by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog
The fundamental problem with media coverage regarding regarding the Yellow Vests is that it fails to see it as an already-permanent movement, or even a possibly-permanent one: each week must be either the biggest one yet, or the very last one.
The Yellow Vests see it similarly, but differently: for them each week is the very last one, too… because they will FINALLY storm Élysée Palace (Act 16: “Insurrection”, Act 17: “Decisive Act”, and now Act 18 on March 16: “Ultimatum”.)
The Yellow Vests are like the Vietcong: it’s not that they are so innately tough, it’s that they have nowhere else to go. Ask a protesting Yellow Vester and they’ll tell you: they have no money to pay their bills, much less do anything fun on the weekends… so why not go protest and enjoy what you can’t buy – camaraderie?
As a journalist who has covered every medium- to major-sized protest movement in France in the last decade (and the small ones, i.e. pro-Palestine, anti-imperialism, anti-capitalism, etc.), I have come to deeply resent and fear the Yellow Vests.
What a damned long workout they impose on us! They are marching 10-15km every Saturday, with zero consideration for TV journalists who have to carry equipment. Furthermore, why on earth do they march so damned fast?! If Guinness keeps this record, the Yellow Vests must take the crown for “protester km/h”.
This is surely the legacy of the constant police attacks during the first six weeks – you can’t hit what you can’t catch.
It’s also more confirmation that so many of them have not been politically active (which is also why so many get arrested – they don’t know what they are doing): French demonstrations are supposed to be festive, leisurely, tipsy strolls. French union demonstrations are basically half-parties: you lose a day’s pay… but there will be loud music, lots of alcohol, cheap barbecue, and scatological signs instead of proper propaganda. “We didn’t get our political demands? Oh well, at least we had a good time.” But at Yellow Vest demos public intoxication is far, far rarer and political seriousness is far greater.
The most significant media polls about the Vesters (and there are crazily few polls about them) revolves around a majority of France now not wanting them to protest every Saturday. The effect of this can be summed up easily: So the hell what?
Since when did political protesters need the approval of the majority to practice the modern right to free assembly? Protesters are usually against the often-clueless majority. They wouldn’t be protesting if the majority was getting it right! It’s not as if the Yellow Vests are a clearly manipulated, virtue signalling, identity-based, hipster/bobo movement, like the recent anti-Semitism marches (excuse, me I meant the marches to pave the way for criminalising anti-Zionism).
But they must keep broadcasting these very particular polls for a reason, and it was summed up by failed 2017 Macron-party candidate and sociologist Jean Viard, who said, “When there is a poll which says that 70% of France is fed up with the Yellow Vest demonstrations, we can stop the movement.”
Well that is certainly debatable, no?
Why should we choose 70%? How will they “stop the movement”? (Answer: reimpose a State of Emergency.) Isn’t 30% still a huge minority in a West European / liberal / bourgeois democracy, which gives some support for minority rights (the wealthy minorities more than others, of course)?
I give the reader that quote just to illustrate how France’s mainstream media and mainstream politicians are currently thinking, which is “When can we really pounce?”
Other polls show that while a majority wants the marches to stop, a majority still supports the Yellow Vests – these are two different things, and the latter is more significant in the long (and short!) term.
The main reason French people are increasingly against the marches themselves is the French tendency to get easily bored.
The French desire for sensation – “Something, anything… just not more ennui!” – is constant (and the basis of Western decadence). Combine that with the fact that these protests are not that fun unless you believe in the Yellow Vest movement. As I related, it’s long, hard work, and it’s in the cold. (The fact that France has a winter protest movement is truly unprecedented, and should have immediately put our gauges into the red.)
And it’s violent. Last Saturday, after a brief coffee my colleague and I had to insist that a cafe off the Champs-Elysées unlock their door to let us out. They wanted to block out the violence and enjoy their drinks, but we had to cover the impending, inevitable sundown attacking of the Yellow Vesters by cops. As the manager opened the door he wished us a loud and hearty “Bon gazage!” Or, “Enjoy getting tear gassed!” Tear gas is – and I have tasted many of France’s finest vintages – not a fun sensation. Most French today can’t even handle a few weeks of Lenten fastidiousness (rather minor, compared with Ramadan), much less four consecutive months of political piety.
