“The Yellow Vests and The Battle for Democracy” with Ida Susser

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In this episode of Coming From Left Field, we sit down with anthropologist Ida Susser to talk about her book “The Yellow Vests and the Battle for Democracy: Taking to the Streets of Paris in the 21st Century.” We dig into how a seemingly narrow revolt against a diesel fuel tax exploded into a nationwide uprising that shook Emmanuel Macron’s government and exposed the deep fractures between France’s urban elites and its abandoned provinces. Susser traces the long build‑up to the gilets jaunes: decades of neoliberal “reform” that closed rural schools and clinics, cut public transport, and hollowed out social services while telling working‑class people to drive farther and pay more. She explains who the Yellow Vests really were—truckers, nurses, cashiers, civil servants, small farmers, grandparents, and first‑time protesters—and how roundabouts and self‑built roadside cabins became spaces of debate, solidarity, and political awakening. We also talk about the brutal police response and the emergence of les mutilés (protesters maimed by so‑called “non‑lethal” weapons), and how that violence pushed many Yellow Vests toward alliances with anti‑racist and Black Lives Matter movements. From there, the conversation widens out: What can we learn from the Yellow Vests about spontaneous uprisings versus organized parties and unions? Why did the movement seem to “fizzle,” and in what ways did it quietly reshape French politics—strengthening mass pension protests, undermining Macron’s legitimacy, and helping set the stage for a new Popular Front that pushed back against Marine Le Pen’s far right? Susser uses Gramsci’s ideas of hegemony, civil society, and “war of position” to argue that these messy, grassroots experiments in “commoning” are slowly building a new democratic culture from below. If you’re interested in French politics, social movements, or the parallels between rural France and the U.S. rust belt, this is a rich, hopeful, and sobering conversation. Author Biography: Ida Susser is an American anthropologist best known for her work on urban inequality, social movements, and the politics of health and welfare. She is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center, and has also held roles as adjunct professor of socio‑medical sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and leadership positions in major anthropological associations. Born in South Africa to epidemiologists and anti‑apartheid activists Zena Stein and Mervyn Susser, she grew up in politically engaged circles, moved with her family to Manchester in 1956, and then to New York City in 1965. She earned her BA at Barnard College (1970), MA at the University of Chicago (1974), and PhD at Columbia University (1980), all in anthropology. Ida Susser’s book (free PDF): https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003534518/yellow-vests-battle-democracy-ida-susser [https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003534518/yellow-vests-battle-democracy-ida-susser] Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbnZiaXBnYmhhZXA1VmI0NTJudjl2V3VRUVJRZ3xBQ3Jtc0tsdzVkVXZzVW5KUEZscnU4ZndWTmUweFJxRVJONGpsa0JIdi1ScDYycUxSQ2gyRnB4UU1Ca0Fkd1dQZWFPUUNWM3dodUVwNk9kR2ZSTHVSdG5zUU5nVFF6S2xnb1EzTnBiSnJWZkFHRUZuOTZ0Z3NfYw&q=http%3A%2F%2Fzzs-blg.blogspot.com%2F&v=6oUWpHKqewA] Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbHdOR0hWUUtEZ01GcHNDaEZPZ0hMd18xTmtPQXxBQ3Jtc0tscS1ZcUx3YW5jQUhLY1BEN21iaXFWNlhhOTlMNmljMjM5c2F2U2E3empQdEFBMmZSbEFBQmw0Z3I0Znk0bnByYXlQbnpmWnQzUmV0OWVhc090YzFlREVsYXVtd2hSZVRLN1o5UmtsN3pOUlNzeWlCRQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fpatcummings.substack.com%2F&v=6oUWpHKqewA] #IdaSusser#YellowVests#giletsjaunes#France#Frenchpolitics#EmmanuelMacron#neoliberalism#welfarestate#socialmovements#grassrootsprotest#workingclass#democracy#authoritarianism#policeviolence#BlackLivesMatter#anthropology#urbaninequality#rustbelt#deindustrialization#leftpolitics#politicaleconomy#labor#pensions#austerity#populism#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast #zzblog#mltoday

