# Looting and hardship: Lola debates a business owner - Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2112303372770435441 - Source account: [@MAnthoParis](https://x.com/MAnthoParis) - Source language: French - Target language: English - Duration: 1:41 - Published: 2026-10-20 - Machine translated. Check the original before quoting. - Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner - Original-language version: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/fr/pillages-et-pr%C3%A9carit%C3%A9-d%C3%A9bat-entre-lola-et-une-cheffe-d-entreprise.md ## Transcript [0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner) So you think looters, they look at dividends and then they are going to smash shop windows? [0:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=3) But looters have nothing. Actually, you're talking there, you're, you're talking. [0:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=6) Actually, you don't realize how lucky you are. [0:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=7) You have things to lose. The people at these demonstrations, us, we have nothing to lose. I'm going to tell you about something very personal. [0:11](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=11) No, but I… I'm just giving my personal example. [0:13](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=13) My mother is an English teacher. There you go, so she, she's shaping this country's future. Okay. [0:16](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=16) My mother, leaves every morning with a packet of biscuits in her bag because she can't afford the cafeteria at lunchtime. [0:21](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=21) That's the reality for French people today. [0:23](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=23) So actually, your shops, they're really cute. Great. [0:25](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=25) Okay, the Foot Lockers that were looted. [0:26](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=26) But the truth is, French people are really suffering. [0:29](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=29) And I’d like us to talk about that suffering tonight. [0:31](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=31) You did. I put my voice to a vote. Yes, but I’m the only one who does. [0:33](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=33) Lola, I arrived in France when I was nine. Okay. [0:36](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=36) I left the Democratic Republic of the Congo. [0:38](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=38) I had to adapt. When I arrived here, I had a choice, okay, to endure my situation or rise above it. [0:44](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=44) Today, as a business owner, I regularly employ 130 people. You’re talking to me about poverty. [0:50](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=50) You’re telling me: “I’m crying because my storefront is broken.” [0:52](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=52) But it’s my life, Lola. It’s my life. I have children. [0:56](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=56) No, but how lucky. Let her speak. No, but how lucky I am. How lucky we are to have finally had, to have had our businesses broken, to, to, to see, finally, to, to have to pick up— Wait, let her speak, let her speak. [1:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=66) I wanted to get back to— Let her speak, let her speak. [1:08](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=68) No, but we, we, today we have to get back our employees. [1:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=70) I have employees who, who, who are terrified. [1:13](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=73) What—what answer? What answer can I give them? [1:15](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=75) What do we tell them? Oh, yes, no, but it’s, no, but it’s not serious. [1:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=78) The busi—well, the business— Wait, Gemma, you arrived, you arrived… [1:21](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=81) Wait, wait, you arrived in France at nine years old, is that right? [1:23](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=83) Yes, I arrived— Tell us a little about your journey in a few words. [1:26](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=86) I arrived in France at nine years old. I lived for three years in ten square meters with my father. Okay. [1:30](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=90) I grew up, I studied in Sarcelles. I know the suburbs, I know suffering. [1:35](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/D4L5oj0MStiT/en/looting-and-hardship-lola-debates-a-business-owner?t=95) But what legiti—, but what legitimizes today that we create terror in people's lives? What justifies ransacking?