However, the Yellow Vests absolutely do not care what anyone thinks, except their fellow Yellow Vests, and so they are not going to quit the field just because polls show a majority wants them to stay home. “These polls are all politically manipulated,” a Vester told me. She must be a right-wing, deplorable conspiracy theorist, of course.
No, she’s absolutely right. There is a revolving door between the government and the top polling institutes: Macron’s token Muslim minister (and a most half-hearted Muslim, at that) went from spokesperson for the president to a top spot at IPSOS, the nation’s top polling institute (and run by private interests, as it is not a public institute).
Relaying these in-bed-with-the-government polls is the job of the sycophantic mainstream media… and that’s why more than half of France says that the media has done a bad job covering the Yellow Vests. It is amusing to read this article (in French), because from the very lede paragraph the journalist writing it is defensive, accusatory and self-justifying. Anyway, 70%+ say coverage is too focused on violence, and too unbalanced, and too corporate-driven.
Basically they are saying – just as France doesn’t want massive opinion polling which is not manipulated by the private sector (like in China) – France doesn’t want a Western liberal / capitalist system of journalism but a state-controlled and state-supported one (like in China). Yellow Vesters will figure this out, Inshallah.
Vesters only trusting Vesters… that explains why they will, I believe, eventually form a political party, as no other political party can be trusted to try and implement their political demands.
Biggest march yet… until the next huge one
Haven’t the French finally realized that mere marches don’t get them anywhere? They only got any concessions after major violence. They need a general strike and a permanent encampment!
The tried the latter last week at the Eiffel Tower – shut down immediately, with extreme prejudice. At least Paris is consistent: they were against Tahrir Square in Egypt… until the protesters won, of course. And in all the revisionist history books / journalism accounts. Let’s not forget that Sarkozy’s foreign minister offered to send Tunisia security forces to put down their revolution in 2011.
March 16 will definitely see the biggest march in Paris in months – tens of thousands of people, guaranteed. Lately it has been 6-9,000, but I could be low because I can’t put eyes on every single Yellow Vest gathering in Paris on Saturdays. Of course, this is about 3 times what the government says, which is my general rule of thumb for crowd counting of anti-government protesters.
March 16 is indeed an “Ultimatum” because it has been expressly designed to give the Yellow Vests’ verdict on Macron’s two-month “National Debate”, which was the biggest and most attention-getting concession he made to the movement.
The National Debate, LOL.… Fidel Castro-sized speeches from Macron, minus a Fidel Castro-sized heart for his nation and for international solidarity.
What’s the most useless job in France in 2019? The guy or gal whose job it will be to condense all the data compiled from the many town hall meetings. That final report will be, in the best traditions of France’s (liberal bourgeois) bureaucracy, forever stuck in the limbo of en cours de traitement (being processed).
It’s going to be so big that Macron had to try and steal its thunder by extending the National Debate into April, hastily announcing a “Phase 2”. So, the fiction – that the government cares / is listening / will implement public opinion once they properly gather it – will continue for a few more weeks. What will be most interesting is when that stops.
(Interesting like – what happens with Eurozone Quantitive Easing stops? But that’s going to continue forever, per the recent and very surprising European Central Bank announcement. This was the only way they could prove me wrong in September 2017, when QE was first scheduled to stop: that European Sovereign Debt Crisis II will hit as soon as free money to high finance stops).
Truly, we can’t underestimate the significance for France of the end of the National Debate: because the protest are still going on, the government simply must do something… but now what?
However, the “debate” truly is over – Macron has gone back to business-as-usual – being Mack the Knife: He announced that he will rewrite the unemployment system by himself, ending 30+ years of collaborative efforts between unions and bosses.
While we’re talking about ancient history, let’s remind ourselves: It’s not like the pre-Yellow Vest era wasn’t full of regular anti-government protests…. The Vesters are adamant, mostly, that they remain aloof from politics. Fine, but politics will continue.
Yes, the Vesters have caused a four-month stop in the onslaught of “reforms”, but Macron’s return to his usual modus operandi means that we will soon be talking about unions during the week, Yellow Vests on the weekend. After all, unions marching during the week have been guaranteed sights during all of Macron’s era, and most of Hollande’s: we are merely now “regressing to normal” in West European (Strongman) Liberal Democracy in the EU / Eurozone age.
