A closed cafe is pictured in Roubaix, northern France, Tuesday Sept.17, 2019. A mass die-off of France's bars, from 200,000 in 1960 to 36,000 now, fed into the sense of isolation and abandonment that was a driving force behind the so-called"yellow vest" protest movement that rocked France this year. PARIS -- For the rural French village of Port-Brillet, the closure of its last cafe came as a painful shock.
The social-glue role of cafes as places where the French mingle, find friendship and sometimes love, squabble, mourn and celebrate, is seen as being so vital for the national well-being that a mentor and political ally of President Emmanuel Macron is launching a 150-million euro rescue plan for 1,000 of them.
Borello, who heads a large French non-profit with an annual turnover of 1 billion euros from a palette of activities in healthcare, childcare and other fields, doesn't claim that rescuing cafes, alone, will assuage yellow vest tempers. Although Borello doesn't say so outright, people with cafes to go to might perhaps feel less of an urge to head back to makeshift camps that popped up on town and village roundabouts across France during the yellow vest movement. The camps had both a political role, as visible hotspots of protest, and a social one, with demonstrators gathering around campfires to share gripes, beers, barbecue sausages and make friends.
With just 1,800 inhabitants, Port-Brillet in northwestern France had four watering holes when Yann Mustiere, now 41, was in his twenties.
Goodbye, France
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