Paris is crippled this week by constant protests designed to throttle traffic and shit down basic services, and the majority of the mob is comprised of far left activists including Antifa.
The Paris actions are coupled with nationwide demonstrations that saw sporadic clashes with police who fired volleys of tear gas. Activists argue that eight years of leadership by France’s "business-friendly president" Emmanuel Macron have benefited too few people and hurt too many.
The protests ignited in response to austerity measures issued by the struggling government, including cuts to socialist programs and an increase in the national retirement age.
Macron’s opponents complain that taxpayer-funded public services - free schools and public hospitals, subsidized health care, unemployment benefits and other safety nets that are cherished in France - are being eroded. France has crawled from one crisis to another since he dissolved parliament in 2024, triggering a legislative election that stacked Parliament’s lower house with critics of the president.
Left-wing parties and their supporters want higher taxes for the wealthy and businesses to pay more to help rein in France’s debts, rather than see public spending cuts that they contend will hit low-paid and middle-class workers. France's national debt was reported at $3.6 trillion US by the end of 2024, growing by nearly $1 trillion since 2023. This is over 100% of the country's annual GDP.
Placards at the Paris demonstration read: “Tax the rich.”
However, similar taxation efforts have been tried across the EU and in the UK, causing companies and business owners to simply close up shop and leave. In 2024, the UK lost 25% of its billionaires and 16,500 millionaires due to increasing taxation. This has led to a black hole effect in the economy, with an acceleration in job losses and slowing investment.
The current tax rate for top earners in France is 45% of income over €180,471 ($211,000). High-income earners also face additional surtaxes and social charges that significantly increase the total tax rate. As is common in any country or US state that targets high earners with socialist tax measures, the people with the money walk away and go where they are better appreciated.
Leftists protesters indicate that they are not interested in fair taxation, but rather, wealth redistribution.
Activists argue that French President Emmanuel Macron is "far right wing" and compared him to Donald Trump while espousing a laundry list of communist demands. Macron is a previous member of the socialist party now described as a "centrist liberal". He has angered leftists with his shift to center and his increasing support for border controls. In other words, being "centrist" is "far right wing" in the minds of Antifa activists.
The riots seem to be motivated more by typical Antifa goals, including the "Free Palestine" movement and the destruction of "nationalism".
France's conservative and anti-mass immigration movements have been growing exponentially along with similar movements across Europe. Leftists may be trying to flex their numbers as a way to frighten political leaders from seeking to appease these movements with tighter borders and fiscal responsibility.
Ultimately, Antifa activists want a the collapse of the current government and a reformation. What the reformation would look like is hard to say, given that many of the protesters don't seem to know. Of course, if the Bolshevik campaigns of the early 20th Century are any indication, then the end game will not be pleasant for the vast majority of people.