The National Debate never had a chance, all of France knew, because one cannot debate with a know-it-all; for some reason “public service” has become infested with individualism in the 21st century, which is why politicians and journalists all adopt this posture of arrogance, instead of one of subservience to the greater good. This is just the latest example of Macron personally rewriting (labor code, rail reform, policing reform, justice reform, etc.) a huge part of French socioeconomic culture in order to make it more like the inferior, more unequal US, UK and German models. Even though he has an absolute majority in Parliament, he’ll probably even make the unemployment system changes law by executive decree to give his party members plausible deniability during re-election.This of, course, will certainly provoke more protests by the traditional protesting groups, like unions, NGOs and a Roman Catholic clergy concerned for their members.
So Macron is going back to doing what he does – remaking France in the image of the neoliberal US – and unions will go back to making a big show of opposing him in the hopes of winning concessions for their dues-paying members, and also to water-down Macron’s decrees a tad for non-members. Just a tad, though.
‘Who’s in charge? We are!’ – chant of the Yellow Vests
And this is really the key of this article: the Yellow Vests have lodged an unprecedented foothold in politics; they have one-upped the unions, and thus they are now truly the ones who “represent the People / workers”. They are the ones setting the agenda, and the ones the government / bosses most fear. The Yellow Vests are a minor revolution, which is why the first question from every mainstream journalist to an analyst is, “When will they stop?”
(Of course, the question from every mainstream French journalist regarding the Algeria protests is: “How can we help them continue?”)
The only way the Yellow Vests could be compelled to take off their vests is for France to have true democracy… but such a thing is simply unprecedented and impossible in the West European liberal democratic system. The only way for that is to have a post-1917, socialist-inspired system. Look at all the millions of fingerprints on Cuba’s new constitution – contrarily, there will only be one set of prints on France’s new unemployment system: Macron’s.
(Interesting sidebar: the most poplar issue discussed at the massive debates over the content of Cuba’s new constitution was making marriage “between a man and a woman” into a “union between two persons”. What is depressing is that – even in Cuba, where the people have the best combination of political intelligence, political inspiration and political involvement – even they are obsessed by this totally useless, sectarian issue!
However, what’s amazing is how their vanguard leaders recognised that, “Overwhelmingly, the (average Cuban citizen’s) proposals were against the proposed change.” And… they actually took out this change from the constitution! In Cuba, the leaders actually listen to and then implement the democratic will, unlike in France – voila, socialist democracy versus liberal democracy.
In Cuba, the majority is not forced to be beholden to the demands of any 1%, whether that 1% is monetary or sexual.
With the UK now teaching transgenderism to schoolchildren (to Muslim kids first, of course) the less-than-1% (sexually and sartorially) is now often the main beneficiary of Western public policy.…)
Of course, mass state violence, arrests, trials and jailings are other methods to force their Vests off; physical and judicial repression is obviously being used by Macron to intimidate people from protesting. Every day newspapers urban and rural are filled with the latest sentences for Yellow Vesters, but it won’t be enough to stop them.
Not even the “Anti-Yellow Vest Law”, which the Orwellian Mainstream Media prefers to call the “Anti-Rioters Law” – which is being deftly manipulated by Macron past a possibly-meddling legislative branch – will stop the Vesters, either.
LOL at Macron! High unemployment and unprecedented discontent… and you want to roll back the jobless system this spring? (Pension rollbacks coming in autumn, so we have more to look forward to.) The guy is either oblivious, anti-democratic, or the puppet of someone else.
But look at all the coverage of Brexit, and the demand for a 2nd referendum – Leavers will only respect democracy when they get THEIR way. (Me, I’m telling my English friends to vote “Leave” in Brexit Vote #3 and “Remain” in Brexit Vote #4, with Brexit votes 5-7 possibly write-ins for Mickey Mouse, who would have surely respected the first democratic vote.) West Europeans simply ARE anti-democratic because they have never been trained in modern democracy, which is necessarily socialist-inspired.
Bourgeois, West European, liberal democracy is not democracy, and we all see that in the 21st century: True change in France can only come when they realize that French arrogance regarding their terrible institutions has been unmerited for all these decades.
However, that realisation only comes after adopting the internationalism of the socialist view – other ideas (Gasp! Even non-French ones!) are needed to survive in 2019.
