Episode
Ep 382 - Yellow Vests & the Battle for Democracy: Beyond the Ballot Box with Ida Susser
- Podcast
- Macro N Cheese
- Published
- May 30, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3747
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://macroncheese.captivate.fm/episode/ep-382-ida-susser
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Summary
**Every Tuesday we hold an online gathering where we listen to and talk about the episode while building community. Share your insights and questions as we educate ourselves and each other. Macro ‘n Chill, June 2, 8pm ET/5pm PT. Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/OEYtu7v-SciBITwiIWwdzw A frequent theme of our podcast revolves around the contradiction between formal political rights and the material realities of the working class. This week, our guest Ida Susser talks to Steve about the French Yellow Vest movement as a reaction to the contradictions of late-stage financial capitalism which has systematically gutted the welfare state, dismantled public services in the provinces, and further abandoned the universalist promises of the French Republic. Ida, an anthropologist, is author of the book The Yellow Vests and the Battle for Democracy: Taking to the Streets of Paris in the 21st Century. Moving beyond the liberal fetish of the ballot box, the conversation explores how the Gilets Jaunes , or Yellow Vests, built horizontalist, leaderless power from the grassroots. They blockaded traffic circles, constructed makeshift commons, and forged bonds of class solidarity across regional and ethnic lines. Ida contrasts this bottom-up mobilization with the top-down, cultish nature of MAGA; she points out that the French movement’s refusal of vanguardism did not prevent it from “thresholding” into a broader, anti-neoliberal bloc. Steve introduces the MMT lens to expose the ideological confusion around taxation and public spending. Is it possible the Yellow Vests’ defense of the social wage and their rage against the Macronist oligarchy represent a necessary, if incomplete, rehearsal for working-class power? Ida Susser is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology…