Lazy clichés run through the liberal media’s depiction of the so-called “ungovernability of France, popular resistance to the advance of neoliberalism that seems so inexorable elsewhere” and the country’s “rigid labour market and work rules that supposedly stand in the… Continue Reading
We live in troubling times. Across Europe, the far right is advancing and growing in confidence. In France, the Front National candidate Marine Le Pen entered the run-off for the French presidency in 2017 for only the second time in… Continue Reading
A review of Jim Wolfreys, Republic of Islamophobia: The Rise of Respectable Racism in France (Hurst, 2018), £14.99 This April, French president Emmanuel Macron urged Catholic bishops to “engage once again” with the “political scene” and “repair” the relationship between… Continue Reading
As France entered the 20th century, it embodied, for many people, and to many socialists, the ideals of liberty, egality and fraternity that had been the pillars underpinning the revolution of 1789. Surrounded on all sides by kingdoms and empires,… Continue Reading
French activist Vanina Giudicelli spoke to Dave Sewell about the recent presidential election in France, the turmoil in the mainstream parties and the prospects for anti-racists. DS: How would you describe Emmanuel Macron and his government? What form does it… Continue Reading
“There will be a before and an after,” French prime minister Manuel Valls declared in the wake of the appalling murders that took place in Paris in early 2015, the slaughter of a dozen people at the Charlie Hebdo offices… Continue Reading
We will not dwell here on signs that the New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) is in crisis or on comparisons between the dynamics at its foundation with the current situation. The failure is so severe as to be undeniable. We failed.… Continue Reading
In 1981 the joyous celebrations that greeted François Mitterrand’s election as president, on a radical reform programme, were an expression of widespread hope of significant change. Almost exactly 31 years later the mood following François Hollande’s victory over Nicolas Sarkozy… Continue Reading
Undeniably the global economic and political crisis has accelerated a broad process of political radicalisation visible, for example, in the impact of the Occupy movement during the winter of 2011-12. But these developments have not stilled the question of how… Continue Reading
After last year’s huge days of action, demonstrations and the radical conflicts against redundancies in the car industry, has French rebelliousness disappeared over the past few months? Are we witnessing a downturn in struggle as a result of the social… Continue Reading