The Yellow Vests and the Battle For Democracy w/ Ida Susser

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On this edition of Parallax Views, anthropologist and author Ida Susser joins us to discuss her book The Yellow Vests and the Battle for Democracy and the deeper political crisis underlying the rise of the Yellow Vest movement in France. What happens when traditional left vs. right politics begin to break down under the pressures of neoliberalism, austerity, economic precarity, and collapsing public trust?

Susser explains how the Yellow Vests emerged not simply as a protest movement, but as a broader democratic experiment shaped by “commoning,” horizontal organizing, and grassroots political participation. We explore the movement’s unusual ideological makeup, including tensions between populism, class politics, nationalism, environmentalism, and anti-elite anger. We also examine the concepts of “thresholding” and “they are stealing the state,” and how they help explain contemporary political unrest not only in France, but across the globe.

Additionally, we discuss the historical roots of French protest culture, the legacy of movements like Nuit Debout and Occupy Wall Street, the crisis of democratic legitimacy in the West, and whether leaderless social movements can produce lasting political transformation or are destined to remain unstable and contradictory. Along the way, we touch on neoliberalism, authoritarianism, class fragmentation, race and immigration, and the future of democracy in an increasingly polarized world.