Macron’s COVID crackdown is a risky bet

‘We must vaccinate all of France,’ president Macron announced on last night in his fifth Covid television address so far. It was a striking elocution. Macron ditched his habitual black undertaker outfit for a smart blue suit, and his office in the Elysée for the dome of the Grand Palais, framing the Eiffel Tower. It was effectively the launch of his re-election campaign, with plenty of carrots on offer, backed up by a fearsome stick. …

Macron pretended that compulsory vaccination was still an open question. But this was rhetorical dissembling, because there is no question that, in practical terms, it will not only be compulsory but it will be impossible to conduct a normal life without it.

This was undoubtedly the most authoritarian speech delivered by a French president in decades, but wrapped in a nakedly political pitch for five more years. We were promised a French version of ‘build back better’ but only if we do as we are told, and only if Macron continues to be in charge. …

In September, for everyone over 12, vaccines are to be rolled out for middle school and high-school pupils. And to mop up any resistance, health passports will become compulsory to get on buses or go to a restaurant. Reinforced frontier controls are to be introduced. The police will be unleashed from September to enforce the new rules.

All this appears a prelude to a two-tier society in which liberty and equality is being jettisoned without much debate. The French might have the liberty to refuse the vaccines, but they will risk losing their jobs, forfeiting the right to travel or buying food. Those with vaccine passports will certainly be more equal than those without.

Around the world governments are becoming more authoritarian as they enforce vaccine passports. Here’s what we wrote about the subject in the July issue of the Trumpet magazine:

“Papers please.” These are perhaps the most un-American or un-British words in the English language. The Western world has established and prided itself on love of individual freedom and limited governmental control.

That time could be ending. In America and Britain, and around the world, governments are planning unprecedented surveillance and control on the pretext of combating covid-19.

This new surveillance society will require no rustling of papers. Governments are working on the most convenient system of identification and surveillance ever using smartphones and online tools. But the result is the same. New vaccine passports could soon mean the government can track your every move.

The article outlined several scenarios showing how vaccine passports could be enforced. Those scenarios are now becoming reality. Read our article “Where Are Vaccine Passports Leading?” to find out what the Bible says about these vaccine passport initiatives.