The movement ‘Bloquons tout’ ('Let's block everything') emerged in France in July, and is calling for a nationwide shutdown on 10 September to oppose the austerity measures announced by Prime Minister François Bayrou. But who is behind this new collective?
"On 10 September we're not paying, we're not consuming and we're not working." This is the message disseminated online by Bloquons tout.
These posts emerged last month, in the wake of the budget cuts announced by Bayrou.
The stated aim is to bring France to a standstill on 10 September. But while the slogan has been adopted by thousands of people across social media, the origins of this grassroots movement are unclear – as are its demands.
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Yellow Vests links
A group called Les Essentiels, which has links to far-right and conspiracy theorist circles, was the first to posit the date of 10 September, in a video posted on TikTok on 14 July, one day before Bayrou's speech.
In a video created using artificial intelligence, a voice can be heard saying that this date will not be "just a hashtag that will disappear in three days".
The call was quickly relayed by former figures from the Yellow Vests movement, with the vast majority of activity taking place via Facebook and the Telegram messaging service.
In addition, Bloquons tout organises small local meetings of around a dozen people to discuss their demands and raise public awareness of the movement.
A website called Bloquons tout now seems to be at the core of the movement, bringing together the largest number of internet users. Its Telegram channel has more than 7,000 subscribers.
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Two of them, both former members of the Yellow Vests, agreed to speak to RFI.
Nicolas, a civil servant who describes himself as apolitical, acknowledges that he doesn't "feel like something is about to happen right away", but says he doesn't believe that means there won't be any protests on 10 September.
Patrick, a construction worker and another former Yellow Vest protester, says he will definitely take part in the blockade on 10 September.
"The people have had enough. 'Let's block everything' means demonstrations, blocking supermarkets and petrol stations, just like we Yellow Vests used to do," he says.
Political divide
Within the French political class, only one party has declared its support for the movement – the far-left France Unbowed party, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
In an opinion piece published on Saturday by newspaper La Tribune Dimanche, he wrote: "We call on all those who share our principles and our determination to put an end to the Bayrou government to immediately join the local groups organising this mobilisation and do everything in their power to ensure its success."
The leader of the Greens, Marine Tondelier, in an interview with the newspaper Libération on Wednesday also called for support for the 10 September shutdown.
However, she warned against political parties co-opting the movement, urging them to "stay in their lane" and not to "exploit the struggle".
"I say this to all parties: there is no question of spoiling everything by organising a competition to see who can wave the most flags or making protesters feel uncomfortable because they feel they are following in the footsteps of one presidential candidate or another," she stressed.
She told French news agency AFP: "The [Greens] will be involved in all initiatives," but added that the ideal scenario would be "to have as many political parties and as many trade unions, environmental and social organisations as possible calling for a massive mobilisation that completely transcends the usual political divisions".
The Socialist Party and the Communist Party have also pledged their support for the 10 September mobilisation.
Communist Party spokesman Léon Deffontaines said: "We will support the movement and play an active role." He added that his party calls for "participation in all demonstrations against the Bayrou project, including on 10 September".
Meanwhile, Socialist Party secretary-general Pierre Jouvet said: "We are watching this initiative with great interest. The motivations and methods are still quite vague at this stage, but we understand the exasperation behind this movement."
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These expressions of support have been criticised by the far-right National Rally party, which views the movement as the work of the far left.
At the government level, the response has been limited to stating that it remains attentive to citizen mobilisation, regardless of what form it takes.
Bloquons tout itself claims to be apolitical.
With regard to whether trade unions will participate in the called-for 10 September shutdown, while many have already called for a strike in the first weeks of September, there has been no indication as yet that they will officially join the emerging movement.
This article was adapted from the original version in French.
