I’m living in Paris (not close to protest but still fairly close), and because of agoraphobia I haven’t attended the marches as they can fringed anxiety for me in general even more if amplified with noise and police response
I’ve been discussing with friends but most of them are “center or center left” so I’ve tried to educate them about why the protests started and letting them know that most of the violence in them have been by the police force and hyperfocusing on the feelings of bus stops and bins on fire and those who break stuff is not only distracting from the conversation why there’s a protest but also ignore that the majority of people protesting are peaceful. And the majority of violence is police and (my opinion here) it’s easy for police or anti protest to go undercover and destroy things to try and discourage the movement
So my friends bring up how some teachers and people have been caught in crossfire. Today Oct 17 there have been footage they share of a woman (white) crying that a supermarket chain has been looted. And these friends keep to be alarmed more by that than the police violence.
I’m tired to keep having to educate liberals because while I’m not advocating for more violence I’m analyzing and understanding why violence happen and having to educate them (I lived in France less years than them) so I’m trying to inform myself but they still rely too much on MSM narratives
I have to also discuss this with family and I feel alone in dealing with this. Idk where on the left I am but I’m always surrounded with people to my right. (Because of my agoraphobia / social anxiety I don’t attend crowds but I do want to show my support if I had friends to go with, but in less overwhelming places)
PS: I work for a university and I’ve been working from home (at my parents) for past 2 weeks so I’ve had time to inform myself and try with others. I am more than willing to buy and deliver supplies for people if need be