The Surge
"I know you're there.
I know you are afraid.
You are afraid of us.
You are afraid of change.
I don't know the future.
I didn't come here to tell you you how it all ends.
I came to tell you: how it's going to begin.
I'm going to hang up this phone
and then I'll show all these people what you don't want them to see.
a world without you.
A world without laws and controls,
without limits or borders, a world where everything is possible.
What we do with it is up to you."
"Yellow vests, what is your profession?!"
Welcome to the cinema of the yellow vests.
with images collected on the Internet,
we will trace the history of the revolutionary movement
to better understand its trajectories.
A story of revolution and counter-revolution.
The story of a popular insurrection versus its political recuperation.
4,200,000 internet users join 1500 Facebook groups.
Groups unite behind names
of geographic locations with the word: "Angry".
All groups decide to organise blockades
to fight against rising petrol prices.
Given the time zone difference
between Reunion Island and mainland France:
With a four-hour head start, our story begins on the island
where the first roadblock is erected.
It is the first of 27 roadblocks that paralyse the island.
The airport, the port, the town hall and main roads.
The island is completely blocked.
The State orders a curfew.
In protest, yellow vests organise parties,
BBQs and open-mics in front of the administrative authority building.
Let's cycle around a small peripheral town of 15,000 inhabitants.
The yellow vests have blocked four major roads axis,
making it impossible to travel in or out.
More than 2000 roadblocks paralyse the country
and it's only the beginning.
Hold on tight, here comes: The story of the yellow vests.
"If you don't have a car: you can't work.
If you can't work, you don't have a car, it's a cycle
We don't have the power to stand up to them,
We want the power to make decisions."
"I am willing to pay for younger generations.
that's what my retirement is for.
I help my children and grandchildren.
But with what Mr Macron is doing
at some point,
we won't be able to help our children and grandchildren anymore."
"The rise of petrol means that we pay extra to be exploited
and we're fed up with it, there is a lack of purchasing power
the main problem are the wages"
"From what I can see
there are different social stratas, different trades
If blockades continue over time it will affect more people,
it will be great.
The participation of political parties bothers me.
I'm glad the movement is apolitical
because I don't fit into any of the parties.
Political parties can recuperate all they they want
I don't think it will change anything.
People don't feel attachment to parties.
Change is going to come from citizen movements.
I am ready to follow the movement
It's not in one day that we can make things move,
It doesn't bother the traffic enough.
We need something stronger!"
In several towns, high school students join the struggle.
High school students demonstrate against a high school reform,
but above all they join the movement
to take part in the revolution.
Many workers drive through this roundabout.
These roads lead to different toll booth infrastructures
which are occupied by other groups of yellow vests.
The Ministry deplores the fact more police are injured in three days
than during the notorious three months battles of the ZAD NDDL.
The police clear the road on one side.
On the other, the yellow vests build a bigger barricade.
We know the terrain, we are local, these are our roads.
We know where to find equipment to block continuously.
"The rally continues on the A8 motorway.
the yellow vests raise the barriers."
We let them go through,
we indicate to each motorist
that the toll is free.
A free toll operation, because we don't have to pay anymore.
From now on, we won't pay."
There is no one to negotiate with.
The movement has no head.
There are no trade union organisations. There are no proclaimed leaders.
Since the 17th November, there have been attempts to occupy
ports, refineries and oil depots.
Attacking strategic sectors is effective in destabilising the economy.
On the island of La Réunion:
The economy is paralysed throughout the territory.
If the yellow vests are not concentrated on sites of production,
it is because they are relocated.
Occupying the network nodes between home and workplace
proves itself an affective strategy.
"It's like this every night?
And until ?"
"We finish at midnight and the next morning we start again at 6:30."
"There aren't many here yet,
What time do they arrive?"
"Around 8:30, after school."
"So there are a lot of parents who come.
And the movement, do you think it will last much longer?"
"I hope it will last for a long time.
We are on the attack and we must show that we will not give up."
In a shopping centres parking lot
a yellow vest carries an explosive charge around his neck.
He threatens to blow himself up
if the president does not receive the movement at the government's head center.
He surrenders after 6 hours of negotiations.
Some say that the government should be directly attacked.
Workers trying to make ends meet
shouldn't be made to suffer from the blockades.
Blocked people call for more radical modes of action.
Employers come to the roundabout
to say that their workers will not be paid if the blockades continue.
Entrepreneurs fear losing their jobs to competition.
They plead for the movement
to continue without preventing people from working.
Middle class people think
that their role is to find tactical alternatives.
They don't want the movement to compromise the economy.
Overall,
people agree to stop blocking traffic
but continue to slow traffic down with roadblocks.
The movement remains strong because
occupation points become places of life where action committees
further the movement on diverse trajectories.
"We block the tax centre to stop money entering the state
and to express the anger of the French population."
"Who agrees to settle a camp in front of the mayor's house?
We can do it, We'll do Christmas in front of your house!"
Actions are organised against government buildings, town halls,
municipal halls,
political party headquarters, public finance centres.
75% of the speed cameras are sabotaged.
Members of Parliament receive death threats.
"If you'r looking for the one in charge, I'm here, come and get me!"
"Emmanuel Macron you moron
we're coming to get you in your home!"
"The succession of the yellow vests is assured."
"Emmanuel Macron oh you moron we're coming to get you in your home!"
Many groups have stopped blocking roads
However 700 blockades are still active.
Wrongfully, all media channels claim that the movement is running out of steam.
Groups join others to build bigger camps.
Every minute, new facebook pages and groups are created.
People take work leave, others resign their jobs to commit themselves 100%.
"Somewhere in Brittany, a small village resists
The Plougonven, commune of 3400 inhabitants.
And we are here today to find the secret of their famous potion
to federate so many yellow vests.
But then, tell me
What is the secret of your potion?"
"A lot of taxes, a lot of contempt,
crumbs from the government and a carrot!"
"Our live streams are great!
on the other hand, you behind your screens, you don't move!
We are here!"
"The fuel depot is blocked.
there are several supermarkets with no fuel in their tanks.
We'v been here 2 days, with construction equipment, we are blocking everything."
"And those who are in this area, come here!
We need people !
Oh, the riotpolice are in action on the port of Saint-Nazaire."
"We are at the roundabout here, at the entrance of the port.
they are moving forward,
it looks like they're going to charge!
If they react so quickly it means
we've hit the right spot!
It's the port!
It's strategic! we need to hold it! We need people here!"
"We are in contact with eight other groups in Bordeaux.
each of them has a spokesperson.
We regularly go to Bordeaux to unite.
We must all unite against the government and defend ourselves
I ask you one simple thing:
let's all stick together and act in the same direction.
There is no competition between groups, there are no leaders,
there's nothing of all that!
So now, the government, we're going to hit it hard.
I guarantee you that at the next action, they will hear us!"