“The Billionaires Have Two Parties, We Need a Party of Our Own" with Les Leopold

Les Leopold’s new book, “The Billionaires Have Two Parties – We Need a Party of Our Own,” starts from a simple claim: Republicans and Democrats alike have become instruments of the billionaire class, while working people are left with no real political home. On Coming From Left Field, Leopold walks through the economic history behind that argument, from deindustrialization and NAFTA to Wall Street’s “financial strip mining” of communities through mass layoffs and stock buybacks. He highlights places like Mingo County, West Virginia—once a New Deal Democratic and union stronghold—where coal jobs collapsed, no serious public reconstruction ever arrived, and the opioid industry filled the vacuum as the only growth sector. In county after county across the Rust Belt and Appalachia, he and his co‑researchers found that rising mass layoffs map onto falling Democratic vote share; voters blame the party that was supposed to fight for them, not because of “wokeness,” but because Democrats abandoned New Deal‑style job guarantees and embraced a corporate‑first politics. The heart of Leopold’s case, though, is that ordinary people are far readier for a bold working‑class program than the political class believes. In a 3,000‑person survey in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, he tested a fictional “Independent Workers Political Association” with a radical platform: a right to a job at a living wage (with the public sector stepping in if the private sector fails), a ban on compulsory layoffs at firms receiving government money, a genuinely livable minimum wage, and strong action against price‑gouging by pharmaceutical and food corporations. He expected fringe support; instead, 57% of voters backed the idea, only 18% opposed it, support was consistent across all four states, 40% of Trump voters said yes, and 70% of voters under 30 were on board. The same survey showed the Democratic label itself has become a liability: for identical populist platforms, “independent” candidates started about eight points ahead of “Democrats,” and in Ohio, the penalty for the Democratic label rose to roughly sixteen points. For Leopold, the implication is clear: you cannot build a serious working‑class politics by trying to be “better Democrats” everywhere. Instead, his book calls for building a new “party of our own” from the ground up in deep‑red areas where Democrats barely exist—running independent working‑class candidates, pushing ballot initiatives like banning forced layoffs at firms on the public dime, and using labor‑rooted political education to turn widespread anger and insecurity into a coherent, independent working‑class movement. About Les Leopold Les Leopold is a longtime labor educator, author, and co‑founder of the Labor Institute, which has been training workers and union activists on economic and environmental issues since the 1970s. Raised in a working‑class family of war refugees, he studied at Oberlin College and earned a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton before working closely with visionary labor leader Tony Mazzocchi, a pioneer of the occupational safety movement and an early advocate of a Labor Party. Leopold is the author of several books, including “Runaway Inequality,” “How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour,” “Wall Street’s War on Workers,” and a biography of Mazzocchi, “The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor.” His work combines data‑driven political economy with on‑the‑ground organizing, aimed at helping working people. Order the book: https://www.amazon.com/Billionaires-Have-Parties-Need-Party/dp/B0GX77LK8B/ [https://www.amazon.com/Billionaires-Have-Parties-Need-Party/dp/B0GX77LK8B/] Website: The Labor Institute [https://www.thelaborinstitute.org/] Substack: https://lesleopold.substack.com/p/the-billionaires-have-two-parties-f10 [https://lesleopold.substack.com/p/the-billionaires-have-two-parties-f10] Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbnZiaXBnYmhhZXA1VmI0NTJudjl2V3VRUVJRZ3xBQ3Jtc0tsdzVkVXZzVW5KUEZscnU4ZndWTmUweFJxRVJONGpsa0JIdi1ScDYycUxSQ2gyRnB4UU1Ca0Fkd1dQZWFPUUNWM3dodUVwNk9kR2ZSTHVSdG5zUU5nVFF6S2xnb1EzTnBiSnJWZkFHRUZuOTZ0Z3NfYw&q=http%3A%2F%2Fzzs-blg.blogspot.com%2F&v=6oUWpHKqewA] Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbHdOR0hWUUtEZ01GcHNDaEZPZ0hMd18xTmtPQXxBQ3Jtc0tscS1ZcUx3YW5jQUhLY1BEN21iaXFWNlhhOTlMNmljMjM5c2F2U2E3empQdEFBMmZSbEFBQmw0Z3I0Znk0bnByYXlQbnpmWnQzUmV0OWVhc090YzFlREVsYXVtd2hSZVRLN1o5UmtsN3pOUlNzeWlCRQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fpatcummings.substack.com%2F&v=6oUWpHKqewA] #LesLeopold#TheBillionairesHaveTwoParties#partyofourown#workingclasspolitics#laborpolitics#thirdpartymovement#independentworkingclassparty#deindustrialization#RustBeltworkers#MingoCountyWestVirginia#financialstripmining#stockbuybacks#guaranteedjobs#livingwagejobs#nocompulsorylayoffs#TonyMazzocchi#LaborPartyhistory#politicalrealignment#rightwingpopulism#economicinequality#workingclassvoters#newworkersparty#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

20 de may de 20261 h 8 min

“The Yellow Vests and The Battle for Democracy” with Ida Susser

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