‘Block Everything’: Amorphous protest movement adds to Macron’s political woes
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Posters featuring the slogans "Sept 10, we block everything" and "Money for wages, not for war" are seen on a wall in Paris.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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- France braces for "Block Everything" protests on September 10, driven by discontent with alleged favouritism towards corporations and the wealthy.
- The decentralised movement, organised via social media, may disrupt airports, trains, and highways; 80,000 police officers will be deployed.
- Protesters demand political change due to perceived betrayal by authorities, while Russia & Iran deny interference despite amplified hashtags.
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PARIS - Benoit Vasselin has no problem saying he will take part in France’s “Block Everything” protests this week. But he won’t specify what he and fellow protesters will do when they pitch up outside a trade union HQ in the northern town of Lille early on Sept 10.
The mystery over what protesters like Mr Vasselin are planning is confounding security services, just as President Emmanuel Macron grapples with the collapse of his fourth government
The “Block Everything” movement sprung up online in May among right-wing groups, researchers and officials said, but it has since been taken over by the left and far-left.
Its lack of centralised leadership and ad hoc organisation via social media and Telegram make it hard to gauge just how disruptive the Sept 10 day of action may be.
The government is not taking any chances, planning to deploy 80,000 police to contain protests that could number 100,000 people and target airports, train stations and highways with blockades or acts of sabotage.
The movement's snowballing online support underlines a deep vein of popular discontent against what protesters deem a dysfunctional ruling elite preaching a painful gospel of austerity.
“I am extremely angry with the political system in France, which favours large corporations, which favours ultra-wealthy billionaires, and which... erodes the rights of ordinary French citizens - the very ones who keep the country running,” said Mr Mathieu Jaguelin, 43, a tour guide in south-west France who participates in several “Block Everything” groups on Telegram.
France’s Interior Ministry declined comment for this story.
“We will not tolerate any blockage, any violence,” Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told France 2 television on Sept 8. “I understand the anger... but the anger cannot be vented in the streets.”
Festering anger, mounting woes
French lawmakers ousted Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Sept 8 over his debt-slimming plan,
Reuters spoke with six “Block Everything” participants who said the political system was no longer fit for purpose.
Some urged a constitutional overhaul, while others called for Mr Macron's resignation and higher taxes on the rich. All said the movement was a reaction to the political chaos and hoped the protests would prompt politicians to act.
“The public authorities and the government have betrayed us so much that I’m not sure they can really meet the expectations of the people,” said Ms Louise Nechin, a left-wing activist in Paris.
An elderly man walking past a slogan reading “Sept 10 Let’s block everything” in Bordeaux, southwestern France, on Sept 9.
PHOTO: AFP
“Block Everything” has drawn comparisons with the 2018 “Yellow Vest” movement,
Billions of euros in tax cuts helped quell the uprising after six months, but some residual anger still animates the “Block Everything” movement.
Two major labour unions have backed “Block Everything,” while more unions are planning to strike on Sept 18, possibly heralding the start of a new era of social unrest confronting Mr Macron, who has been in power since 2017.
Declining faith in political institutions
Ms Paola Sedda, an expert on online movements at the University of Lille, said “Block Everything” emerged out of the deep anger over Mr Bayrou’s proposed budget cuts at a time of declining faith in political institutions.
The activists’ deep mistrust of traditional media and political institutions resonated widely, she said.
A French intelligence source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some “opportunistic” foreign actors, including pro-Russian and pro-Iranian groups, were “amplifying certain popular hashtags, particularly on X... to exploit a sensitive domestic context”.
However, “the phenomenon is relatively marginal compared with publications of domestic origin”, the source added.
The Iranian embassy in Paris denied even “the slightest intention, interest or desire to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, in this case France.”
The Russian embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
One “Block Everything” moderator on a Telegram channel, who declined to give his name as he didn’t want to appear a leader of the group, said the odd pro-Kremlin account sometimes posted but such posts were “systematically moderated or criticised”.
“This does not change the core reality: the origin of the movement and its dynamics come from real people, here, expressing their anger and desire for change,” he said. REUTERS
