We can talk about what is, and is not, causing this phenomenon, but at its core, it boils down to this statement, “France’s Gas Tax Disaster Shows We Can’t Save Earth by Screwing Over Poor People.”
French President Emanuel Macron has been cutting taxes on the rich, and raising taxes on everyone else, ever since entering office.
This is a well deserved smack-down of an investment banker who has seen his role as making life easier for other investment bankers.
It would help to also understand the structure of the French economy — which has catered to a xenophobic, reactionary, Vichy peasant class since the end of the Fourth Republic. These are the same people who stick knives in the back of industrial workers, oppose public programs in urban areas, and support large local land owners and economic interests.