{"id":31575,"date":"2018-12-13T12:47:10","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T12:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/?p=31575"},"modified":"2018-12-21T05:22:57","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T05:22:57","slug":"hopkins-on-the-gilets-jaunes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/2018\/12\/13\/hopkins-on-the-gilets-jaunes\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopkins on the gilets jaunes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No, not Katie but C J, the Hopkins who writes wickedly satiric pieces in CounterPunch. Try his t-in-c denunciation of the League of Assad loving conspiracists<\/a><\/strong> … of those crypto-fascists who fail to see verbal attacks on global elites and banks as clearly antisemitic <\/a><\/strong>… above all of those who must have slept through that golden age before good ol’ peace-loving US of A got itself hijacked by nasty Donaldo<\/a><\/strong> to upset an apple-cart Hillary had paid for in advance and was hers by right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be warned, though. Unlike Katie, whose so-dreadful-she’s-funny<\/em>  charm soon palls, CJ is as addictive as crack cocaine.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now he’s turned his attention on events in France, and again I must warn you. Read his OffGuardian piece today, on the indiscreet charm of the gilets jaunes<\/a><\/strong>, and you’ll have to carry the burden of knowing more than a month of Graun, WashPo and Beeb outpourings on the subject would have weighed you down with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One comment below CJ’s piece, by tutisicecream<\/strong>, sets out the yellow vest demands. Given the grass roots, forest fire spontaneity of the protests, I take tuti’s list to be a kind of superset, each demand having been made by at least some of the jaunes gilets. Whatever, it’s a great list:
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economy\/Work<\/strong>
\u2022\tA constitutional cap on taxes \u2013 at 25%
\u2022\tIncrease of 40% in the basic pension and social welfare
\u2022\tIncrease hiring in public sector to re-establish public services
\u2022\tMassive construction projects to house 5 million homeless, and severe penalties for mayors\/prefectures that leave people on the streets
\u2022\tBreak up the \u2018too-big-to-fail\u2019 banks, re-separate regular banking from investment banking
\u2022\tCancel debts accrued through usurious rates of interest
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politics<\/strong>
\u2022\tConstitutional amendments to protect the people\u2019s interests, including binding referenda
\u2022\tThe barring of lobby groups and vested interests from political decision-making
\u2022\tFrexit: Leave the EU to regain our economic, monetary and political sovereignty (In other words, respect the 2005 referendum result, when France voted against the EU Constitution Treaty, which was then renamed the Lisbon Treaty, and the French people ignored)
\u2022\tClampdown on tax evasion by the ultra-rich
\u2022\tThe immediate cessation of privatization, and the re-nationalization of public goods like motorways, airports, rail, etc
\u2022\tRemove all ideology from the ministry of education, ending all destructive education techniques
\u2022\tQuadruple the budget for law and order and put time-limits on judicial procedures. Make access to the justice system available for all
\u2022\tBreak up media monopolies and end their interference in politics. Make media accessible to citizens and guarantee a plurality of opinions. End editorial propaganda
\u2022\tGuarantee citizens\u2019 liberty by including in the constitution a complete prohibition on state interference in their decisions concerning education, health and family matters
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health\/Environment<\/strong>
\u2022\tNo more \u2018planned obsolescence\u2019 \u2013 Mandate guarantee from producers that their products will last 10 years, and that spare parts will be available during that period
\u2022\tBan plastic bottles and other polluting packaging
\u2022\tWeaken the influence of big pharma on health in general and hospitals in particular
\u2022\tBan on GMO crops, carcinogenic pesticides, endocrine disruptors and monocrops
\u2022\tReindustrialize France (thereby reducing imports and thus pollution)
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign Affairs<\/strong>
\u2022\tEnd France\u2019s participation in foreign wars of aggression, and exit from NATO
\u2022\tCease pillaging and interfering \u2013 politically and militarily \u2013 in \u2018Francafrique\u2019, which keeps Africa poor. Immediately repatriate all French soldiers. Establish relations with African states on an equal peer-to-peer basis
\u2022\tPrevent migratory flows that cannot be accommodated or integrated, given the profound civilizational crisis we are experiencing
\u2022\tScrupulously respect international law and the treaties we have signed<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No, not Katie but C J, the Hopkins who writes wickedly satiric pieces in CounterPunch. Try his t-in-c denunciation of the League of Assad loving conspiracists … of those crypto-fascists who fail to see verbal attacks on global elites and … Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-europe","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}