Roundabouts as sources of community for France's rural, low-income "yellow vests"

The New York Times is back today with more coverage of the "yellow vest" movement in France and, in particular, the government's new strategy of denying them access to the common ground that is the roundabout or traffic circle.  The headline is "Denied Use of Roundabouts, Can Yellow Vests Stay United, Visible and Viable?"  The yellow vests have been congregating in the center of traffic circles around France for a few months, often setting up tents there.  This locale afforded them visibility and, according to Alissa J. Rubin's latest story, also community and, literally, a place to meet. 

Rubin focuses in this piece on the isolation that low-income people often feel, in part because the lack of money keeps them even from going to the local cafe or bar; they cannot afford to pay for what is on offer.  This problem is aggravated in rural communities where post offices and grocery stores have closed so that people also do not interact with each other in such institutions.   Here's a salient excerpt from Rubin's story:

Much like the shops and post offices of the past — where people traded stories about their miseries and the microeconomics of their daily lives, the roundabouts provided a physical meeting place.

Rubin quotes Bruno Laziou of Les Andelys, in Normandy, which is the focus of her story:

Just a couple of decades ago, in every village there were little stores, little services, like the post office, the little grocery store; today the villages are dormitories. ... Nothing is open anymore in my little village, other than the mayor’s office.

Rubin continues:  

The use of the traffic circles as public space speaks to the fragmentation and accompanying isolation that has come to define much of life in the hinterlands of France, where the Yellow Vest movement took hold.  

As with various other pieces I've read about the yellow vests, Rubin goes into considerable detail about what people earn, as well as what the French social safety net provides.  The latter is not as generous as most people think--the Euro equivalent of about $119 per child, for example. 

As in the United States, those who are hurting most are arguably the low-income workers--those who could be considered the working poor.  They earn too much to qualify for many government benefits but too little to afford a comfortable lifestyle.  Among those featured are a hair dresser and a teacher. 

A prior post about the yellow vests is here.  And this blog features many posts over the years on the impact of school, post office and grocery store closures on rural places.