"We also call for groups to build huts
or a "house of the people" like in Saint-Nazaire.
In short, a place of meet and organisation.
Coordinate ourselves geographically, on an equal footing, that's how we can win
because the State can't counter this form of organisation.
If we appoint representatives and spokespersons, it will render us passive,
even worse, we will quickly reproduce the system
from top to bottom like the scoundrels who rule us.
From Commercy, we call for the creation of popular committees
that operate with regular general assemblies.
Let's refuse political recuperation!
Long live direct democracy!
Let's take back the power over our lives.
Long live the yellow vests in their diversity!
Long live power to the people by the people and for the people!"
"BDE road workers with us, road workers with us!"
"The workers of BDE have demanded to withdraw !"
The workers of the private company
paid to dismantle the camp refuse to do the job.
As soon as the police leave, We reconquer the roundabout.
"The roundabout is ours!"
To celebrate victory:
We rebuild the camp.
On this specefic roudabout
more than 80 huts are built and rebuilt.
When the time comes, someone sings the national anthem.
It is like a victory cry.
Some say that this makes us populists and nationalists,
but it is simply a song that we have in common.
It makes us feel like we are living a historical moment.
The next day, riots relocate in cities,
consequence of frustration of losing outlying territories.
"We must stop pacifism !"
In Charleville-Mézières, barricades block the adminstrative authority.
In Narbonne, it is vandalised.
In Puy-en-Velay, police try to hold it's gates
they receive 27 pound stones that shatter their helmets.
Strategic infrastructures are seized all over France.
In the capital, the Arc de Triomphe is ours !
Revamped with the slogan : "The yellow vests will triumph"
In a small commune barely populated by 3000 inhabitants,
The riot never ends,
It's agitative intensity rivals
with that of 70 towns in the country.
"It's civil war !"
We regroup as a bloc and charge.
Paving stones, bolts, paint and acid are thrown at the police.
300 police officers are injured more or less seriously.
Almost 10,000 tear gas grenades are used.
The police desert the streets,
fires are set in front of police stations.
Police vehicles are set on fire.
Three buildings of the administrative authority are on fire.
One burns down completely.
The republic is about to fall, crushed by its desire for control.
Counter Insurgency
The police union declares it is an insurrectionary situation.
They talk about the need of a curfew and army.
"Sir, you have a yellow vest here.
right wing left wing, I don't care.
I can't buy christmas presents for my son.
I pity you. You don't scare me.
I will tell you openly:
Yes, I broke things on Saturday.
Yes, I fought with riot police.
Saturday, I'll go again
if Macron doesn't understand, I'll break things again.
Tell Mr. Macron: People are going to come with weapons!
Sir, you don't scare us by whining all day about violence.
Your spectators know that everyone are breaking and burning things!
I am not a black bloc. Open your ears: I am a yellow vest who is dying!
Yes we break things, That's it.
We break and burn if you don't get the message.
Is it clear ??
This is not a protest, this is war !
Sir, you give us lessons of morality
but you are incapable of living the life of the people.
You are incapable of living the life of the people !"
300 petrol stations are completely out of fuel.
"I am in favour of finding solutions, like free public transport for example,
we don't give money to pay for new carpets at the Elysée Palace!"
"We create groups on social networks, we meet in front of school at 7:30
we call each other and we all meet up."
"They fight for us,
we have to fight with them too.
we are all affected."
"My parents, they are not here today,
but they are part of the movement, everyone is, my family, everyone !"
"the government removed the tax on wealth,
while most people don't have
enough money to support themselves
he chooses to give money to the rich who already have enough.
How many people are here ?!
Yellow and red together !"
"For or against the demonstration ? For, raise your hand !"
"Emmanuel Macron, president of bosses, we're going to break everything in your house !"
"Today, we are all protesting against
the reform concerning study orientation.
We know very well that,
a grade in our school will not have the same value as a grade
from a high school of the city centre.
We denounce the reinforcement of
inequalities to access higher education"
"Hopefully they won't bring out the army,
that's our concern, if the army is brought out
it's the revolution, it's civil war.
Because those who go to saturday protests, go to break things !
The ones we try to hold back
won't protest on their own, nor with empty pockets."
Student protests continue to escalate on December 6th.
More than 200 high schools are blocked.
In Toulouse, police officers are injured.
A journalist is beaten and his camera is stolen.
The other journalists are chased out of the demonstration.
700 high school students are arrested.
In Mantes-la-Jolie,
police officers humiliate the students, forcing them to kneel for two hours.
"This is a class that behaves itself."
The police film the scene themselves
and broadcast the video to send a direct message:
the police are ready to wage war against the population.
Police forbid boarding trains to Paris,
Traffic is not halted by Yellow vests
but by police blockades.
Those who got up early enough
to arrive on time are arrested preventively .
"Our group from the Jura was arrested straight away !
for nothing, just because we had helmets."
"We're coming to get you in your home !"
"The police officer points out a steering rod lying at the foot of the passenger,
and we are taken into custody on the charge of :
participation in an armed gathering."
"If you want to stay alive,
go home, you have nothing to do here."
Kill them all, God will know his own.
A modern legislative crusade is waged
to criminalise freedom of expression and liberty of movement.
The state uses punitive violence,
they hit without distinction to spread terror.
In the doctrine of policing:
people who deserve to be spared
are those who leave as soon as they witness repression.
Those who persist must be punished.
In spite of the prohibitions to board trains
people arrive from everywhere at different times.
There is no ordered procession.
It is a gigantic walk that seeks the gates of the Elysée.
The streets are yellow with people.
Paris is flooded again.
"We understand very well what we want
and what we don't want most of all."
"Tax evasion!"
"Only 1 billion ?!" "60 billion !"
"Macron creates tax niches
and defiscalises capital,
the CICE, the wealth tax wealth tax (ISF), the flat tax.
these reforms lead to less revenue for the state
so they have to make up for the lost money,
hence the taxe on diesel
or close down public services! That's what happens!
Money doesn't trickle,
But it exists! We have to go and get it!"
"Girls in number at the demonstration,
the women are here! Women are yellow vests!
It’s not only men, and fascists get out of our struggle!"
A protestor watches the news on his phone to see where to go.
Today, 13 million televisions are following the uprising.
The Army makes strategic decisions based on feedback from the control room,
but also from live television news channels.
The media says there are 31000 demonstrators throughout France
and 8000 in Paris.
They say that 89,000 police officers have been deployed and outnumber the demonstrators
thus claiming that the movement is running out of steam.
The media broadcast the image of a netted demonstration,
to represent the movement as contained and restrained.
The camera's view from the helicopter
is never shared live on live television
because it would risk showing that there are demonstrators everywhere.
The editorialists make invisible all
regional blockades that take place outside Paris.
In Brittany, police are under attack!
Throughout the province, extraordinary barricades are
erected and the situation is out of control.
For their communication battle, they keep their focal point on Paris,
They repeat that 89,000 police officers have been deployed and have restored order.
1450 have been arrested in Paris.
Until now the strategy of the media was
to represent the movement as running out of steam by itself
Now they represent the movement
being suppressed by the force of the state.
In the afternoon, in total silence,
protestors are forced to to accept the immediate appearance in court procedure.
For lack of knowledge of the judicial system and corrupt court-appointed lawyers
they are sentenced without investigation and caged like cattle.
Near Limoges, a small group that had created the Yellow Vest local page
hijack it and change its name to "Collectif citoyen 87".
They invite representatives of political parties:
The Communist party, The Republican party, the Socialist party,
A populist far right party, Marine Lepen's party and Macron's party.
to a private meeting with the page's administrators.
"Thank you all for coming, I welcome you
and I hope we will have a great evening of democracy.
The local yellow vests are informed
via a video broadcasted by journalists.
Being uninvited, they show up and try to enter the room,
they are turned away by security guards present for this purpose.
One of the page administrators goes out to meet them.
"we don't represent the yellow vests
but we represent our group, that's all!"
Your group ?!"
There can be no secrecy or deals made behind closed doors.
Benjamin Cauchy, an imposter spokesman
self-proclaims himself the representative of Toulouse
without any consultation or coordination.
"I've come to speak for the the yellow vests.
Your colleagues in the South West called me
several times to interview me.
So yes, the Toulouse yellow vests
want that I come speak with you this morning."
During this time, 600 yellow vests of Toulouse are gathered.
Cauchy does not mention it.
It's the 2nd General Assembly held in a large car park in an industrial zone.
Last week, 2 decisions were made by way of voting:
The outcome was to not designate regional representatives.
A month earlier yellow vests
had already countered the media thesis
and declared that he is not a representative of the yellow vests.
Despite this, he will make 33 appearances on the news channel BFMTV.
It is no coincidence that BFM tv sets up this kind of impostor as a representative,
an enterprise of recuperation to divert the movement to the ballot box.
On December 11th, the highschool blockades reach their peak.
450 high schools are blocked.
Youth show unlimited determination.
Later in the evening,
five citizens are murdered and eleven injured on the Christmas market
Daesh claims responsibility for the attack.
The police secure public spaces.
A good opportunity to make a a show of strength
and call for national unity against terrorist attacks.
The media display religious fundamentalism as the root of all societal violence.
With a sanctimonious attitude they
declare that the yellow vests should know better than to
attack their own country and its republican values.
A well-known worldwide counter-insurgency strategy
is to counter internal popular uprisings
by diverting attention through external interferences.
In this case,
it is Islamic terrorism that is used to bring the population
to a different solidarity than that of the yellow vests.
The next day, a press article states that
600 social media accounts are Russian bots.
They use this fact to label us
as being confused, manipulated by external elements,
and try to draw attention once again to an alleged interference.
the state uses conspiracy theories
to assert that we are not genuine,
that our anger is confused and unfounded.
Despite their false claims, millions of people share
anti-government messages and these messages are very real.
On the eve of Act 6, the media intensively recall
the terrorist act and insist that the climate is too dangerous to protest.
They call for everyone to stay home and not demonstrate.
We feel that we are part of a growing collective force.
Taking the streets formalises the rupture of two worlds.
Journalists contributing
to the state's counter-revolutionary media propaganda are attacked.
The media is the main means by which the movement is reppressed.
"BFM buys the images these people and say stupid things with them"
"This is inadmissible, you have nothing to do here."
Only independent journalists or or amateur media are tolerated.
We realise the necessity of writing our own narrative.
"They understand that it is "power" the problem.
it puts shit between us and divide us
the yellow vests understand this."
"This morning, there is a journalist from BFM TV
who ran away because because BFM is a channel
that uses manipulation to make people believe
that there are fewer of us".
"I work, I'm over-indebted.
Did you hear that?
I work but i owe more money.
I'm fed up with it.
Excuse me, but I'm sick of it."
Social network influencers have become autonomous spokespersons
with Facebook livestream videos.
People find authenticity in their streams
because they cultivate the values of transparency
raw opinions without editing or manipulation.
Several livestreamers write a speech together.
"We address this speech to all the French people
as well as to the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron.
It's been almost a month since the
the popular movement of the yellow vests shook France,
This movement belongs to no one and to everyone."
"To nobody !" "And to everyone !" "and to nobody !"
"It is the expression of people who, for 40 years,
has been dispossessed of everything
that allowed them to believe
in their future and greatness."
The government wants to negotiate with
the most popular spokespeople,
but the movement doesn't want negotiators.
it only wants live filmed interactions
The government refuses the compromise
for fear of being destabilised by the tool of transparency
that gives initiative to to the movement.
So the live-streamers push the movement to unite behind one precise demand:
the RIC (referendum of citizen's initiative) is perceived as
the popular guillotine, a trojan horse of the Constitution
with which we will cut off the head of the political system as one voice.
"Because yes, we know that nothing would bother you more than to give
the people the possibility to be heard.
Here we are, made to beg for the crumbs of a democracy
that you and your elected representatives don't want to give us.
So we come with concrete vigilance
to get out of this democratic crisis:
Present to the French people
by way of a referendum, a text to amend the constitution
with the aim of introducing
the citizens' initiative referendum in all matters."
During the night, the A9 motorway is subject to multiple actions.
"Stop calling me, it cut's the livestream. So we're still live at the tollbooth."
At the roundabout up the road from it."
For the last 32 days,
the tolls have been going through phases of:
occupation, eviction and sabotage.
On a toll booth,
the yellow vests bring sand to play petanque
and a sound system to party.
On another toll booth:
Fluorescent yellow is the colour of love.
Chouchoune and Coco Belœil join symbolically
with a speech punctuated by insults towards the president.
Across the country, fifteen motorway tolls are in flames.
"I told you it was catching fire, here you are."
"Act 1 of the police is coming".
"Act 1 of the police is coming.
The government has met some
of the expectations of the yellow vests.
You ask him
to do as much for the police."
Will the police join the yellow vests and demonstrate with them?
The Ministry of the Interior receives three representatives of police unions.
Unity between the State and police is being negotiated.
Finally, the police are bought with bonuses of 300 euros.
The movement of police anger ends with its first act.
The State orders the dismantling of all occupation camps.
But this is not a clear and concentrated operation.
Local administrations have
the latitude to assess situations on a case-by-case basis.
The destruction of an occupation site
can halt the organisation of the social movement,
but resistance to evictions can also strengthen the determination
of a group to organise offensives,
simply: cross the street to rebuild a hut.
"We are here in the HQ."
"How are you guys doing? How about a little coffee Paris?
"How's it going around here?"
"Very well! Look, we're still here!
We are waiting for the riotpolice! We are waiting for you guys!"
"What are the projects?"
