The Young Turks - Why France Is REALLY Burning

Episode Date: October 24, 2026

Wild protests are spreading across France and other European countries over unrest caused by the war in Iran. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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see the endless funds fueling the AI hype. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. So this is unfortunately France burning. There has been significant riots over the weekend, but it's not the only place. There are also riots happening in Italy and Belgium. And there's something deeply ironic here. A lot of this is we're going to explain to you and and give you details and receipts caused by the war in Iran, hence Israel's fault. But the Zionists who are doing propaganda all over Western media, including in American media, now using it as an opportunity to attack Muslims that had nothing to do with it. So if you watch American media, you will get the exact opposite of the truth on this story.

So let's give you the actual story here. So look, I mean, how many decades are we going to absorb the same BS talking point about why there's unrest. Oh, it's Islam, oh, it's the Muslims. Oh, could it maybe be, no one can afford anything. People, especially young people, feel like they've got nothing to look forward to, nothing to work toward, that there's no future for them. I think that would lead to people rioting more than anything else. But nonetheless, Zionists are blaming Islam, of course. French President Emmanuel Macron has blamed the far left in addition to high fuel prices and an untenable cost of living crisis. What's the truth? Well, let's give you what everyone's saying and then we'll break it down.

Let's start with Macron. French President Emmanuel Macron blamed far left groups and criminals for the unrest and vowed to take action. Those who destroyed property must pay. Those who looted must reimburse the damage. Those who sought to bring down the republic will be held accountable. President Macron held an emergency meeting with his ministers on Sunday, with more talks planned on Monday with French mayors to address public safety and the grievances raised by protesters. We also said the majority of the protesters were simply calling to attention legitimate grievances that the government simply cannot ignore.

Yesterday, several hundred thousand of our fellow citizens demonstrate with a desire to voice legitimate demands. voice legitimate demands. We must never confuse them with those who destroyed, vandalized, and looted. These demonstrators expressed concern about the cost of living and fuel prices, which stem from the conflict that began in the Persian Gulf, a conflict in which France has taken no part but whose consequences we are suffering. I fully understand their concerns. Now the entire globe is suffering the consequences of the U.S. decision to go to war with Iran on behalf of Israel, that is the heart of the issue. When energy prices are inflated as a result of conflict, as a result of war, that trickles

down into every other part of the economy. And if you're in the United States, believe it or not, the inflated fuel prices that you are paying for is nowhere as bad as what the Europeans are dealing with. In fact, Europeans are being told right now that they can look forward to a winter where where they will not have access to heating oil, okay, meaning that they will freeze in the winter because of the energy shortage that we're dealing with right now. At the same time, you know, you do have this argument that there are these left-wing radicals, ultra left movements that are organizing the unrest that we're seeing on the streets.

But I wanna go to one more video before we break it down further. And it's of Ben Shapiro who's blaming it on the Palestinians and those people who are, who support them. Oh, yeah, of course. Let's watch. Paris is burning. So is Marseille. So is Lyon, so is Limoges, and so is Milan, Italy. This is not about education policy. It's not about cuts to social programming. It's about people who want to destroy the West. Period. And we know them by their flag. It's not the French flag. It's not even the flag of communism. It's the flag of violent third worldism and hatred of the West. It is this flag and it is everywhere. But by the way, is it helping France, France recognize Palestinian statehood unilaterally in September 2025.

It's going great for you. I would venture to say that the country that destroyed the West happens to be Israel. You know, the parasitic nation that sucks the resources out of the United States, for instance. How many trillions of dollars again, Jank? Have we spent in order to fight Israel's wars for them? Eight. Oh, $8 trillion. Okay, and of course that number is increasing given the fact that we are now at war with Iran on behalf of Israel. But, The hero doesn't want you to focus on that. So he wants you to, well actually even worse, he wants to exploit the unrest we're seeing in Europe right now in order to push more anti-Palestinian propaganda. Because he's a disgusting heathen, okay?

Yeah. So the Western and European press, and by the way, a decent amount of the print press here in America, covered the story fairly accurately. And they also quoted Macron, who you just saw there. So the protests was generally of young French people who are really angry about affordability. Same issues here, but even more amplified over there. And fuel prices, even more amplified in France. So the reason why, for example, there is a Palestinian flag there is because people in the rest of the world don't live under Israeli propaganda to the degree that we do.

