Milton Friedman famously said, “I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason whenever its possible.” Since last week, a grassroots French movement named “Les gilets Jaunes” or the Yellow Jackets (symbolized by the wearing of a yellow road hazard signalization jacket) has gathered international attention and shaken the social fabric of French life. The undertaking was born on social media and spread like wildfire. This mass cooperation tool was used to sign and spread petitions and organize mass demonstrations, which it has so far succeeded in doing.

This social crusade began as a Facebook and Twitter revolt against the newly state-imposed ecological taxes on fuel and gasoline, raising them an additional 5 percent planned for Jan. 1, after the past 15 percent raise from 2017 to 2018. A petition written demanding a reduction on this tax gathered close to a million signatures. This governmental “incentive” aims at pushing consumers to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energies by taxing the former. The program, first put in motion under the socialist former President Francois Hollande, plans to gradually increase the financial burden of using fossil fuels in the coming years.