"To hold on as long as possible,
we're not going to give up !
they can dislodge us, we'll come back tomorrow!
No matter what.
Right now there are fifty of us,
Other groups who are being evicted
will join our camp tonight.
...and we continue tomorrow.
We're going to spend the winter holidays here."
"is that what you do for a living ?"
"Look at that, the mayor
dismantling the hut!"
While Burkina Faso, Sudan and Zimbabwe demonstrate
against the cost of fuel without the yellow vest symbol.
In Iraq, a new wave of anti-corruption protests appropriate
the symbol to further their already existing social struggle.
In Morocco, a trade union calls on technicians to wear vests
during working hours for the "Week of Anger".
In the United Kingdom, while a demonstration is burning
the flags of the European Union in front of the Parliament,
an anti-austerity march brings together several unions.
In Holland, Canada, Germany and Australia,
far right organisations recuperate
the symbol to defend racist identitarian values.
In Rome, demonstrators march against
the new anti-migrant laws.
In Egypt, customs officers seize all the yellow vests
that enter the country and prohibit their sale.
In Tunisia, a man is arrested
for possession of 50,000 yellow vests.
Just as in the Arab Spring of 2011,
protests break out in clusters.
Activists imitate each other.
They respond to overlapping societal
issues around the world.
The cause may be an ecotax on fuel
but that's just the last straw.
The real reason for the movement is
social injustice and that reason is certainly global.
"Solidarity Christmas action,
come if you need gifts,
it's important to do this for the children."
Three yellow vests try to create an association named:
"Yellow vest, the mouvement".
They collaborate with a former member of parliament
who invites them to a meeting in the press room of a newspaper.
In front of the newspaper's headquarters.
The yellow vests organise a a counter-event and chant:
Collabo! Collabo!
The movement is leaderless because leaders get their heads cut off
by media, the state or by the movement itself.
Becoming a spokesperson for the movement is risky.
You risk a prison sentence for calling for insurrection.
"what do you plan to do in front of the of the government building ?"
"Go inside, it's the symbol of the republic, we want to go there."
He is arrested for organising an illegal demonstration.
Three months later, he is acquitted.
Pressure is on, impacting other pseudo spokespersons.
For fear of being the next ones repressed.
on the go, they call for calm and pacifism.
The discourse of the yellow vests is
drowned from within by counter-revolutionary words.
Yellow vests invited on TV platforms face polemicists
whose aim is to feed a discourse of dissociation.
"Do you condemn violence ?"
"To condemn or not to condemn ?
I will explain instead of just ranting on
What I say is :
If the rioters are condemned the government must also be condemned.
Yes, I condemn violence but on both sides.
It's been 40 years that the government has been
violent with people, psychologically, financially,
This leads tens of thousands people to kill themselves every year.
If it wasn't for that, people wouldn't be out in the streets.
If there had been a political response from the start
there would be no one in the streets."
On a bridge, protestors try to break out
of the perimeter restricted by riotpolice
so they can demonstrate in strategic places of power.
Christophe Dettinger, boxing champion of 2008,
succeeds in breaking through.
Another group finds a way to
to go up the bridge from the bottom.
Dettinger straddles a barrier
and shows that strength can reverse humiliation.
A heroic figure of proletarian self-defence is born.
He steps on a grenade that contains 25 gram of TNT
As if it is nothing.
145,000 euros are raised to pay his legal fees
The directors of the crowdfunding website have links with politicians.
They block Dettinger's fundraising
not because of a court decision, but because of political pressure.
"It would indeed be desirable to know who has given to this fund
because I think it's a form of complicity."
The police open a pot on the same platform to compete with it.
Throughout the first night,
the police pot receives donations from international accounts
with foreign interference, it succeeds in overtaking the popular crowdfund.
The blocking of Dettinger's money is
an attack on collective organisation of the poor class.
On another case, the public prosecutor opens an investigation
to determine whether fundraising
was made to help a yellow vest pay his legal fees.
There is panic, as many crowdfunds have been opened on the platform
We risk losing alot of money
aswell as our tool for donation transparency.
Dettinger films himself before surrendering,
he leaves us with his genuine feelings.
"I protest for pensioners, my children's future,
Single mothers, everything, everyone...
Here I am, a yellow vest,
I am a yellow vest, I have the anger of the people inside me.
I see all these presidents,
all these ministers, I see the state gorging itself, pumping us!
they don't set an example, they are gorging themselves on our backs.
It's always us, the small ones who pay.
When I hear the president call us: "the beggars"
"the toothless", I feel concerned because I am French.
I am proud to be French.
I am not from the far left nor far right,
I'm an average citizen, I am, I am a Frenchman."
"You can tell, the guy, he doesn't have the words of a gypsy boxer."
Macron attacks Christophe's speech
by pointing to an imaginary far-left lawyer.
In his world speech value is determined by class hierarchy,
the voice of the poor are illegitimate.
Christophe's words have however gone straight to the heart of many yellow vests.
Thousands of letters of support are sent to his family.
The family replies to all letters.
All messages end with the words:
"Strength and honour!"
The media animates a narrative that suggests
that Christophe is not a genuine yellow vest.
But we write our own stories on social networks and in the street.
Two worlds are very far apart from each other.
Everyone wants to see a boxing match
between Dettinger and the corrupt security guard of Macron
who disguised himself as a policeman to beat up protestors,
Versus: the colonel Andrieux who boxed a black man for no reason.
We have a symbolic figur who represents
our stuggle against the conflict of interest
between the population and the ruling class.
All over the country,
everyone feels that the degree of violence by which we defend ourselves,
can be legitimately proportional to the one we are subject to.
Composition & decomposition
In Toulouse, a sign says:
"Precarious, discriminated, revolted, women on the front line."
Women lead yellow vest demonstrations
take place every every Sunday throughout France.
On the roundabouts,
women have leading roles in the organisation of the movement.
To highlight this fact:
We demonstrate twice as much as men, on Saturdays and Sundays.
We organise to make
our demands as women, mothers and workers.
A double protest against a double work day.
"I am a mother of a two year old,
my husband and I both work 35 to 40 hours per week
we can't get by.
We haven't had a holiday for over 5 years.
We can't save money for our child's future studies.
we can't manage anything at all."
"Macron may have something to worry about if women get out of
their kitchens and offices, and go onto the streets,
effectively, because they have perseverance."
'We are more than you, Excuse me men,
but we are more than you, we are mothers and we work."
"Maybe we'll get gassed because repression is real.
There is no such thing as freedom anymore."
"When the police aim at us, it's not collateral violence
they really want to hit yellow vests.
We are afraid of police violence, but we hope that we'll have a good protest."
"In 1789, it was women who rose up,
it was women who presented the list of grievances,
so we make a symbol of that today."
"You support the yellow vests ?"
"Of course, I'm a yellow vest, madam!"
