Why the public is angry at the Macron administration in France

Have you ever thought about it? Why has the 'Yellow Vest' (Gilet Jaune), which you have to wear when riding a motorcycle or scooter in traffic, become a symbol of rebellion in France since 2018? Let's say without thinking, the "Yellow Vests Movement" is a symbol of being taken "seriously" by the government. The reason for this is hidden in "Why do we wear yellow vests in traffic?". As you know, isn't the reason for wearing 'yellow vests' in traffic to be recognized by oncoming vehicles and to create awareness for the other side? Just like that. This is the reason why the people struggling with economic difficulties have turned into a symbol that demands to be taken into consideration and heeded in solving their economic and political problems. In other words, the "Yellow Vest", which symbolizes the expectations and demands of the oppressed people from a tyrannical government, has become symbolic because it is common and cheap. How is this different from what Queen Marie Antoinette of France said to the people who could not find bread: "If they cannot find bread, let them eat cake"? I think it is no different. Although there is no evidence that she said it, the phrase "If they can't find bread, let them eat cake", attributed to Marie Antoinette, has taken its place in history as a phrase describing the complete detachment of those in power from the people and the palace's ignorance of how the people live. It has become universal outside France and is used wherever there are people. The saying, which is accepted to have been uttered at a time when the bread crisis was at its peak in Paris, also makes a strange reference to the palace life in splendor, far from understanding the poverty of the people. 

It describes the state of incomprehension that comes to light with these words, to the extent of telling the people who are broken by poverty and cannot even find bread, "If they cannot find bread, then let them eat "brioche" (a kind of French bread made with eggs and butter)". In short, the phrase is used to describe the gap between those in power who are intoxicated with excessive wealth and the people who are suffering from poverty. (1) This is also how it refers to the power's inability to understand the plight of the people. In short, this is the situation in France, dear readers. The yellow vest is the voice of the oppressed people struggling with the economic difficulties experienced after the pandemic, and the yellow vest is the symbol of this. 

In the words of Maximilien Robespierre, one of the leading figures of the French Revolution. "Without the oppressed people (filling the fields), the monarchy would continue." Robespierre, former President of the French National Convention, was in conflict with the Girondens, a group close to the King, who were the voice of the bourgeoisie in parliament during the French Revolution. Robespierre perceived all this resistance as the resistance of the oppressed people filling the fields or, to use the terminology of the French revolution, the resistance of the "sans culottes, those who could not find pants to wear on their feet" to the demands of the oppressive power. What he meant was nothing other than a popular uprising or a popular revolt, similar to the chaos in France today.  In short, it is the cry, the outcry of those who want to be heard but cannot make their voices heard. However, the Turkish intellectuals have reflected in political history the phrase that will correct the language of even those who call such uprisers "pantsless", by calling the oppressed people "calf naked" instead of "pantsless". I draw your attention to our manners, dear readers. A society that has adopted the maxim "Edep yahu" has been able to introduce the term "calf naked" into world political history with courtesy and kindness. May the souls of those who contributed this translation rest in peace. 

The taxes that President Emmanuel Macron has decided to introduce as of January 1, 2018 under the name of "Environmental Tax" have sparked protests in France. These taxes have caused more money to come out of the pockets of commuters, especially those who commute to work in private cars. Then, the raising of the retirement age and the marches of farmers to the capital Paris, and finally, the reaction to the martyrdom of a 17-year-old young driver named 'Nail M.' by a police officer in France for disobeying the 'stop' warning grew in an instant. Although a curfew was declared in 4 cities until July 3, the French Army was forced to take to the streets when the police failed to suppress the protests. 

In the Defencé district in the east of Paris, the city hall was set on fire, vehicles were set on fire and markets and grocery stores were looted. On July 15, 2018, I can speak as a first-hand witness of the looting of shops on the Champs-Élysées on the evening France won the World Cup after defeating Croatia 4-2 in the final match in Paris. The French national team, made up mostly of children of black immigrant families, took home the trophy for the second time. Together with the yellow vests, the angry voices of the Muslim French people were shouting that they are the true owners of France. We marched together to Concorde Square, I was exposed to the gas, I witnessed the rioters breaking the windows and doors of shops with their battering rams. I remember like yesterday how I waited at the Champs-Élysées metro station until morning to get to the Gare de Lyon in Paris to go to St. Etienné. 

