The gilets jaunes protests have without doubt represented a shock to the French political system. Sparked by a revolt against fuel tax increases planned by neoliberal president Emmanuel Macron’s government, the demonstrations and blockades led by yellow-jacketed protesters have allowed oft-ignored parts of society to occupy a highly visible place in the public arena.

This fightback over the cost of living stands distant from the themes that have dominated French politics in the past three decades, in its obsession with questions of free speech, national identity, and the supposed Islamic threat. Indeed, the irony is that precisely this campaign about defending “free expression” has left millions feeling that their concerns were unrepresented, without a voice.

The deadly attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015 drove a fierce political defense of the right to free speech. Yet the media and political reaction to the uncouth gilets jaunes protesters suggest that some voices are not so welcome. Despite Charlie Hebdo’s own claim to challenge and mock the powerful, it has consistently ridiculed the country’s Muslim minority — and, indeed, working-class French people in general. Today, its slurs are being used to silence the critics of Macron’s administration.