Barring this epiphany, Paris will bunker down on March 16… and far beyond.
Ramin Mazaheri is the chief correspondent in Paris for PressTV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. His work has appeared in various journals, magazines and websites, as well as on radio and television. He can be reached on Facebook.
“But look at all the coverage of Brexit, and the demand for a 2nd referendum – Leavers will only respect democracy when they get THEIR way.”
In fact a referendum was held preceded by government leafletting which categorically stated that the government would implement what the majority voted for The majority voted to leave the EU – nearly 3 years ago – and the establishment have spent the intervening time trying to prevent the will of the people being carried out showing British democracy to be a complete sham. So it’s not about leavers “getting their own way” it is about fundamental democracy. Britain is a country where the population have no say whatsoever in how the country is run and the two main parties are identical in their globalist agenda.
I correct your error because exactly the same thing is true in France. The yellow vests are the people of France and I am very sorry that you “fear and resent them”
Surely you see that if the yellow vests stopped marching the neoliberal assault on the national population would only increase. I am sure that they, like you, would like to enjoy café life in peace.
Nor did the yellow vest protests suddenly erupt out of nowhere but instead following years of protests against privatisations, states of emergency and police repression. France had 5 “states of emergency” imposed and when the last one ended the repressive laws became national law hence nothing changed
In a written statement submitted by the Europe Third World Centre, a non-governmental organization in general consultative status the crisis in France and what the Macron ( formerly managing partner of the Rothschild investment bank,) regime are doing is detailed and I link to it.
A few excerpts – “France, like all the other countries of the North without exception, has found itself encased in the deadly straitjacket of devastating neoliberal policies, policies that can only be seen as an extraordinary act of social violence. Their destructive effects – on individuals, society and even the environment – are propagated by a State that works hand-in-glove with whoever currently wields the most power. They are further aggravated by the constraints of the anti-social content of European Union treaties that the French rejected in the 2005 referendum but which were imposed on them in a denial of democratic process”
As in the UK where the vote of the people is flagrantly ignored so too in France in 2005 (and everywhere in the EU)
So the totally disenfranchised populations have tried the peaceful way of voting and found it does not work.
The authors of the report point out that “In the face of the various protests, all demanding greater social justice, the authorities have chosen to respond with greater repression, to the extent that human rights are regressing at an alarming rate.”
Surely you can no longer believe that it is the yellow vests who are the problem. Aren’t they at least holding a line against the further regression of human rights the report describes. ?
In fact . . . “President Macron has decided “not to change course”. With no regard for the sufferings and expectations of working men and women, his Government is tightening up its neoliberal policies and, to that end, going ever further down the route of social violence and police repression. The record is horrific, unworthy of a country that claims to be democratic”
Further on the report points out that “The yellow vests demand immediate and tangible improvements to living standards, restoration of purchasing power (wages, pensions, social benefits), strengthening of public services and citizens’ participation in decisions concerning their collective future. In other words, the effective implementation of economic, social and cultural rights in particular, and peoples’ right to self-determination. Insofar as they call for greater social justice, increased respect for human rights and more economic and political democracy, these claims are thoroughly legitimate and attract broad support among the population.”
Legitimate claims sought through legal and peaceful protests.
And on the subject of violence the report is unequivocal.
“The mother of all violence, the violence that has to be halted first of all and as a matter of urgency, the violence from which people are forced to defend themselves – as suggested by the Declaration of Human and Citizens’ Rights in the preamble to the French Constitution – is that generated by the imposition of unjust, merciless, antisocial and undemocratic neoliberal measures; the violence that, in the silence surrounding the price movements of capitalist markets, causes homeless people to die of cold, pushes indebted farmers to suicide and destroys individuals and families by depriving them of jobs, cutting off their electricity and evicting them from their homes; the violence that forces pensioners to turn off the heating because they can’t afford it, or children to skip a meal; the violence that breaks down all solidarity, closes schools, maternity wards and psychiatric hospitals, plunges small tradesmen and craftsmen into despair as they buckle under their overheads, wears out wage workers but does not let them make ends meet.
The real violence is there, in this extraordinarily unjust and fundamentally untenable system.”
http://www.defenddemocracy.press/pushback-on-human-rights-in-france/
I humbly submit Ramin that it is the EU regime that we should fear and resent and that we are all victims of this worsening tyranny. The yellow vests who have taken horrendous injuries marching for justice just happen to be, at this point in time, the only ones with the courage to stand up against it.
