In late 2018, France was shaken by the Yellow Vests, a grassroots protest movement that began over fuel taxes and grew into a broad revolt against the cost of living, inequality and President Emmanuel Macron. The protesters, named for the high-visibility jackets they wore, blocked roads, marched in Paris and forced the French government into concessions. So why, asks the VisualPolitik team, has nothing like the Yellow Vests happened in China, a country with far greater inequality and far less political freedom?
This episode explores the differences between the two systems. In France, protests can erupt openly, be covered freely by the media, and put pressure on an elected government. In China, the Communist Party controls the press, censors social media, monitors dissent and moves quickly to punish organisers before a movement can form. The film also looks at economic growth, nationalism and the social credit and surveillance systems that make collective protest in China far harder to organise and sustain.
The comparison matters because it shows that the absence of protest does not always mean the absence of discontent. VisualPolitik argues that China has avoided a Yellow Vests moment not by solving the problems that fuelled the French protests, but by making protest itself almost impossible, a trade-off with serious consequences for freedom.