Why did thousands in Paris take to the streets to protest Trumpism?
Millions around the world marched in solidarity with women in Washington, DC, but for Parisians there was the added fear that populism will manifest in France next.
PARIS — Protests erupted on Saturday around the world in response to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, widely criticised as xenophobic and divisive due to his inflammatory comments about women and Mexicans as well as threats to repeal the historic global agreement on climate change, demonstrating that Trump’s accession to power is being felt — and reviled — all over the world.
The Paris version of the Women’s March on Washington began in Trocadéro’s Human Rights Square and ended at Mur pour la paix, a monument where visitors leave messages of peace, on the promenade overlooked by the Eiffel Tower. Participants — including American expatriates, French nationals, and others from around the world — carried signs, chanted, and sang in multiple languages.
Seven thousand people paraded across the River Seine and filled the Parisian boulevards with slogans chanted in unison:
Sol — sol — sol!
Sol — i — dar — i — té!
No Trump!
No KKK!
No fascist USA!
The marchers not only tackled the US election, but also global issues, such as the fight against climate change, that many now believe are under threat due to Trump’s win. The new president of the United States has promised to revoke the country’s commitment to COP21, the international agreement to combat climate change that was reached in Paris in December 2015 with the historic participation of 197 countries. That agreement entered into force in November of last year after 125 countries ratified it in October.
Expats carried upside-down American flags; several waved signs declaring women have the right to wear burqas and burkinis, while many more referred to climate change: “Touches pas à la COP 21,” or “don’t touch COP 21.”
France, like other countries, has struggled with growing inequality, unemployment and a refugee crisis that has prompted some politicians to promote an anti-establishment, populist agenda that places the rights of minorities and cultural outsiders at odds with what its proponents argue are “national” interests.
Yet while Trump’s themes are appearing across the Atlantic as well, the American resistance is resonating in Europe, “sounding a warning to far-right challengers,” wrote The New York Times Editorial Board on 24 January. Thus, for some French participants, the march was a not only a call to mobilise in solidarity with Americans, but also a way to raise concerns about how global issues are manifesting at home.
The wave of populism that shocked the world when the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union last June (Brexit) is a matter of debate throughout the country. France will hold its own elections this spring, and the head of the far-right National Front, Marine Le Pen, is leading in opinion polls.
Similarly to Trump, Le Pen has made use of rhetoric that bates racism and fear of immigrants in pursuit of a protectionist agenda — both have argued that Islam is a threat to national security. The leader of France’s far-right was put on trial in 2015 for making anti-Islamic comments during a rally, and after Brexit vowed to take France out of the European Union, if elected.
Her Republican opponent, François Fillon (who has been compared to former British premier Margaret Thatcher for advocating economic liberalisation), is — like Trump and Le Pen — supportive of Russia’s socially conservative Vladimir Putin, takes an anti-immigration stance and has vilified Islam. When he won the Republican primaries last fall, many predicted that he would become the country’s next president.
Michael, a French geologist, said he attended the march to support human rights and the fight against climate change, as well as in solidarity with minorities and others who are oppressed.
“What an empowering and positive experience it was. I do believe we all have to have the same rights. Equality for all.”
“The impact that the American election has had on me as a French person, and above all, as a citizen of the world, is quite hard and heavy, I must say, for it reflects what mostly came out of fear and greed. I have a lot of friends who are from the US, and I know they didn’t want that at all.”
Regarding his own country’s upcoming elections, he said, “Mrs. Le Pen is a divider, and this is not what France needs.”
Indeed, for many, the march was an opportunity to come together and celebrate diversity.
“It was the first march that I had attended that was so clearly multilingual, with even some chants in Spanish,” said Caroline, a French woman who participated in the march and works at the Women’s Centre at Dunkerque refugee camp — infamously known as “The Jungle”.
“I just thought it was incredible that it was really a march that reflected global politics that are happening.”
Her entire team from the women’s centre participated in the march. They believe that Donald Trump’s win “both reflects and impacts on the way refugees are perceived in the world in general and more specifically in Europe.”
“It also legitimises a lot of hostile feelings towards refugees and towards women,” added the camp worker.
For others, the march was an opportunity to process grief and anger.
“People needed to emotionally process what happened. [The United States] is the leader of the free world, and you do hear a lot about what Trump says and his actions have repercussions around the world,” said Tina, a French student at Sciences Po.
“For me,” she added, “the point of the march was a coming together and saying, ‘a lot of people do care and will remain vigilant.’”
But a march is not enough.
“We have to learn how to fight again,” urged Camille, a French teacher who joined Saturday’s protest.
“I think everywhere it’s the same problem, and I tell my students every day that culture is the best response — when you don’t have culture or education, you can believe whatever someone tells you,” she added.
“We had Brexit, we had Trump and now in France we will probably have Fillon. I hope not. I hope people are going to wake up and understand, but I’m really not sure.”
