by Bill Wirtz

February 05, 2019

from Fee Website

Spanish version

France's recently passed

"Anti-Troublemakers Bill"

is an assault on the French

people's right to protest.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

CC BY 4.0

 

Politics Yellow Vests

Protest Free Speech Big Government

Dissent France Macron Civil Liberties...

In a desperate attempt to push back against the "yellow vest" demonstrations in France, President Emmanuel Macron and his party are restricting the right to protest.

The "Anti-Troublemakers" Bill

A majority in the French National Assembly approved the Loi anti-casseurs (Anti-Troublemakers Bill) on January 31.

However, it wasn't Macron's own "La République En Marche" ("The Republic on the Move") party that came up with the new rules on protests, but rather, the Republican right (the centrist party of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy), which has taken the side of the police in the violent protests in Paris and other major French cities.

The French Senate - a body in which Republicans are still the most numerous - had suggested a bill in early January that already contained the most controversial aspect of the current law:

it hands protest bans to administrative powers.

The decision

will be purely in the hands

of the unelected prefects

put in power by the government...
 

This does not mean that the prefects, who represent the central government on the local level (France is a highly centralized country), will be able to ban the organization of a protest outright; they can, however, bar certain individuals from participating.

Individuals identified in a specific police file will be unable to attend protests (for as long as a month), even if they have no previous convictions.

The decision will be purely in the hands of the unelected prefects put in power by the government. There is uncertainty for now as to whether such a decision could even be appealed in court.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner took the floor in parliament with a very Orwellian speech:

"There is no reason to draw caricatures [about this bill], because in no circumstance does this law do anything but protect the right to protest."

There you have it:

Banning the right to protest safeguards the right to protest. And war is peace...

The Anti-Troublemakers Bill also bans protesters from wearing a helmet, mask, or a scarf in an attempt to stop violent protesters from getting away without consequences.

Anyone caught masked can be subject to a fine of €15,000 ($17,100).

Article 1 of the bill also allows law enforcement to search protesters for potential weapons, including hammers and pétanque balls.

In action, this might mean that large security checkpoints could be introduced before a demonstration is allowed to begin and that police forces may intercept, detain, and search any protester at any moment in time.

Sacrificing Civil Liberties for Political Goals
 

Just over a year ago,

France passed a fake news bill,

allowing for the direct censorship

of news sources deemed untrustworthy

during election season...
 

This is hardly the first time that Emmanuel Macron has attempted to further increase the power of the administrative state in order to secure his own power.

Just over a year ago, France passed a fake news bill, allowing for the direct censorship of news sources deemed untrustworthy during election season.

Back then, Macron was still beset by the "MacronLeaks" affair that had broken just before the presidential election.

The French election commission, which is supposed to be impartial, strongly urged media outlets not to cover the leaks and went even further by asking them to,

"not relay the contents of these documents in order not to alter the integrity of the vote, not to break the bans laid down by the law and not to expose themselves to the committing of criminal offences."

What If Anyone Else Did This?

Some voices from Macron's own party have been critical of the measure, but not enough to prevent it from passing.

One centrist member of the National Assembly, Charles de Courson, who is not a part of Macron's ruling party, summarized the issue very accurately:

It's as if we're back under the Vichy regime [the French Nazi-collaborationist regime of the 1940s, located in the south of France]. You're presumed to be a member of the Résistance so we throw you in prison.

 

Wake up! Wake up, colleagues! [...]

 

The day you have a different government in power - a far-right government - and you're in opposition, you'll see that it's pure madness to vote for this text.

Indeed, this particular text is a wonderful exercise for the game "What if X had done it?"

Had this law been passed under a far-right government with the same arguments in mind (and given its policies, probably also the same violent protests as an instigating factor), there would be international outrage, and perhaps even an internal investigation conducted by the European Union.

But since Macron is a pro-big government, pro-EU "centrist," 'we're all good'. The comment of Charles de Courson should resonate with those favoring small government for more than just practical reasons.

