From a Parisian very close to me: be wary of falling for the 'rioters & looters' slant on the protests in France. The most consumed press & tv in France is owned by a far right billionaire. Much of the Anglo press is feeding off a take designed to push an anti-immigrant, racist politic. Yes there is looting by some & can hurt small businesses, but what is not shown is the extreme brutality of the police, encircling peacefully protesting kids, teargassing & beating them as they beg for a way out.
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@JulianOliver I personally don't trust media any more. The entire world needs a bit of a revolution. Western society is falling, and people are cheering on the culprits.
It occurs to me what all the data centers that just *must* be built immediately are truly for: offloading russian propaganda platforms until the good old internet is scrubbed of anything not supporting the narrative.
One could draw parallels to 1984 but one no longer have to. It's obvious. 🤷
@JulianOliver 💯. I highly recommend looking for indie media on your socials. The traditional media will be focused on the burning trash cans. Indie media will be in the protest showing you the joy, the community, interviewing people, focusing on the demands, the creativity and the hope for tomorrow.
This YouTuber made a great recap of the situation in English:
https://youtu.be/hAWcxLuqfjg
EMERGENCY VIDEO: The French Protests Explained
YouTube
@JulianOliver tbh, it's hard to care for small businesses when there is a possibility of France becoming second Greece. I mean, I am still sad, but the threat to your lives is too large
@JulianOliver
I would be very surprised if some random kid who did some looting was better off over a five year period than the corporations that rip off millions of ordinary people everyday. And yeah, I doubt the looting and violence story about rioters anyhow.
@JulianOliver I saw an innocent kid lose a hand.
@ainiriand I read of this. No words.
Hope you are doing OK.
@JulianOliver
This keeps happening.
@JulianOliver 100%
I live here
💯 💯 💯 💯 💯
The extreme right is in the process of buying all media channels. If the real news got out in the world, it would be a miracle.
@randulo @JulianOliver what do you think of France24? I'm in the SF Bay Area and it's broadcast here, along with DW.
@randulo thank you! That paints it as pretty unbiased and good with facts, which matches my impression. I watch it most days, and the protests have been front and center. They've reported on the property damage, some police brutality, and the protesters' concerns. In their panel discussion "The Debate" on Monday, they included a well-versed student protester and I believe a young leader in Les Républicains, both young women.
@jamesmarshall The better outlets mention the breakdown between protesters and the other two elements, vandals and looters. We saw the peaceful march in the afternoon. It gets dark early now, the violent element come out and wreak havoc.
@jamesmarshall @JulianOliver France 24 is better than most, but I haven't looked at it enough to say accurately what they do now.
The only solution for being informed about anything is to look at 5 or more sources!
@randulo @jamesmarshall @JulianOliver
Radio nova is my source of news
@jcolomb News of Victoria Monét?
@JulianOliver I think Vinz from Limit made a really good video on that topic
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwp81BcwNx8&pp=ygUKbGltaXQgdmlueg%3D%3D
CE QU'IL SE PASSE VRAIMENT EN FRANCE.
YouTube
What about the reports that a hidden synagogue (ie a synagogue that was temporary with no outside markings) was ransacked?
@serge @JulianOliver I haven't seen any news about this, could you share one please?
You won't find much about anti Jewish destrction in most news outlets. You have to look largely at either Jewish news outlets or occasionally what you will see in the US and Canada are right wing outlets will cover them if they feel the one doing it is left wing, which is increasingly the case. If the attacker was right wing, then the left wing media may cover it, though not always.
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-912093
https://forward.com/fast-forward/856778/synagogue-and-jewish-owned-shops-damaged-in-french-riots/
What makes the attack on the Ohalei Yaakov synagogue stand out for me is that it's not a normal synagogue where you can know what it is. That means someone knew it was there and targeted it.
@serge as your articles said, tgere is no evidence that they were targeted attacks. As sad as it is, this is most probably random. I've checked french jewish NGOs, RAAR and Crif, and they haven't said anything about saturday at the moment.
@serge@babka.social @JulianOliver Blocked this guy.
Surprised he doesn’t seem like a troll….
@serge No idea, unsure of your point. But I doubt it was the will of tens of thousands of kids, that have been very clear as to why they are protesting.
My point is that saying "The source is biased" is not sufficient to dismiss its claims. Media bias is everpresent- and I can give you hundreds of examples of that on a variety of topics.
I was born in Paris and am fully aware of how "intense" French protests can be. But dismissing the concern because the reporter is right wing is to ignore the suffering of innocent people.
Also... a destruction of a place of worship should be sufficient for it to be condemned. There doesn't need to be any other "point".
I've given it more thoughts and I don't agree, at all.
Let's say I take the Matrix movie. I make a cut of it where you only see Neo breaking a flower pot, pushing some homeless guy under a metro and shooting a building from a helicopter...
Don't you think my intention, showing Neo causing mayhem, render everything I say about that movie totally false, even if I took the actual scenes from the movie?
Context is everything, and when Bolloré (the billionaire controlling most french TV media) decide to only show you the violence and nothing else, it's a whole new "movie".
So yes, it does dismiss everything they show or say.
You believe that whoever is the "other" has nothing at all to say, on any topic.
I've seen where this leads, and it's a very dark place, one that I and others I care about suffer with every single day.
@JulianOliver your argument reminds me of the clip of Abdul El Sayed going viral at the moment
@serge @JulianOliver
The french media will only show you those : ransacks, burning dumpster etc...
It's not that it isn't happening or not something to condemn, but they chose to show that all day long ignoring the 99% of peaceful protesters and why they protest, which hurt the movement as a whole.
Some ransacking is often proved (after the facts) to be done by bad actors to discredit the protest.
There is a whole political side to this
I think that more than most people on the Fediverse, I am more-than-aware of how the media can amplify and distort a situation for political gain. That's a lesson that I wish @JulianOliver would take seriously.
@serge I do not read anyone dismissing the awful thing of a synagogue being ransacked. I stated property is indeed being trashed, by some looters.
TBC my post (& concern) pertains to the extreme police violence, against brown kids esp, in light of the rising racism in France, something also close to home given my French extended family whom are of non-white heritage, a racism playing out in coverage of the protests as they work ceaselessly to make brown people 'the problem'.
It's about them.
There are a lot of false reports being made by the right-wing press, including some made by AI (like the images of a old couple being stripped naked).
No idea if this "hidden synagogue ransack" is part of them (I did not see this information on respectable news).
"A French Jew is complaining that Jewish institutions are being attacked?! It's probably a right wing lie..."
@serge @JulianOliver in Paris Sunday, in the marais one store and only ransacked. It was not the demonstrators it was regular thief hiding behind them with the police occupied.
That may be the case. The synagogue was in the 19th.
@serge so it is linked to the demonstration because some people are taking the opportunity but its ibdirect and perhaps the police force are not used properly when there are demonstration... Their militarization when most of them are not formed properly at least and concentrate them at one place is clearly not the best tactic.
@JulianOliver Who is the right wing billionaire?