So they know the truth. The truth is, as Macron stated in that statement, it's because of the law. the war in the Gulf. The Iran war has driven up fertilizer prices, gas prices, diesel prices, and food prices. There's no question about it, every single expert in the world agrees. So that's why people are mad. Why did we go to, why is this whole world suffering? Why, as a Frenchman, am I suffering here in Marseille?

Because Israel wanted to attack Iran and be the only regional superpower, as Netanyahu stated after the war began. The Saudis decided to reignite the war against the Houthis for really no reason, which did what? That also exacerbated the energy shortage that we're dealing with. But no, no, no, people aren't worried about their own personal finances or the cost of living at all. It's just the Muslims, I guess.

Yeah. So they see the French, both the media and the government saying it's the fuel prices, it's affordability overall, it's frustration over wages and the economic condition. and it's young people in general. And by the way, maybe a little fair to say people on the left. But then you turn to American media and cable news, and they're like, so you mean Muslims? Europeans are like, no, we didn't say Muslims, we don't mean Muslims because it wasn't Muslims. What are God's greed or what are you guys talking about?

And look. And our politicians like Ted Cruz come in, our media figures like Ben Shapiro, but most importantly, cable news then backs them up. Well, was it the Muslims? Is it all the Muslims' fault? You could definitely argue that it's Israel's fault, but nobody's even arguing that. They're just reporting on what actually happened. But somehow our media inverts it on its head and goes, it must be the Muslims fault for getting bombed. Okay, I mean, this is just insanity.

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Go to go.com slash pause and claws. That's go. dot tyt.com slash pause and claws. Go help them out. And much like the United States, there's always going to be various factions that exploit unrest for their own personal propaganda or talking points, right? Now look, there has been a pretty significant influx of immigration to European countries, and we shouldn't deny that, it's just the truth. Certainly in Italy, certainly in France,

and there's always going to be people who are uncomfortable with a high volume of immigration into their country. And so there are people who are talking about that, and they're using the the unrest to make that point. But the fundamental reason why the unrest began in the first place is because of the cost of living. It actually started with high school students in France who were blocking entry into schools. That's how the protest began. And then it just kind of snowballed into something bigger.

And in fact, Jake makes a good point about how our media does a poor job and really getting into the weeds about what's happening in the. these, you know, massive protests in Europe. However, I will give some credit to CNN for interviewing Dominique Thomas about this, because I think his analysis was super helpful in helping me understand, at least, what's actually happening on the ground and what's motivating the majority of these protesters. As always, there's going to be a group of people who take advantage of it to loot or to cause damage to property. But the heart of the protest, and the reason why these protesters took to the street in the first place, as many as 800,000 over the weekend, does have to do with

the cost of living. Here's more from Dominique Thomas on CNN. And we have a whole generation of younger people, but also workers in French society who feel like the society has become more inequitable. And they've taken the street to air their feelings here. And this has been compounded by what has been a decided sort of increase in really what we can only describe as the sort of militarization of the French police force. In the last two years, there have been five education ministers. So the claims that school-age students are making, that university students are making, that they have been left behind by the Macron presidency, are absolutely legitimate.

The youth are the future of France, and the youth feel like they have no future. They have anxiety over the future of AI and the prospects and the employment. But they feel like they're not being listened to. And that those that are thriving in society in the wealthier sectors are moving ahead and The whole generation is being left behind. This started with school age students, but they've been joined in this particular movement, as we've seen elsewhere in Europe, by university students, teachers, trade unions, and workers who all feel the same. We're at a crossroads in France, and what these protests reveal are very deep political and social fractures.

More analysis on this from the Guardian states that high school pupils have clashed with police in often violent protests. over long hours, missing teachers, dilapidated classrooms and an opaque university admission system, pupils routinely miss months of teaching due to unfilled staff absences. Like things seem to be really falling apart in the Western world, but you know, at least we have our priority straight. At least we're, you know, funding our big militaries and agitating for more war. Further, the Guardian writes, other demonstrators soon joined in, voicing their unhappiness about rising living costs, including over fuel prices after U.S. bombing, in effect,

caused the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. So over the summer, I went to Italy, and the anger among workers in Italy was very obvious. Their frustrations over the cost of fuel, very obvious. Honestly, they were kind of furious at Americans for starting this war against Iran, which is part of the reason why I kind of didn't want to go on that trip, because I was worried about hostility, no one directed hostility toward me, to be fair. But I understand their rage. How could you not feel this rage? Especially when a foreign country decided to go to war on behalf of a different foreign country, and the entire global economy is suffering as a result of that. Yeah, this will start happening all over the world.

