A major controversy has erupted in France about the way an education authority responded to the parents of a 15-year-old boy who took his own life after being bullied. Officials claimed the pupil's parents had shown an “unacceptable” approach towards school staff and even threatened legal action for defamation. As Mediapart's Mathilde Goanec reports, this grim episode has raised questions over how the country's local education authorities deal with parental concerns over problems such as bullying. It also raises a wider issue about the role that parents are allowed to have in schools.
The July putsch in Niger has placed France, the former colonial ruler, in an impasse with regard to its use of the country as a base for operations against armed jihadist insurgents in the Sahel region. With around 1,500 troops stationed in Niger, which Paris turned to last year as its principal West African ally after being forced to withdraw its military from neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, the outcome of the present standoff with the new junta is uncertain. Rémi Carayol reports on how the explosive situation follows a series of blunders in France’s strategy in West Africa, where its presence has become increasingly unpopular.
After considerable delays, French president Emmanuel Macron and his prime minister Élisabeth Borne, newly re-confirmed in her role, have carried out a government reshuffle. The main theme is the removal of ministers from a civic society background, who were considered too low-profile. They have instead been replaced by more political appointments in the form of Macron loyalists and Parliamentarians. The prime minister and her team hope this will make the government function more effectively. As for any new political impetus, that will have to wait. Political correspondent Ilyes Ramdani reports.
The angry reaction in many disadvantaged districts of France after the shooting of 17-year-old Nahel has once again put police violence back on the political agenda. Lacking any viable response to the unrest, however, the government is simply switching between showing compassion for the teenager and his family, and displaying toughness in the face of disorder. Ilyes Ramdani examines the French government's reaction to the shooting and its aftermath.
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.
This week the publication of a Parliamentary inquiry into foreign interference in France will reveal the close ties between Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National (RN) and the Russian regime of Vladimir Putin. The party, formerly known as the Front National, was itself responsible for this investigation and chaired the inquiry; on the surface this looks like an attempt at transparency. In reality, it was simply a ploy to try to clear its name, though the party is still furious over the contents of the final report, parts of which have been leaked. Mediapart spent many hours following the hearings conducted by the committee. Here Matthieu Suc and Marine Turchi report on a process that became a charade.
As she accepted the Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival for her movie 'Anatomie d'une Chute' last weekend, director Justine Triet warned about the growing threats to the cinema industry in France. She said the French government was too indulgent towards American streaming platforms, state support for the film sector was drying up, while cinema audiences are down. The government and its supporters quickly hit back, accusing her of 'ingratitude', as her own film received public grants. But in using her acceptance speech to attack what she sees as a neoliberal assault on France's cinematographic 'cultural exception', Justine Triet was aiming at the right target, says Mediapart's Mathias Thépot. Here he analyses the challenges facing one of France's cultural crown jewels.
Earlier this month a nurse was stabbed to death at a hospital in the northern French city of Reims; the person arrested over the killing is a psychiatric patient. This follows two other cases in recent decades in which staff have been killed by patients suffering from serious mental health issues. Politicians have now promised greater security in hospital settings. But as Mediapart's health correspondent Caroline Coq-Chodorge writes, it is government policies themselves that are behind the growing number of violent cases, with an undermined psychiatric service losing its relationship of trust with the mentally ill.
Last week, following a series of violent but unrelated incidents in the country, French president Emmanuel Macron told ministers that the government needed to “counter this process of decivilisation”. The expression immediately provoked controversy. In this analysis, Mediapart’s publishing editor Edwy Plenel says that despite what his supporters claim, the president's choice of the word “decivilisation” owes nothing to the late German sociologist Norbert Elias and instead owes everything to the normalisation of far-right ideas.
After its deeply-unpopular pension reform was forced into law, the government of President Emmanuel Macron set itself a target of 100 days to calm the country and reduce the level of protest. But instead the tone and style of the protests have simply changed; from outright anger to one of mockery. As Mathieu Dejean writes, the government is right to worry about the new derision it faces. For mockery and ridicule have triumphed over inflexible governments in the past.