"Emmanuel macron, we're coming to your home to get you!"
"Well yes, I'm happy to go smash the police,
Haha, I'm just kidding."
A group of yellow vests are expecting an eviction of their roudabout.
The chief of police comes to negotiate.
"We are here to negotiate, but in any case we will proceed to dislodge you. What do you intend to do?"
"Confront ??" "Yes, confront you!
I tell you, we will resist!
We've been nice twice, now we stand our ground!
"but the police outpower you..." "We'll respond with force!"
"Wouldn't you rather negotiate..."
"I am answering your question:
Today we stand up to you!
not matter the loss or damage,
it was voted by the people of the roundabout,
it is not my decision,
it's not my ego talking here, it was voted,
Today, we stand our ground and fight !
"Let's switch roles, They go backwards, we go forwards!"
"Aouh!"
"This is war!"
The yellow vests burn their huts
They retreat to the city centre.
They barricade the town hall.
"Since December, there are prefectural decrees
that threaten all occupation points of our county".
Today's action is a response to prefectural orders
Hence why we target the building of administrative authority
We are here to meet the prefect and have the orders canceled.
As long as the decrees are active, we stay here and actions will multiply."
"Tomorrow, let me tell you,
those who come to demonstrate
in cities where there is vandalism
know that they are accomplices
of these events."
Yellow vests call for a rally in the centre of France, in Bourges.
Many groups from the region have structured the event together:
These past weeks, these groups have networked
by traveling between occupation camps and public assemblies
Today, these groups are unified and centralised
and have even federated yellow vest groups from outside the region.
"I have a dream, to bring down the political and ethnic barriers that divide
so we may unite in fraternity against our oppressors."
Attacks on outlying occupation points pushes
the movement to continue its relocation in town centres.
If the state turns the streets into stadiums,
we are it's goal keepers.
Every Saturday we fight to be seen.
We do not declare our demonstrations legally, so that the police
do not prevent us access to strategic and symbolic places.
We have the initiative because we don't have negotiators.
Former French soldiers,
members of a French neo-fascist organisation and members of a
pro-Russian paramilitary battalion proclaim themselves:
the security enforcement service.
They lead a campaign to impose an authoritarian framework on the movement.
The anti-capitalist political party NPA
is attacked several times.
In these attacks
we recognise the same volunteers
who are at the initiative of the security enforcement service.
A far-right political group poses
with a stolen communist banner, thus displaying a war trophy.
A pro-refugee sign is attacked, a royalist flag is attacked,
Right-wing journalists are attacked.
For some yellow vests,
the eviction of intolerant people is an intolerant act.
Internal political conflicts are not understood by all.
These moments of conflict are decisive for the future of the movement.
The key to winning the fight is to outnumber your opponent
and take the movement of the crowd with you.
While fascist and anti-fascist activists brawl,
a member of the pro-Russian paramilitary battalion
spreads false rumours to campaign.
"We are forced to evacuate a popular livestreamer
apparently the blacks blocs issued threats against him
They also charged the security service but the crowd
completely repelled the blacks blocs
and black blocs are no longer accepted in the yellow vests"
After the fights, fascist activists file complaints
against identified anti-fascist protestors.
Anti-fascist activists are sentenced
to pre-trial detention by none other than judges
who turn out to be far-right activists themselves.
The anti-system ideology of the far right claims to be revolutionary,
but in practice serves the system of power and repression.
"We must kick them out of the movement, it's on camera"
"We're arab, we're black we're all the same"
We get fucked all the same!
The only division is between the rich and the poor!
We are all together here, but we don't want antisemites!
In sync, all media channels invite agitated polemicists who
represent the movement as fundamentally anti-Semitic,
"It's one of the worst movements that the republic has generated,
we are very sad about it.
At first, we understood the yellow vests
today, we don't want to hear them anymore."
Yet we fight against the financial system
as a system of domination and exploitation.
The broader strategy behind this media manipulation
is to morally compel public opinion
against the yellow vests.
By representing the movement as racist and identity-based,
They prevent the movement from being presented
as an authentic demonstration of class struggle.
"You divide between the bad yellow vest and the good citizen"
It becomes clear that the yellow vests split into
two opposing modes of organisation.
As seen previously seen,
associations of citizens oppose actions and blockades
and discuss matters with the authorities and politicians.
On the other hand, assemblies held on roudabouts
are radically public.
They support action blockades
and refuse political recuperation.
The political recuperators are ready to associate with anyone.
On a roundabout
tensions lead to a fight
the people of the citizens' association who defend
authoritarian bureaucratic methods invite a local fascist league.
This leads us to mobilise our biker friends who help lower tension.
Political recuperation is a carnivorous plant
that mimics the form of the movement,
it proposes that the movement stop
and become a party of which "the movement" is only the name.
A politician declares a legal demonstration in Toulouse,
but only 40 demonstrators turn up.
In the mean time, thousands of people
demonstrate spontaneously without legal declaration.
Attempts to pacify events come to an end in Toulouse,
and demonstrations are never ever declared to the authorities.
The following week, in Paris.
The security guards who improvise themselves
as a police enforcement are knocked over by the crowd.
An anti-terrorist military car burns under the Eiffel Tower.
The movement will not be framed.
The direction of the movement
belongs to no one.
Fascists gather in Lyon to confront
the anti-fascist demonstrators who lead the march.
In these hooliganistic confrontations,
activists are convinced they defend the movement.
It's not about letting off steam,
but to defend the ongoing values of revolution.
The fascists lose because they are outnumbered,
but also because the movement
as a whole does not accept the values of authority and order.
In the course of events, we differentiate between those
who serve the movement and those who oppose it.
In the following acts of the movement,
there will be no more fascist attacks.
Anti-racist and inclusive values are defended.
The first assembly of assemblies is organised in Commercy.
Delegates from many groups share their local experiences:
"We, in Fougère started
preparatory meetings before the first action.
On the 17th November, we had 1500 people
accross 13 different blockade points.
The town was completely blocked.
The following week, we structured ourselves with a general assembly.
Since, there are general assemblies every week with 60 to 200 people.
There are also
weekly demonstrations.
We have done many economic blockades,
blocking of supermarkets.
carpools to commute to big towns.
We had an HQ for three weeks, but it was dislodged.
We organise themed workshops on: ecology, democracy, work.
The main demands that stand out are:
salary increases, social justice, fiscal justice, more democracy,
with quite a lot of reflections
on the lives and rights of disabled people.
"Now, we must our movement,
we must create places of life to sustain our organisation,
we must build back-up bases
to fuel the power struggle that we have engaged against
those who lead our lives and the planet to ruin.
That is why we, Us, yellow vests of the house of the people
who have participated in the assembly of assemblies
call on all yellow vest groups to open "people houses" (squats) everywhere!"
Collectively, it is decided to take over the abandoned retirement home.