100%. And so the South Koreans are past a lot of people in India are super frustrated. Why? because those are the places where the gas prices are hitting the hardest. And so, and I'm going to tell you ahead of time what's going to happen and how American media will try to deceive you about it so that you don't get deceived. So my guess is that all across the world, soon they'll be burning Israeli flags. And when they are, our media will say, oh, you see that, the whole world is turned Muslim. The South Koreans are now Muslim or Muslim lovers, right? And they just, and they'll tell you, oh yeah, the Indians, the South Koreans, the Brazilians, everyone is anti-Semitic.

And that's why they're doing this. It's not because of the war, it's not because of fuel prices, even though that's what they're chanting in the streets. That's what every single person is reporting. They'll say, no, it's because they're Muslim lovers and they're anti-Semites. And so they're destroying the West. No, the protesters are saying, you're destroying the West by constantly taking our money so we don't even have teachers and using it for Israel's wars and now driving up fuel prices and all other prices, and we're deeply, deeply frustrated. And American media goes, so you mean the Muslim. So let's give some of that. So actually, let's go to probably the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the anti-Muslim

propaganda and that would be Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who wasted absolutely no time to exploit the situation for his own purposes. Let's take a look at what he had to say. Let me tell you, if we don't stop Hamas here, you'll see them on the streets of Paris. And that's exactly what is happening right now. I just really- That was Hamas. It's Hamas, is that what it is? The young Frenchmen were, Hamas. I just- I mean, it's comical, right? It's totally comical. It's comical that, that President Trump endorsed that clown for reelection. Yeah.

It's just disgusting, disgusting, absolutely disgusting. So what's amazing to me, and I want you guys to note this, right? And you'll start to see it with your own eyes. You won't need us to break it down every single time. So the minute Netanyahu says that, that is an Israeli talking point. Let's see if it echoed in America. Let's go to Benny Johnson. I don't know how to pronounce this, to be honest.

Limoges City Hall is in flames. These are the consequences of mass importing and destructive foreign culture. The enemies inside the gates now, Francis Burning. Good job, Benny. Good boy. Good boy. Way to heal to your master, you little bitch. Ted Cruz, Francis Bernie. Paris is on fire. Radical protesters, communists, and Islamists are riding across the city. What is happening in France is foreshadowing for America. Laura Lumer. It's time for the French police to use lethal force on the violent jihadist rioters.

Enough is enough. If this happens in America, I fully expect our leaders to deploy the military to the streets of America to use lethal force. No one on X regularly incites violence as often as Laura Lumer does with impunity. And not even close. With impunity. And yet, Asa Piper, Assam Piker, Assam Piker, but no Laura Lumer, and do you disassociate, disavow, you're connected to? What a weird coincidence. They seem to let us. All the pro-Israel propagandists threaten everybody's lives. Nira Tandon has literally retweeted her.

That's unreal, okay. And then finally, we go to Trump. He says, now notice everyone using the same exact talking points. France is burning, the immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country. Close your borders and take control before it's too late. President Donald J. Trump. I didn't know there was mass immigration from Israel into Paris.

And turn on cable news now. And you will see one politician after another and one anchor after another talking about the Islamist, the jihadists, the Muslims in the streets. They're the ones doing this. To invert reality so that you support Israel and their next war that will drive up fuel prices even more and food prices even more. And then they'll say, no, no, no, it's not the French or the Italians, by the way, or the Belgians. No, it's always the Muslims that are at fault. And that's what the real issue here is. You see, our mainstream media is not news.

It is propaganda. And amazingly, it's propaganda for a different country. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his swings. Totally not true. But it does keep you updated on our live shows. Tired of the doom scroll, you're not alone. The entire system is designed to keep you glued to your screen while the billionaire owners of big wireless profit from every minute you're on it.

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