#dellaporta

The yellow vests movement is a grassroots political movement born in 2018 which fights for economic justice in France. The movement began after the increase of fuel prices imposed by the French government. Many people signed an online petition to oppose this measure shortly after its implementation. Eventually, the protesters occupied the French streets and started mass demonstrations on November 17, 2018. 

It is relevant to explore more the arguments - already mentioned in the last post - made in Social Movements: an Introduction  by Della Porta and Diani. Della Porta and Diani define social movements as the process in which entities are engaged in collective actions, share a collective identity, are part of a dense network and oppose the same target (2006, p.20).

The yellow vest protesters are engaged in collective action in the streets, have a clear opponent - Emmanuel Macron - and are part of a dense network which relies on the collaboration and the support between them. However, it is problematic to fully determine whether or not they share a collective identity. On one hand, the yellow vests protesters mostly come from the same class. On the other hand, within this class there are many different sub-identities which may be identified. Thus, the movement started from the people living in the rural areas of Paris who commute every day and are heavily affected from the fuel taxes. Eventually, members of the working classes living in the city joined the protests to express their frustration towards the harsh measure taken by the French government in general. The people living in rural and urban areas are both affected by the fuel tax, but to different degrees. Therefore, even if all the protesters come from the middle class, they may be divided into sub-categories with different collective identities based on gender, age and social class.

In addition to the internal division between rural and urban protesters the yellow vests participants may be divided in other sub-identities. As per the infographic A provided by the Institut Montaigne (2019) about half of the protesters are female and the other half male. Moreover, 74% of the participants are between 25 and 64 years old, what may be considered the age range of the working classes in France. Therefore, it is interesting to notice that 26% of protesters do not belong to the working class. Because of the different age groups taking part in the demonstrations, it is problematic even to define the yellow vests movement as a working class movement. 

(A) Institut Montaigne infographic: Who are the yellow vests? Graphs of age and sex.

Despite the age and gender differences, I still acknowledge the existence of some kind of collective identity within the movement. In the end, 87% of the protesters are bonded by the feeling of living in an unjust society, as the infographic B (Institut Montaigne, 2019) suggests and 3/4 of the total protesters are highly effected by the rise in fuel taxes, since they use their vehicles everyday.  

(B)  Institut Montaigne infographic: Who are the yellow vests? Graphs of state of mind and geographic division.

Referring to the definition of collective identity given by Nil Çokluk Cömert, a Turkish communication scholar who conducted research on yellow vests, the French protesters indeed share a collective identity created by the use of the yellow vests symbol and their mostly labor based movement. Cömert states that “identity includes multi-dimensional elements such as knowing who we are, knowing who the others are, how we see them, and how they see us” (2019, p.11). The yellow vests protesters are fully aware of their identity and are equally aware of the “others” identity (the elite) which they are fighting.

The yellow vests movement, started in October 2018, calls for better taxation reforms and social justice. Protesters are motivated to fight the rise of fuel prices imposed by the government, which is worsening the situation of working classes and favoring the elite.

It is important to break down the main features of this movement in order to better determine whether or not it can be considered as such. Thus, I intend to analyze the yellow vests movement through both the lenses of The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements (Snow, D., Soule, S., & Kriesi, H. - 2007) and Social Movements: an Introduction (Della Porta, D., Diani, M. - 2006). 

Mario Diani and Donatella Della Porta (2006) define Social Movements as the collective action characterized by:                  

1.       The presence of an “enemy”, a counterpart which the movement opposes

As shown in the pictures A and B below, this movement clearly has an enemy: Emmanuel Macron. Macron has been the main target of the protesters since the movement started, he being the creator of the fuel policies that the yellow vests are so strongly opposed to. 

(A)

(B)

2.       The existence of a dense informal network without a clear representative

Despite the large number of participants, this movement has always been identified as a unique entity, rather than a group led by a single individual. Protesters are tightly and equally bonded with each other to pursue a common goal.

3.       Actors who fight for a common cause and feel a sense of belonging to their group and share a collective identity

People participating to the yellow vests movement mostly come from the same class, the working class, they all share the will to fight elitism and they are all bonded even by their looks, since they all wear a yellow vest during the protests. These elements emphasize the existence of a collective identity shared by all the people who are seeking a radical change of the French system. 

Because the yellow vests movement fits the framework defined by Della Porta and Diani it may be considered a social movement. What about the criteria of Snow, Soule and Kriesi?

 Snow, Soule and Kriesi (2007) believe that all social movements:

1.       Can be regarded as a collective joint action for a common goal

As mentioned before, the yellow vests may be regarded as a unique entity pursuing policy change in France, thus having the same collective goal.

2.       Foster change in society

Change is key when thinking about the yellow vests. Indeed, yellow vesrs protesters of this movement put themselves at risk for the sake of fostering change in society, from the reintroduction of the tax on wealth to the minimum-wage increases.

3.       Are pursued inside of an institutional or non-institutional arena

Protesters “make politics on the streets” (Della Porta and Diani, 2006, p. 29), meaning that they mostly express their will outside of institutional arenas. However, there has been an attempt to enter the institutional sphere by presenting some yellow vests representatives in the elections of the European Parliament. Unfortunately, their attempt was unsuccessful, as they only got 0,54 percent of the votes (Rfi, 2019).

4.       Have some sort of degree of organization

The yellow vests movement certainly has been organized throughout these months. Thus, by using any kind of platform, from hanging posters in the streets to posting on social media groups, protesters managed to plan their routes to walk together in the French cities every Saturday. Despite the fact that this might be considered a low degree of organization, this movement has evolved through time and has expanded its network in a more efficient way weekend after weekend. Protesters eventually showed organization not only for Saturday events, but also for weekly citizen forums (picture C) to discuss their demands.

(C) A flyer for one of the ‘citizens’ dialogues’ organised by the Lyon yellow vests between January and June (translation below)

5.       Have a temporal continuity

Since the yellow vests protest is still ongoing and it has been going on for about 60 weeks every Saturday, it may be regarded as a continuous movement characterized by a temporal continuity.

Because the yellow vests movement fits mostly all of the categories listed by both the analyzed works, it may be considered a social movement in all effects.

  Works Cited:

Della Porta, Donatella, and Diani, Mario, Social Movements: an Introduction (Malden MA: Blackwell, 2006).

Rfi. (2019, May 27). French Yellow Vests miss out on seats in European Parliament. Retrieved from http://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20190527-yellow-vests-miss-out-seats-european-parliament-france.

Snow, D., Soule, S., & Kriesi, H. (2007). The blackwell companion to social movements (Blackwell companions to sociology). Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.

Image Credits:

A.       www.thenational.ae/. (2019, January 19). Retrieved from https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/french-yellow-vest-protests-to-continue-despite-macron-outreach-1.815274

B.       Reuters, & Platiau, C. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.dw.com/en/frances-great-debate-is-over-so-what-comes-next/a-47941300

C.       Lobbedez, E. (2020, January 16). Gilets jaunes: one year on, how the 'yellow vest' movement has changed French citizens' lives. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/gilets-jaunes-one-year-on-how-the-yellow-vest-movement-has-changed-french-citizens-lives-127178.

Poster C Translation:

“We, the yellow vests for the yellow vests, invite you to attend the citizen dialogue (the 7th and the 8th of the year)”

“How can we concretely act to make happen what we are fighting for?”