They didn't alow us to have a room to organise our meetings
so we thought we'd occupy the old administrative building
a small group went in through the backdoor because it was open
We called our friends who were at the protest,
50 people came and occupied the place!
"Logistics of organisation develop every day.
At first, it was to supply food.
Then, a radio for better communication.
Now, a telephone so people can call us
to ask for our help,
we send reinforcements,
If a group needs help,
we call another group and they join right away.
Informally, groups form networks.
Groups converge with other active groups
they meet in yellow vest squats or in demonstrations
or in events of coordination such as the Assembly of Assemblies.
In February, the yellow vests try
to block 15 refineries simultaneously.
4 blockades persist and initially resist eviction.
In Brittany
The yellow vests block the depot, as well as the roads around it.
if a blockade is lost, another takes over further on.
There may be fewer of us than at the beginning of the movement,
but trust and confidence grows.
New tactical possibilities emerge thanks to the multiplication
of links between the various groups.
"Thanks for the support!
please share, so everyone sees the video.
The refinery is blocked!"
"All the lights you see are riotpolice buses"
If oil-refinery workers and dockers
were to join the barricades it would make things easier.
Despite the dockers blocked the port with the yellow vests
in the early stages of the movement,
they do not participate anymore.
the port acts as a powerful means of pressure
and therefore is saved for their own pay strikes.
Convincing workers
and unions to become 100% involved in the movement is not an easy task.
However, minor struggles use the movement as a threat
to increase salaries or win bonuses.
At a glass bottle factory,
40 yellow vests support a first first walkout.
The following week 90% are on strike.
A trade unionist says:
"The management did not think the employees would go on strike.
I was surprised by the size of the walkout.
The yellow vest movement has changed
how workerist demands are made."
50 telephonists stand in front of the gates of their company.
They want a bonus of at least 100 €.
"If nothing changes, we strike again next week!"
In the Peugeot factory, workers announce:
"If they don't want yellow vests in this factory, they will have to pay us!"
60 workers of a Mercedes-Benz logistics centre
boycott the annual lunch.
They organise a "barbecue of warning" and call for better
distribution of wealth among the employees of the company.
Yellow vests support strikers of a retail shop,
who demand a 200€ salary increase.
The management closes the shop,
after three days, the police settle the conflict with tear gas.
"It is Impossible to deliver customers.
The situation is critical.
20 trucks have to stay at bay".
"We have decided to go in front of the amazon warehouse."
The atomisation of tasks breaks up class solidarity
A worker controls the activity of a subcontactor
who themself control second-tier subcontractors.
Temporary employment agencies
provide a permanent turn over.
"Amazon fired workers
because they supported the yellow vest movement."
The letters of dismissal mention
a serious breach of the duty of loyalty
and opposition to company values.
The trade unionists demonstrate massively.
They call for an unlimited strike.
It's time for everyone to stop working
and follow the revolutionary trajectory of the movement.
The general strike is also announced on roundabouts
and in yellow vest assemblies.
The movement goes beyond sectoral and corporatist divides
because people meet on occupied road infrastructure.
here: employees, entrepreneurs unemployed, temp workers,
subcontractors and self-employed
meet and fight together as one.
The prefect of the department finds herself blocked
on a roundabout on-which she had previously ordered an eviction
Her car's tyres are punctured.
She escapes and hides in a nearby car dealership.
While some demonstrations mix red and yellow,
in others there is a separation.
We blame the unions for
initially betraying the movement and joining very late.
But above all, nothing is done to organise the general strike.
The decision to stop working is left to the individual.
In Toulouse, the police convince temp workers
to help evict protestors.
Amazon workers beat us up and dismantle our barricades.
We faced the same scenario
when we occupied ports.
A manager claims:
"There are only temps here!"
In our encounters,
we understand that in blocking a supermarket,
we are not only attacking the state and capitalism,
but also employees who's lives depend on work.
Employees tell us they can't go on strike
because they need their work to survive.
The revolutionary deepening of events
would be to turn against our own conditions of existence.
Reject the oppositions between life and work,
between temp and salaried workers
between unemployed and employed,
between insiders and outsiders.
In reciprocity,
we develop a solidarity that eats away all barriers that divide us.
The revolutionary leap is frightening.
Do we dare?
But overall, the call to strike is a failure.
The next day, most people go back to work.
Yellow vests organise an occupation camp in the centre of Paris.
They announce: "Decisive act! We will not move!"
The police evacuate the sit-in in less than 3 hours.
Parisian yellow vests organise a nocturnal occupation of a square.
Despite the legal declaration
the police evacuate the square with grenades.
If the yellow vests are in motion, the state tries to bring them to standstill.
If the yellow vests try to anchor themselves, the state puts them back in motion.
Phases of composition and decomposition multiply initiative leads,
we feel agency to defend and determine revolutionary trajectories.
100,000 demonstrators gather
for the biggest climate rally ever.
10 kilometres away, the most determined answer the call:
Ultimatum on Paris !
All luxury shops of the Champs-Elysées
and surrounding areas are smashed.
The workers who manufacture for these shops
are paid well below French minimum wage.
In previous years, strike attempts have all failed.
Meanwhile Bernard Arnault, the owner of Louis Vuitton bags,
earns 104 billion in profits during Macron's first mandate.
Looting is taxing wealth at the source,
to recover capital surplus from waged work.
Looting practices become widespread,
all cameras focus on shattering windows.
The protestors who specialise
in black bloc techniques are yellow vests.
This integrant part of the movement is
fantasised as an external service
or toys who fight by proxy
Filmic voyeurism fetishises direct action
and generalises self-surveillance.
Videos provide evidence to police investigators,
which exasperates the movement.
The revolutionary leap we described beforehand:
calls on dissolving the conditions of existence of working class life
by attacking the organisation of work.
But today, we only attack it's windows.
The struggle of the yellow vests is a spectacle of civil war.
A spectacle which reminds that the state is not master of situation and time.
We express that in a snap of fingers,
civil war is instantaneously in the capital.
We shout "Aouh !"
We express that the force of the movement
is terrifying and that the movement has no limit.
A victory without end
A new decree introduces a fine
for participating in illegal protests
On the following protest, 107 yellow vests are fined fined 135 €.
If you look like a protestor
or a sympathiser, the police can fine you.
This happens to people who travel in public transports
on the way in or out of a demonstration.
"135€ for having a yellow vest in a bag ??
but are they serious ?!"
A couple visiting Paris after a demonstration wears a jumper
that says "yes to Referendums", are fined for illegal protesting.
"The offence presupposes that
the individual by his behaviour or his outfit is a demonstrator,
it specifies that the display of slogans
in connection with the demonstration and the possession of objects
such as: the carrying of a sign, banner, garment or flag,
or the carrying of other attributes, such as a helmet or gas mask,
substantiates to be subject to a fine.
