Emmanuel Macron and his supporters – including interior minister Gérald Darmanin – have not learnt the lessons from the president's first term and the fact that, twice in a row, the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen made it through to the second round of a French presidential election, argues Ellen Salvi in this op-ed article. All the while, she says, the government continues to lower the level of public debate, with the far-right being the main beneficiaries.
In the space of one week France's high-profile minister of the interior issued a series of bold but false declarations. These assertions concerned the typical profile of the “troublemakers” present at France's recent demonstrations, the police's controversial BRAV-M motorbike unit, the type of ammunition fired at the water protests at Sainte-Soline in west France and the obstacles that prevented the emergency services from reaching people who had been badly injured at the same demonstrations. France's top administrative body the Conseil d'État described one of Gérald Darmanin's pronouncements as “false”. Matthieu Suc reports.
Mediapart can reveal that close family members of Russians sanctioned after the invasion of Ukraine are continuing to use their luxury properties in France, which have escaped from being frozen by the French Treasury as assets. Among those benefiting include family members of Vladimir Putin's veteran spokesperson Dmitry Peskov and several oligarchs. The revelations emerge from a joint investigation carried out with the German NGO Civil Forum for Asset Recovery (CIFAR) and media network European Investigative Collaborations (EIC). Sébastien Bourdon, Yann Philippin and Alexandre Brutelle (CIFAR) report.
If one single proof were needed of the justness of the environmental cause, then this is provided by the frenzied repression regularly deployed against it, writes Mediapart’s publishing editor Edwy Plenel in this op-ed article. From the anti-nuclear protests at Creys-Malville on the Franco-Swiss border in the 1970s to the recent demonstrations against agricultural water reservoirs at Sainte-Soline in west France, and including the sinking of the 'Rainbow Warrior' in Auckland harbour in 1985 and the anti-dam protests at Sivens in south-west France in 2014, the movement's martyrs have stood up against its opponents in France. These opponents are, he argues, proponents of a calamitous capitalism that is now paving the way for carbo-fascism.
Addiction to medicines that are prescribed to ease pain, anxiety or to help someone sleep is a major and very public problem in the United States. But in France the scale of the problem is significantly underestimated. Mediapart has had access to a unique clinical service in the eastern city of Lyon that specialises in dealing with patients who have become hooked on prescription drugs. Health correspondent Rozenn Le Saint reports.
The Paris public prosecution services are investigating two formal complaints, the latest filed on March 23rd, alleging that Nasser al-Khelaifi, president of the Paris Saint-Germain football club and also chairman of Qatari broadcaster BeIN Sports, illegally employed in France his former major-domo and an advisor by paying them through fake contracts as coaches with his Smash Tennis Academy in Doha. Khelaifi, one of the most powerful figures in world football, denies the accusations. Yann Philippin reports.
The killing of 17-year-old Nahel by an armed police officer in the Paris suburb of Nanterre has made headlines in France and across the world. It has provoked angry reactions in the streets and from a number of politicians. But as Ellen Salvi writes in this op-ed article, the youngster's death has also been the subject of some shameful comments, of falsehoods, efforts at justification and attempts to play it down. She argues that for the last 20 years successive governments and a rampant far right have denied a stark reality: that of a society that is sinking as it forgets its fundamental principles and the values that stem from them.
Russian mathematician Azat Miftakhov, serving a six-year sentence in a penal colony for supposed vandalism, is in principle eligible for release in September. But Russia’s security services, the FSB, are preparing a new case against him, using the false testimony of individuals under torture, this time for supposed terrorist activities. In this report by Antoine Perraud, two Russian anarchists exiled in France recount their ordeals at the hands of the Kremlin regime.
From social democrats to the radical Left, leftwing parties in France are embracing or at least debating the concept of ecosocialism. As Mediapart's Mathieu Dejean writes, this collective appropriation of a radical idea that stems from the 1970s marks a new phase in the reconstruction of the French Left as it seeks to find a common view of the world.
The world of natural wine – which is made with little or no chemicals – has a reputation for breaking the normal rules in order to produce a more ethical drink. However, there appears to be another, hidden, side to this small community of wine producers and sellers, following the emergence of numerous accusations of sexism. Though as Julie Reux reports, the claims appear to have had little impact on some people's attitudes within the sector. And now feminist activists and victims say they feel under pressure to keep quiet.
