutality are reaching all corners of the globe and inspiring people to stand up against globalism and totalitarian legislations and oppression. These corporate giants, in their attempt to silence the people of France by censoring or false reporting, have lost a substantial amount of public confidence in their credibility to report the truth. Failure to report in itself raises eyebrows as to why these enormous protests; now in their 16th week; were not broadcasted on TV, nor were they covered by the mainstream newspapers.
Those that did, portrayed the yellow vested protestors in an unfavourable light, demonising them as radicals, socialists, vandals, unemployed, racists or anti-Semitic.
Only alternative media, Russian Tv and some well funded "controlled oppositions" covered the events, some with livestream broadcasts. It is as well to note that staged vandalism by agent provocateurs, antifa and crisis acting is a modus operandi often used to sway public opinion.
Facebook, twitter and other social media platforms have now jumped on the bandwagon, censoring news of the gilet jaune, yellow vests movement by any means possible. Removing articles without notification is commonplace. People are banned from Facebook; commonly coined as Facebook jail; for 1, 3, 7, 30 days or more for posting material connected with the protests. Restrictions on commenting, friending and joining groups are some of the methods used to inhibit the news from being shared on social media platforms.
But the French people are not deterred. The widespread violence by the police has made them more adamant to take to the streets. There are many accounts of elderly French Monsieurs and Madams in their 60's through to 90's, pictured in hi-viz yellow vests, to demonstrate their support for the movement. The protests are in no way dying down, as the media would have you believe. This is a movement of the people and they know they have to follow through. The state has left them no choice. People can no longer afford to feed themselves and the situation is worsening, forcing pensioners to continue working well past their retirement, so they can afford to eat. Those that cannot find employment or unable to work have to resort to food banks. The elderly, having experienced war on their soil, know full well the need to stand up and fight, as their basic human rights are systematically chipped away by the state they have paid into all their working lives. This is a real crisis and the world have a right to know the truth.
With each week comes more reports of injuries, even death. Over 2,000 protestors have so far been injured or maimed for life, many losing an eye, hand or foot. Nobody is immune to the gratuitous violence of the police and crs. Men, women, children, the elderly and the disabled are all fair game for the gestapo type police, in full riot gear armed with batons and flashball grenades. The situation in France is dire. Civil war is a word bandied around frequently and in my opinion, it is Macron's agenda.
Nina Chan. 5th March 2019.
Photography by: Erwan Auvray