Fines become the most effective tool of repression,
more effective than the rubber bullets, because it attacks the wallet
which is already empty for the majority of yellow vests.
To avoid repression,
we are made to remove the symbol which unites us since the beginning.
To stop the movement:
the state's strategy has been to divide
between the peaceful and violent protestors.
This strategy failed because peaceful protestors
witness unjustifiable violence against everyone.
The movement is structured through the defence of the movement.
Medics organise autonomously.
They never miss an event.
When we thank them, some reply: "It's us who thank you".
People who previously identified themselves as pacifists
now adopt the position of "non-dissociation".
The experience of the struggle legitimises
violence as an inseparable character of the strength of the movement.
We fight to prevent people from being arrested.
This is called: unarresting.
We move as a bloc and protect each other.
Magistrates receive new criminal policy guidelines
to suppress the social movement.
Hinder the movement with preventive arrests and prolonged custody in jail
and criminalise associating with the movement.
If the defendant uses their right to request time to prepare their defence,
They are blackmailed with pre-trial detention
Thus, they are made to accept the immediate appearance in court procedure.
without investigtion, on the judges's intuition. 500 are sent to prison.
Every Monday at 2pm we go to court to show our support.
We provide guarantees of representation
to try and save protestors from the immediate appearance procedure
and avoid the preventive detention.
When a person is condemned, the whole movement is condemned.
By making a trial public
the struggle of the movement is prolonged through it's repression.
Trusting lawyers to defend the movement leads to repressing the movement.
Lawyers are complicit of repression because when you are convicted,
the punitive system forces you to plead dissociation from the movement
and condemn the movement to get out.
The collective defence defends the value of: non-dissociation.
"Non-dissociation" means we do not talk about guilt or innocence.
it is unconditional solidarity with all repressed comrades.
A detainee may feel abandoned and alone.
Personal life experiences often
teach us that we cannot rely on others.
It is important to to resist collectively,
we are together in these hard moments,
it's vital if we want to win.
We spread massively the prisoner's registration numbers.
We organise the writing of letters for those who are locked up.
In our letters we express our unconditional solidarity
and update them on the progress of the of the movement after their imprisonment.
Michael receives over 250 letters.
He writes back to everyone, which helps him cope.
"My cellmate asked me why I am here
I told her: because I'm a yellow vest and I unscrewed a toll barrier.
She went to the window and screamed:
Girls! That's it! We have our first yellow vest!
And then, something amazing!
All the girls in the prison started shouting yellow vest songs,
What an amazing feeling, all in tune:
We are here, we are here!
With tears in my eyes, I cried and sang in the cell
And i felt accepted
and almost proud to be there with them."
"The escape plan is organised by the yellow vests?
You think they will save us?"
"Yes! The yellow vests practice No Dissociation!"
"Ban the hornet's nest grenade! Stop mutilations!"
We demonstrate in front of factories
that manufacture the weapons that repress the movement.
The wounds anchor the struggle in physical reality.
they make us realise that that we are at war.
Families and close friends of the injured
become full-time anti-repression activists.
There are 964 serious cases, 99% of the cases are dismissed,
without support from the institutions and the justice system,
We have decided to help each other because the course of action
is long and painful, and should not be faced alone.
To make our voices heard,
we organise, the march of the crippled.
"Economics news: the company Alsetex,
wins a contract of 5 500 000 €.
the european leading manufacturer of law enforcement equipment,
received a large order
from gendarmerie, police and prison administration.
good news for the company..."
We learn that repression is an economy.
The weapons used against us
are sold abroad and even to formerly colonised countries.
Security & capitalism hegemonise imperialist interests by repressing struggles,
Macron supports Bouteflika, Algerians support the yellow vests.
"Algerians, what is your profession?!"
"Aouh aouh aouh!"
"The government launches the great national debate."
in order to recover a moderate fringe of the movement
and put an end the street demonstrations.
One of the reasons for social exasperation is: the state favours the rich and makes them
richer while the poor get get scraped off more and more.
Work more and earn less
is the basis of liberal growth.
But this subject is completely denied by the debate administration.
Instead, they try to make us talk about immigration
and they use the fact that we ask for less taxes to falsely claim
that we ask for less public services.
The great debate is massively boycotted
because it is a masquerade of participatory democracy,
a staged performance, a tool of counter-insurgency
to distract us from the Macronist program:
The destruction of the French social model and its public services.
"Is our MP here to listen to us
or to execute the orders of the of the President ?"
The wearing of yellow vests is forbidden during some debates.
Villages that organise debates
with Macron are under siege.
Contrary to what the government had hoped
debates do not replace the demonstrations,
but on the contrary, increase opportunities for the movement
to grow strength, sociability and determination.
Some speak of class consciousness,
but it is also class confidence we discover.
The debates bring to life forms of conviviality specefic to the movement
but also sketch structures of organisation
in line with the founding principle: anti political representation.
We go to the assembly of assemblies
to practice direct democracy, to write a charter of values.
We vote and re-vote the fact the movement is anti-capitalist.
We create spaces for dialogue to work on ideas.
At each assembly, it is re-decided that there is no hierarchy and
decisions can only be made locally.
"geographic structurating raises a lot of questions,
my group is structured with groups of it's department, less so with the entire region.
There is still a lot of divergence,
We are here to make contacts from everywhere and organise simultaneous actions.
The cacatov becomes the new popular weapon.
It proves to be as effective as Molotov cocktails,
easier to throw and more humiliating.
Police retreat immediately.
Internet tutorials show
a mixture of fish skin and cat poop
to avoid putting human DNA in the jars.
It is said that the projectiles make police vomit and humiliates them
as they wear their smelly uniforms all day.
Facebook pages from different regions coordinate
their calls to protest, so people can travel from afar.
We organise camps
so that people can sleep on the the roundabout or in a squat.
It makes us travel, discover new places
and fight the police in different landscapes.
It is very dark in the bank branches
who have permanently replaced their windows with wooden panels.
We open a squat to house activists who are financially vulnerable.
"And whose house is it? It's ours !"
We fix our cars together.
We occupy a job centre to regularise
the situation of a comrade who had his unemployment benefits cut.
If so-and-so has a problem with their boss,
we bring the movement to their work to put pressure on them.
"With or without a vest?
"We'll keep shouting, Aouh Aouh!
For our locked-up brothers!
Aouh Aouh!
Tell me what is your profession?! Aouh Aouh Aouh!"
"They want to remove the right to wear masks,
we take it back!"
The saturdays of the yellow vests look like carnivals
inscribing our ritual in the calendar.
"We are here, we are here!
For the honour of workers and for a better world!"
The yellow vests call for a 2nd ultimatum on Paris.
The saturday acts look like action movies,
with blockbuster titles that evoke the end of the world.
Final act!
Decisive act!
Ultimatum!
Ultimatum 2!
Ultimatum 3!
Our word choices evoke the finality of the movement.
