Facebook is being used as the organising tool of an ideologically unfocused* populist protest in the West. Suggesting that the Russians are not meddling in some way in that situation would be an insult to Putin and his state security apparatus.
Really, though, they’re just opportunists. As is Facebook. This chaos is the fault of Macron’s government first, and the usual violent morons who show up at any populist protest second.
[* i.e. both left-wingers and right-wingers are involved]
well, i agree. but if anyone has experience in rioting when the people feel there is no other alternative, historically speaking it’s the french. my point was that they know what they are doing.
It’s a “manif” when French people do it.
Admittedly, my expectations have been shaped by the brutality of my fellow Americans and their affinity for deadly weapons and I subconsciously projected that expectation where it didn’t belong.
If it weren’t for the Fake News that they are on the edge of complete pauperization and ruin spread by EVIL RUSSIAN BOTS ON FACEBOOK the people would realize they are living in a neoliberal wonderland of milk, honey, and discount diesel. Praise capitalism and pass the kool-aid, brother/sister/other.
Meh, it looks like the yearly “1er Mai” protest…
Did everyone forget the protests from 2016 AND 2017 caused by neoliberal laws voted by Macron?? I haven’t checked the numbers , but I think they were widely supported for months, with endless acts of urban violence from 2 sides (by protesters & ruthless cops).
I wouldn’t be surprised it activists from Nuit Debout (2016 April) helped to build the current protests.
The French do this in response to gas taxes. Americans do this in response to sporting events.
If only people would do this in response to war.
If these were Canadians rioting, the black bloc folks would have brought hockey sticks for returning teargas canisters.
That said, cobblestones can be quite deadly enough.
Rarely do I get a chance to see how the media represents something versus the reality of the situation, but reading articles on BBC and CNN (and, for that matter, Le Parisien and Le Monde) I don’t really recognize Paris as it has been represented the last few weeks. Yes, the Gilets Jaunes have marched and chanted through my neighborhood, but they have been utterly peaceful. Yes, there has been violence, but it has been so localized that I wouldn’t even have known about it if not for the press it has gotten. I think France should be proud that these are the worst riots that they’ve had in decades. They have done far less damage than school shootings and routine traffic stops have done in the US in the past year alone. And First Amendment be damned, the statements coming from French politicians supporting peaceful protest despite the violent protesters sound much more freedom-loving than anything I’ve heard from an American politician since my childhood.
unbelivable? its more or less 1st may in berlin, just on a bigger scale.
violence? well, yeah. against police (the state), against “proberty” (the banks/expensive cars aka capitalism) but not much else.
the demonstrators let the firebrigade do their job and guiding people with cars out of the mayhem.
oh, and if egypts or ukrainians do it, its ok, but not the french? both were FB and twitter-“fuelled”.
besides, its french tradition to show the elite better not to fuck with the people, right?
seems to be pretty non-violent today, compared to then.
always the reasoning voice, arent you, gulliver 
youre obviously right, but I cant hide that I not only sympathize with these people, but also a kind of admiration, cause of the the consistency with which the protests are waged.
They mellowed out quite a bit after democracy took hold in the late 80’s
Well, they deposed a president with massive protests a couple years ago, but they were non-violent. They didn’t have to riot, because the powers that be understood that implicit potential in the 2 million people peacefully occupying their streets.
I have to say, being stuck at the top of the Eiffel Tower while a riot surrounded the base sounds like a nightmare, and would be pretty dangerous.
No matter who’s right or wrong, it becomes quite clear to me that Bush/Cheney era Republicans with their criticism of the French being weak for not joining the Iraq invasion clearly had not the opportunity to have a pile of Freedom Fries shoved up their ass by a determined blue-collar Frenchman.
*Clutches pearls*
Won’t someone think of the tourists?
It’s a sturdy structure immune to tossed bricks, presents a lovely panorama of the city high above the tear gas clouds, and has a fine restaurant on the first level … better to be stuck there than a la base (as it were).
And a good view of all the activity.
It might also be a case of flat out ignorance about what’s at stake in Europe in the eyes of what is, on some points, pampered and well-off middle-class Americans.
Mr. Doctorow might conceivably have a much more nuanced view.
ETA: Mr. Macron is also not really a liberal. He may want to display a glitzy Trudeau-esque liberal surface, but his background is upper-middle-class with a childhood spent in the most elite schools the country can muster, followed by a career in finance including as an investment banker. This guy might pose as a liberal, but he’s an iron-clad fiscal conservative, and his blatantly racist view of Africans kind of throws doubt on his alleged social liberalism.
Here’s some more background for those who haven’t had enough:
Seems sensible to me:
