Yellow vests holding a banner representing a caricature of Emmanuel Macron and asking for the 'Citizens Initiative Referendum' (RIC) parade in large numbers in Marseille's streets. Mahoudeau Clement/Press Association. All rights reserved.
Those political commentators and leaders who have immediately been able to discern the nature and aims of the yellow vests movement are lucky. I, for my part, am still struggling to interpret this movement, riddled with contradictions and paradoxes.
It is a euphemism to say that the yellow vests movement does not correspond to any other major movement in the history of contemporary France. What has characterized social movements since 1968 was their political legibility. Either they were launched by labour unions and subsequently supported by political parties, or they were the results of spontaneous focused actions (by students, nurses, rail workers) which were quickly supervised by unions and political parties.