The intensity of events constantly revives
the sensation that we have reached the pinnacle of the story.
"The riotpolice withdraw with difficulty.
The procession moves towards a town square."
The slogan "The police join us" is never heard again.
"This force is instituted for the benefit of all
and not for the particular use of those to whom it is entrusted".
What does it say?"
"In the morning, the demonstrators shouted:
Don't commit suicide, join us!
After getting shot with rubber bullets and grenades all the entire afternoon
The demonstrators now shout "Commit Suicide!"
"Don't join us, commit Suicide!"
Everyone hates the police
is chanted all over France.
"Everybody hates the police!"
May Day is Workers' Day.
Yellow vests and trade unionists gather.
Once again, people talk about
social justice and the convergence of struggles.
Despite the convergence of environmentalists and leftists groups:
unions still don't organise strikes.
Trade union leaders are just like directors and ministors.
Our experiences show that everything
which frames the movement sufocates it.
To converge means to move towards a same geographical point.
We meet the danger of aggressive brigades.
From the point of view of the police:
arrests are a bonus-interest business.
They exercise a politics of provocation
which resonates with the intervention style of the anti-crime brigade in the suburbs.
Asphyxiated by a huge tear gas cloud,
The demonstrators take refuge in a hospital.
During three days, mainstream media runs a campaign of propaganda
to support a state narrative:
that the left and the yellow vests want the destruction of public services.
"Imagine the headline news: The civilian population
takes refuge in a hospital to protect themself from repression.
if it was in Iran, this would be a scandal"
"People attacked a hospital!".
"What is the point of breaking into a hospital?
Basically, it's to challenge public services"
"But witnessses said they were escaping tear gas?
Throughout summer, non-unionised carers
converge with the mobilisation.
213 hospitals are on strike,
one third of emergency departments are on stike.
Throughout the country the demands are the same:
More beds, more staff and more consideration.
In recent years, the number of beds has been reduced in country side hospitals.
Privatisation creates unequal access to healthcare.
The opinion of the workers is brutally ignored,
which highlights a general problem of democracy in our society.
why are the views of workers denigrated with such contempt?
Caregivers reach a point of desperation.
"We're going to inject insulin, five units every five minutes.
it causes: hypoglycemia, coma and death.
We'll continue until the ministry does something
for the emergency services and the public hospital,
decisions that don't only concern Paris,
but that concern all territories.
For the patients, For the caregivers,
as long as we don't have security in the emergency services, we'll continue!"
Numerous controversies highlight
the perversity of the manipulation of information by the state and media.
Geneviève Legay is assaulted by police officers.
The police chief prevents the medics from coming to her aid.
The Public Prosecutor and the police investigative services
collaborate to hide video evidence.
in turn, they claim that it was a photographer who pushed her.
As she wakes up in the hospital with a fractured skull.
The police put pressure on her to testify
that the cause of her fall was not the police.
The only police officer who is fired
is the one who informed the news of the truth.
Another controversy: The attack on the National Music Festival
which caused the death of Steve Maia Caniço.
And the worst case we have against the state.
The police chief who shot and killed
Zineb Radouane in Marseille, refuses to cooperate with the investigation.
The evidence being hidden by the police,
the Ministry of Interior states: "I would not like people to think
that the police killed Zineb because it is not true.
a surgical shock caused her death."
Disgusted by medical and police corruption,
Zineb's family organise a counter autopsy in Algeria
that definitively proves that she was
was killed by the grenade thrown by the police.
"Justice for Zineb ! Justice for Steve !"
"And all the others !"
July 14th 1789, the famous storming of the Bastille,
a centenary symbol of French Revolution.
"Suppress yellow !" An order of royal authority.
Wearing yellow can get you arrested for being political opposition.
Police stop & search may reveal other attributes that legitimise an arrest.
Today, a colour of clothing and the act of singing are criminalisd.
intolerance is normalised.
"They chased me and stabbed my yellow balloon.
The police have the order to remove all signs of yellow."
Our comrades are parked in open-air custodies
and transported in buses to jail.
An armed people founding the Republic.
They disguise the celebration of the 14th July
as an anniversary of the liberal authoritarian bourgeoisie.
On Sunday, we watch videos of the riots in Hong Kong.
We make a banner in support of the siege of the HK assembly
to respond to their banner of support to the yellow vest movement.
The study of other cases of struggle helps us understand
technical obstacles we face in defending a revolution.
The 4th Assembly of assemblies
calls for convergence with strike movements
and recognising the yellow vest movement
as being part of an international planetary uprising.
While the yellow vests call for yet another ultimatum on Paris.
In Indonesia, another movement erupts.
Hong Kong's "Be water" tactic means
to be fluid and elusive, to take the underground, divide and multiply
recompose strength and spontaneity.
Across the globe protestors use encrypted chats
to bypass surveillance devices.
The "Be Water" tactic
is difficultly appropriated by yellow vests.
While some remove the vest to avoid fines,
In confusion, some advocate removing the vest
in the name of the convergence of struggles
or to sublimate that they are good citizens.
These actions legitimise repression against the entire social movement.
But the hype of regional events keep the culture of the yellow vests alive.
In sector-based struggles: They speak of the yellowing of events.
The vest shines at all union events and zone to defend (ZAD).
Everywhere, people only talk about yellow and revolutionary perspectives.
A wave of international uprisings surges!
The wake of a movement is an opening, a breach that opens up new possibilities.
revolution does not stop at insurrection,
that's when it takes it's start.
The challenge ahead, is to achieve with offensivity a transformation of the world.
It's Iran's turn.
Demonstrations break out spontaneously in 100 towns and villages.
The country is cut off from the Internet.
Total black out.
No more information circulates outside the country.
This is it, it's the end.
It's our anniversary.
1 year.
Today is the day the movement
is once again a day without end.
On a roundabout, yellow vests burn a sundial.
The mechanics of the political system are frozen.
Like in an action movie, time stops.
If the film gives us the conrol of time, let's speed up the story a few years...
As we finish making the film,
in the name of: counter-terrorism and a pandemic,
international states strengthen their police arsenal and judicial system
to criminalise social struggles.
Macron is re-elected and in this context, celebrating the victory of the yellow vests
and the movements that followed seems difficult.
But besides, what is victory ?
What revolution are we talking about? How far should we go?
What should we destroy? And to build what?
From within the movement,
We encounter limits,
but also create the possibilities to go beyond them.
In action, we break the continuum of history
and open the streets on new calendars.
Saturday is the day of the yellow vests.
We pay tribute to the courage the movement has had thus far.
We have shown that dignity is the motor of collective emotion
that makes us move in the most beautiful way.
We didn't make this film to tell you how it all ends,
but to tell you how it starts.
We are going to stop this film
and you will see a world without limits or borders,
a world where everything is possible, where the movement never stops.
What we do with it is up to us.