The Germans are good at engineering, the Italians are good at pasta, and the French are good at protesting. From the French Revolution to last year’s retirement age riots, they are a people dedicated to repeatedly showing their government how unhappy they are. 


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But while last year’s protests featured angry Parisians in the streets of the city of love, the current civil unrest is decidedly more rural, as thousands of farmers continue to dump manure on government buildings in opposition to the rising cost of farm diesel and late EU subsidy payments.


 

“On one side, the minister asks us to change our practices, to make them more ecological,” Philippe Bardy, head of the FNSEA farmers' union said. “On the other, we're told to lower our prices because of inflation."


As Monty Python depicted, the French are doing more than just farting in their government’s general direction, and I’m sure they would fling livestock too were it an ethical practice. They’ve crowded rural streets with thousands of tractors, and continue to do their business on government grounds; as they have been since December of last year, and as a country since 1789.