The question isn't,

"Who is in charge of the government?" but rather "How much power should the government have?",

...because on the day Marine Le Pen or anyone else from her party takes over, some people will get a really scary wake-up call...





 

Yellow Vest Movement

...Starts a New Form of Protest: Burning Banknotes

by Jamie Redman
February 06, 2019

from BitCoin Website

Spanish version

For well over two months, the yellow vest movement in France has continued to keep itself illuminated with fervent protests against taxes, the banking system, and the region's bureaucrats.

On Feb. 1, a group of Gilets Jaunes working at the bill printing factory explained their plan to show the world they mean business by burning pallets of bills, starting with Israeli banknotes.

 

Yellow Vests Burn Stock of Foreign Bills

The grassroots yellow vest movement in France has consistently made headlines across the world while protesting the country's monetary system and politics.

For instance, on Tuesday, Feb. 5, about 18,000 Gilets Jaunes joined a march in the French capital walking side by side with another 12,000 CGT union workers.

The protest also followed a demonstration on Friday, which showed employees claiming to work for the Banque de France banknote mill. The yellow vest associated group threatened to burn large sums of paper banknotes.

A News.Bitcoin correspondent from France explained how the bill burners are demanding fiscal and social justice in a unique fashion.
 

"In the last 15 days we've burned passport paper, bank check paper, and grey card paper for vehicle documents," explains the banknote burning group's video on Facebook.

 

"But the French government is completely deaf, so we move to the next level - If the French government continues to make it seem as nothing scandalous is happening, we will make this so all the world will know what's happening."

The bill factory employees state:

Starting today we start to burn foreign bills stock. The first paper ream we have here is for Israeli banknotes.

 

We start with this, then we burn everything. If the French government doesn't change, all foreign countries that are waiting for their bills, will not be delivered.

Hyperbitcoinization

News.Bitcoin has covered the yellow vest movement in the past and how many well-known bitcoiners have explained that Gilets Jaunes should really hit the banks where it hurts by moving from fiat to bitcoin.

At the same time, the world economy has been shuddering once again and economists are predicting another global depression similar to 2008.

Many regions like,

• Venezuela

• South Sudan

• Turkey

• Haiti

• Zimbabwe

• Argentina,

...are suffering from economic hardships.

"If every French person converted

20% of their bank deposits into bitcoin,

French banks would collapse

and a lot of bloodshed could be avoided,"

said Max Keiser on Dec. 9, 2018.

The economic uncertainty worldwide has bolstered the dream of hyperbitcoinization.

Many have written about this dream and believe that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin will experience mass attention from a majority of citizens living in impoverished countries.

The cofounder of the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute, Daniel Krawisz, once said:

"A hyperbitcoinization event will be much quicker than a hyperinflation event."

Krawisz's 2014 essay details how a country dealing with hyperbitcoinization will experience a voluntary transition from an inferior currency to a superior one.

The country's adoption represents a,

"series of individual acts of entrepreneurship rather than a single monopolist that games the system."

Krawisz's post continues by saying:

Hyperbitcoinization should be accompanied by a rapid improvement in productivity and wealth. Hyperbitcoinization will probably be a confusing time for everyone, like a second adolescence.

 

However, once it is over, no one will be able to imagine how we got by with the earlier system.

Banknotes stamped

by the yellow vest movement.
 

A Loss of Confidence in the System Has Given Birth to Many Movements

The Yellow Vest Movement is similar to the Occupy Wall Street movement that took place seven years ago and the birth of Bitcoin four years prior.

Global citizens are upset with their leaders and losing confidence in the central bank's paper bills which are printed by the trillions every year. People from all countries and continents are upset with the system and believe something has got to give.

Our correspondent from France told News.Bitcoin that most individuals don't wear yellow vests these days because if you take the train,

"to go to Paris and they check if you have a yellow vest then they can arrest you."

Not only are the protestors in France threatening to burn large stacks of bills, but they are also now printing special images of yellow vests on banknotes.