Best wishes
Get rid of the Central Bank and bring it in under the Finance Ministry. Demand that France coins/creates it’s own currency. Default on the debt and arrest those involved. Then you can start to talk about Socialism. Or Democracy where 51% get to tell the 49% what to do. Or at least start with a Bank run which was spoken about but not properly executed a couple of months ago. You want to beat the E-Leech ? Hit them where they hit you. In the pocket. Or in their case. The money belt. Stop demanding things from a system that will never reform itself. Withdraw your money and stop paying taxes. When the Police/Thugs aren’t getting paid. They’ll don a Yellow Vest as well.
Ramin,
I watched the protest on RT who had three of their reporters reporting live on the ground. From what I understood, masked “protesters” somehow managed to pass police controls and get into Champs Elysées and torch a couple of street kiosks and a bank. I couldn’t see a single yellow vests protester with a balaclava anywhere (quite a few had gas masks), so the whole violence thing stinks of police/secret service infiltrators using the old false flag tactics. My guess is that there are hundreds of plain clothes police officers amongst the demonstrators every Saturday and they could have easily stopped the violence if they wanted to. Yellow vests should organise into a political movement with at least dozen “leaders” and form a party of national unity. Leaders should be selected in national party elections and only be allowed to serve for maximum of 24 months (not easy to corrupt or threaten).
Man, that’s a typo Tomsk – I meant that “Remainers” will only respect democracy when they get THEIR way. Will have to change that for future versions, thanks.
Thankfully – and surprisingly – they voted against a 2nd referendum, which certainly seemed like their main goal: to subvert yet another anti-EU vote.
So I couldn’t be more anti-EU, or more accurately “anti-THIS EU”, and have written many articles about that.
LOL, do not “fear and resent” the Yellow Vests – that was a joke. It was made in the context of how they force me to work hard and long!
I’m a Yellow Vester 100%, and every article I’ve written has backed them to the hilt.
Salut Ramin ! Thanks for replying. I did wonder about that sentence and have read all your stuff on the yellow vest protests and I should probably have said that other than these typos the info you provide and the articles are often quite brilliant and deeply appreciated especially given the total avoidance of coverage in the msm.
So do not think I am critical overall. “Au contraire” we are fortunate to have both your writings and of course this site which publishes them If I seemed a little “sensitive” to the statements it is because I just keep thinking about those French people who have had their lives ruined by these bastards deliberately shooting out their eyes and limbs.
Tear gas is one thing but this is beyond horrible. It is demonic.
I hope you can stay healthy and continue to write about these terrible times the French people are so courageously enduring and which imho are coming to any country in the EU where the people dare to speak out.
One positive aspect of all this though positive hardly seems the right word is that it does indicate a kind of desperation on the part of the “elite”.
Best wishes
Dans les rues du Paris
by ioan
Dans les rues du Paris
N’est pas chance de remise,
Quelle-que gens qui surveille
Comme les autres se réveille
Dans les rues du Paris
Cette dimanche a midi
Plus de gens ont perdu
Leurs yeux dans le feu
Dans les rues du Paris
Il y a une chanson,
La chanson de la vie
La chanson de raison
Dans les rues du Paris
Cette dimanche a midi
La chanson de L’Amour
Est bléssé dans la court
I like the new face of Ramin!
But the new line is a bit confusing to me.
Does he support the Vesters or not?
Katherine
Kat, I think he does.
I support the Vesters 100%!
Surprised this article is raising this question multiple times? Of course, many have never read my stuff before and thus don’t know I’ve backed them from Day 1 – I backed the Yellow Vests before they even had a name – but I don’t see the negative things others are picking up here?
This article was a week in review – it’s objectively looking at specific things, occasions and decisions which occured… so it’s not as if the Vesters are going to do everything / analyze everything perfectly in my eyes, of course. But this article is clearly anti-government, pro-Vester.
I was on the Champs-Elysees all day today: cops struck immediatley, proving they got the order to provoke violence. That created shock and anger, and thus fires, vandalism, looting (stopped by actual Yellow Vests), etc. I think all the news kiosks were burned down. Sarko’s Fouqet’s restaurant vandalized (surprised it took so long for that place).
