The Gilets Jaunes movement has been at the forefront of newspapers recently, all over the world. And for good reasons. Such violence in Paris hasn't happened in over a decade, when the suburbs were on fire for several weeks. I would say the Gilets Jaunes movement has even more international coverage as the protesters (and vandals) are in the center of the city, on the Champs-Elysées, which is probably one of the most famous places in the world.
The Gilets Jaunes (yellow vest) movement is a bit messy. It began after the French government announced its intention to establish a tax on petrol, without really putting forward government aids or alternatives to people that it was going to affect the most (i.e the ones who rely on their cars to go to work everyday and who feel the burden of the tax directly). Nevertheless, it unites people from different backgrounds and with differing political sensibilities and interests. A common point seems to be the fact that people are fed-up with a snob government, which doesn't listen to what they need (more purchasing power) or care about what they say. The movement lacks a united message as it refuses to have either leader or common grounds for that matter.
It's impossible not to mention that the Gilets Jaunes movement happened at the same time as COP24, the annual Conference of the Parties of the United Nations, where political leaders meet to agree on the rulebook (implementation guidelines) of the Paris Agreement. That means they need to agree on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid catastrophic climate chance as soon as they possibly can, which of course, is not happening.
So, considering that we are in a rather messy place regarding climate change, why are French citizens protesting against a fuel tax?
Well, I do understand them (partially).
The Gilet Jaunes are not exactly protesting against the tax as such. They are protesting against a system which allows the rich and very rich not to pay the taxes they owe (look up "tax havens"), and getting away with it with minimum scratches. Just look at the Panama papers, the Paradise papers, and all the other scandals which happen on a regular basis - the ones concerned don't seem to be concerned so much.
Equally, it also shows, that the French government, amongst others, does not tackle the environmental crisis (also rightly called catastrophe, disaster, emergency) the way it should, meaning, as fast as it possibly can, and by involving ALL stakeholders. What I mean is that, once again, the emphasis is put on individuals (citizens who drive their car every day) rather than the private sector and the collective. Why not tax oil companies (the French Total, for instance) much more heavily, and incentivise renewable energies? Why not tax enormous multinational corporations on their environmentally-damaging practices (creation of plastics, pollution, breach of human rights etc.)? Why tax the people at the bottom further whereas some companies are producing more wealth than certain countries alone? Why not start to establish a legal framework which incentivises a move away from consumerism?
Don't misunderstand me: I do think the individual has an important role to play in our ecological crisis. However, I also think that taxing at least every stakeholder (thus meaning Total AND people) is the least to do to establish change. And taxing the richest companies more heavily doesn't sound unfair to me, and rather sensible.
So no, taxing people won't make the difference we need. Everyone has to be involved - and a green tax will not prevent companies from polluting the Earth. We need to instil change that will last, on every layer of society, and that allows people who suffer from poverty to be included in the sustainability solution - and not made guilty for it.