Yes, Paris was once the center of democracy, but Macron's Paris is definitely not the center of democracy. Macron, nicknamed 'Little Napoleon', is a bloody-handed dictator who rules his country by decrees and orders the police to shoot. Macron, who cannot accept China's and RF's entry into Africa and even the Republic of Turkey, which has 44 diplomatic missions in Africa at the embassy level, continues to challenge Turkey, especially RF, with the exception of the PRC. Let us recall that the number of embassies operating in Africa has increased from only 12 embassies in 2002 to 44 in 2022. (3)  

Macron, who gave Putin the ultimatum of "Hands off Africa", was forced to stick to the end of the seesaw table, as Putin showed to the whole world public opinion. The whole world also witnessed the Chinese leader Shin Chi Ping's attempt to put his hand in his pocket in the presence of the PRC Protocol Director, who timidly took his hand out of his pocket with the warning of the PRC Protocol Director. The martyrdom of a 17-year-old Algerian youth named 'Nail M.' by the French police has revealed the social trauma of Generation III Algerian Muslim youth. Because the genocide and genocidal massacres, which are crimes against humanity, have reflected the anger of the third generation Algerian Muslim people to the whole of France. Indeed, dear readers, France, as it has always done, took advantage of the opportunity that arose near the end of World War II to inflict genocide and general massacres on the people in the north of Africa and sub-Saharan regions. The first and most important of these was the Sétif and Guelma massacre in Algeria. On May 8, 1945, the French killed 45,000 Algerians in Sétif and Guelma, a true genocide. Many people were tortured and ill-treated. Algerians therefore refer to the mass attacks that took place in 1945 and lasted until 1968 as "genocide". While the first generation of those who were forced to migrate to France, the homeland of the genocide perpetrators, tried to hold on in France, the children of those who held on in the region, even if only for a little while, raised Generation II by telling the truths they knew to the children of Generation III, and caused the flames of revenge to multiply and multiply. These Generation III children, who are the subjects of social trauma, are now in the field. On the other hand, the violence has spread to Belgium and polarization continues in almost every part of Europe where nationalism is on the rise. 

So what should be done to prevent polarization? It is clear that if polarization continues in this way, Europe may suffer. First of all, let us state that the US is fueling this divergence by fueling nationalism in Europe. Their plan is to consolidate NATO and put it against the RF. The power behind it is the arms industrialists, similar to the RF oligarchs, the US arms industrialists are the 'War Lords'. The War Lords, who control 55 percent of the world's war industry, are responsible for crimes against humanity. 

So what should be done? Orientalists and occidentalists are used to the fullest by the warlords. Humanity needs orientalists like Edward Said. I regret to say that Europe has an orientalist approach towards Islam.  This is a paradigm. It means trying to bring a rational approach to the East by arming oneself with Western sciences. In other words, it is an attempt to solve the problems in the East through western glasses. Just as the Islamic world approaches the west with occidentalism. Humanity needs orientalism and orientalists who combine "Rational, Vehbi and Kesbi sciences". The necessity to take a multidisciplinary view of the events is precisely the focus of this analysis. It is Goethe, Schiller and Tolstoy who will provide this moderation. It is these giant philosophers who will moderate the Islamic world and the Western world. However, the subjects related to Goethe and Islam have been removed from the curricula of European universities today. Goethe's reverence for the holy book of Islam stems, among other things, from his admiration for its unique linguistic value. Goethe, whose relationship with the Qur'an transcended the intellectual dimension, was in an effort to understand it not from the outside but from its own essence. Against the backdrop of the opening and tolerance towards other cultures that began to emerge in Western thought with the Enlightenment period (Aufklärung), literary figures such as Herder, Lessing and Goethe turned to the Qur'an without prejudice and with a special interest. Goethe's interest in the Qur'an began at a young age when Johann Gottfried von Herder (1774-1803) encouraged him to read the Qur'an in an environment where the Qur'an is currently burned. In a letter to Herder in 1772, Goethe would say the following: 