Bank totally burned to ashes just off the Champs. Next to the bank a Porsche was parked – burned as well. I talked with the petrified owner, who seemed certain they were coming for him next. LOL, while we were talking somebody pickpocketed his second phone! That is no joke – we had footage of him with two phones, and one was somehow gone! That was quite a kick in the pants, eh! But he was crazy to park his Porsche so close to the Champs that day… and it’s not like he’s poor.
I was gassed multiple times – typical. And I mean, “typical from 2010-2019”. Only once really bad… like some rookie protester!
Interesting to hear what you have to say Ramin about the Vester protests today. I saw on the news earlier today that an Ruptley producer was hit with rubber bullets – so even the press were getting hurt by the police.
Ramin, excellent article.
As far as media is concerned, I’d like to point you guys to Duran, which as it seems obvious to me tows the MSM line by saying the Yellow Vest Movement is losing popularity. Personally I do not think this is a case. ANyway, you can find this article on their page if you want to bother, which I did not ever bother reading.
Tomsk, as for the Brexit. May just like the Scots, Irish and Greeks before tried to play the pretend game hoping that people would vote NO to Brexit. Now she plays more games including as I read somewhere making secret deals with Brussels to leave the door open for Britain to return to EU.
As a sideline to something you guys said about the dictatorship in the West.
Just couple of days ago Greek Paratrooper (Green Beret) filmed himself singing Makedonia Ksakousti (Famous Makedonia). He ended his video with a message to the Greek Government. Anyway, He was dismissed from the service with an excuse that he was endangering his fellow paratroopers as well as himself.
One of the prominent people asked simple question: ” would he be dismissed if he just filmed himself without the song and the message? This is your globalist dictatorship in action.
News and comments about it, including from his father:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHfgkdaDbdk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fibLBaGwngI
Re “Tomsk, as for the Brexit. May just like the Scots, Irish and Greeks before tried to play the pretend game hoping that people would vote NO to Brexit. Now she plays more games including as I read somewhere making secret deals with Brussels to leave the door open for Britain to return to EU.”
The link below is for George Galloway and his sidekick, Adam, in their personas as the History Boys. Marvelous, and extremely informative. Two smart guys in top form. Best thing I have seen on Brexit for a long time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viocKv3FyuQ
Must watch! I sent this to my list.
Galloway and … forgot name, but they are both great, and will explain the ghosts of Brexit past, present, and future to you.
Entertainingly.
Do we have single politician or pundit who can speak (well, also, THINK) as clearly, and concisely, and slyly humorously as Galloway, and his sidekick, Adam?
it is so refreshing! Try it!
Katherine
Proof #42,334 that Green Party people are fake-leftist extraordinaires
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/meteo/climat/direct-climat-marche-du-siecle-manifestation-paris-opera-republique-rechauffement-climatique_3236149.html
There were 100,000 people marching in Paris against climate change today… really? Where the hell were they when we were all getting gassed on the Champs-Elysees?!
There was planned to be a convergence, but they never showed up, the cowards. Eco-nuts – who put rocks and dirt ahead of human beings – live in their own tiny world of bizarre fears and self-congratulation….
Many Algerian demonstrators showed up as promised, ya better believe!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank God, because they brought the only good music!
Good to hear that there is music on the front-lines to keep the spirits up amongst the chaos. Thanks for the continuing on-the-spot reporting. Mr M. There is nothing at all being reported here in the UK about the ructions in our next-door neighbour’s class war. We just get wall-to-wall Brexit nothing burgers that even the most rabidly political types are tiring of, thank the gods.
Ramin, I totally agree with you. I always thought that All Green parties were yet another “Globalist try to look good” of no social substance.
Just as a side step, in Greece some (one at least) of the “old classic communists” who was with KKE for 32years (now he has patriotic party) said that unfortunately many of his ex-friends who joined up with Syriza are nothing less but money grabbing opportunists. I must say that I do agree with all that he says. One day, not to long ago, he said: that while modern day “pretend communists” are selling Greece daily, in the real communists in the 40’s fought for Greece’s freedom against Nazi occupiers shoulder to shoulder with the royalists. In those days they were called Patriots, today such people are called fascists and deplorables.