Riots in France: Who's Exploiting the Chaos?

For the third weekend in a row, protesters have taken to the streets across France. It all started in September with high school students asking for more teachers and better conditions in their schools. But now, it's about a whole lot more: the cost of living, gas prices, wages that aren't keeping up. And more groups have joined the fray: trade unions, yellow vests, anti-capitalists, and activists for a free Palestine.

With so many people out there asking for different things, it can be hard to make sense of what's actually going on. You’ll hear very different explanations depending on who you ask.

There's an election coming up in about six months, too. Marine Le Pen on the far right and Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the far left both want to be president and both see opportunity in all of this anger.

Are the protests being exploited by the politicians? And are they also starting to appear in Canada?

Host: Archie Matlow

Credits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Tristan Capacchione (Producer), Harrison Lowman (Managing Editor), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher), Tony Wang (Artwork)

Guests: Simone Rodan-Benzaquen

Additional music by Audio network

Photo: Jorge Jaramillo

Background reading:

Foundation for Defense of Democracies

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