"I want to pray as Moses prayed in the Qur'an: 'My Lord! Expand my chest!'" (4) 

Goethe's turn to the Qur'an was also motivated by a religious interest. The basic teachings of the Qur'an, such as monotheism, were in line with his religious and philosophical convictions. Regrettably, some facts about his research on Islam have been hidden in attics for centuries, and Goethe is misinterpreted even today. But let us make it clear that he knew much more about Islam than many Muslims. Goethe had in mind new translations of the Koran into German, as well as contemporary Oriental and Islamic studies, which freed themselves from the church's Bible studies and promoted the beauty of Oriental languages and poetry against the European disdain for 'Islamic Orientalism'. Schiller initially welcomed the changes in France and only began to distance himself from the French Revolution after the Jacobin terror of 1793. Goethe, on the other hand, created an image against the revolution in France with his ideal of Greek classicism. Both were of the opinion that the development of society should not be pushed in a new direction by force. In fact, this attitude formed the basis of their friendship.

As for the elusive 'Lev Tolstoy', his most important characteristic was his search for a universal morality. He considered Islam superior to Orthodoxy in some respects, but in the end he was equal to all religions. Tolstoy, who was excommunicated by the Church in 1901 for questioning the institutionalism of Orthodox Christianity and advocating religious reform, was influenced by the philosophy of enlightenment. His view of Islam is summarized in particular in a letter he wrote on March 15, 1909 to Yelena Vekilova, a woman of Russian origin who was married to General Ibrahim Aga of Azeri origin, as follows:

"Strange as it may seem for one such as myself, who holds Christian ideals and Christian doctrine in its true sense above all else, I have no doubt that in its external form Mohammedanism is incomparably superior to church Christianity. If a person were asked to choose between church Christianity and Mohammedanism, there is no doubt that any sane person would prefer Mohammedanism, with its single dogma of one God and his only prophet, to church Christianity, with its incomprehensible, inextricable theology of the Trinity, confession, the Mother of God, the saints, their images and complex worship rituals. The fact that this religion emerged 600 years after Christianity - let alone the fact that Islam is free of many of the superstitions that have crept into ecclesiastical Christianity and clouded its essence - leaves no doubt that this will be the choice."(5)

After all this, I would like to say that Karl-Josef Kuschel and Shahid Alam's "Goethe und der Koran" should be sent to all embassies and Turkish Cultural Centers abroad, translated into Turkish immediately and seminars, panels and symposiums should be held on this subject. 

After all this, I would like to say that, as Robespierre, one of the leaders of the French Revolution of 1789, who was guillotined 229 years ago on July 28, 1794, succinctly put it, as if he had said for today's Republic of Turkey, 'Either we will strangle the enemies of the republic inside and outside, or we will perish with the republic. In this case, the first step of our policy must be to rule the people by reason and the enemies by force."(3) Dear Readers, be advised.

Deepnotes

(1) Ayşen Uysal, “Ekmek bulamıyorlarsa pasta yesinler”, Evrensel gazetesi, 02 Mart 2021; https://www.evrensel.net/yazi/88264/ekmek-bulamiyorlarsa-pasta-yesinler/ Erişim Tarihi 02.07.2023/

(2) İbrahim Varlı, “Robespierre olmak!” Birgün Gazetesi, 28.07.2020; Https://Www.Birgun.Net/Makale/Robespierre-Olmak-309839/Erişim Tarihi 02.07.2023/

(3) Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Dışişleri Bakanlığı, Türkiye-Afrika İlişkileri; https://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkiye-afrika-iliskileri.tr.mfa/ Erişim tarihi 02.07.2023/

(4) Serdar Aslan, “Goethe’nin Kur’an okumaları”, 19 Ağustos 2021; https://www.gzt.com/nihayet/goethenin-kuran-okumalari-3560551/Erişim Tarihi 01.07.2023/

(5) İhsan Yılmaz, “Tolstoy Müslüman mıydı?”, Hürriyet Gazetesi, 06 Şubat 2023;  https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/ihsan-yilmaz/tolstoy-musluman-miydi-42215487/Erişim Tarihi 02.07.2023/