Interviews

Angela Merkel - treating the German people as grown-ups.

In an interview with Mediapart, history lecturer Johann Chapoutot, an expert on contemporary Germany and the history of the Nazis, uses the example of Germany to highlight France's failings in its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He says that while the German chancellor Angela Merkel appeals to people's reason, in France “they lie to us”. Interview by Ludovic Lamant.

A post-intensive care respiratory unit created during the Covid-19 epidemic at a hospital in Mulhouse, south of Strasbourg. © Patrick HERTZOG / AFP

Amid the coronavirus epidemic in France, Mediapart has been asking doctors from a range of different hospital services to describe, in their own words, their day-to-day experiences and difficulties in coping with the current crisis. Here, Matthieu, a 26-year-old junior doctor in an intensive care unit in the north-east city of Strasbourg, describes the physical and psychological exhaustion of his relentless duty shifts over recent weeks, and his fears of a backdraught of the epidemic after the lifting of the national lockdown.

A sign hanging from a Paris building in support of France’s public hospitals, March 27th 2020. © Philippe LABROSSE / Hans Lucas via AFP

Amid the heightening of the coronavirus epidemic in France, Mediapart has been asking doctors from a range of different hospital services to describe, in their own words, their day-to-day experiences and difficulties in coping with the current crisis. Here, Marion, a 28-year-old in-house junior doctor in an adult psychiatric care unit in the north-east town of Reims, details the very acute problems for her patients in observing the strict social confinement restrictions imposed under the national lockdown, and the “boomerang” effect to come from cancelled consultations.

Facing charges: Glenn Greenwald. © Reuters

US journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has become a thorn in the side for Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, is accused by the Brazilian prosecution services of “facilitating the commission” of cybercrime, alleging that he “helped, encouraged and guided” mobile phone hacking. The move, vigorously contested by Greenwald, centres on the revelations by the online investigative publication he co-founded and co-edits, The Intercept Brasil, about a vast corruption scandal in the South American country. In this interview with Mediapart’s US correspondent Mathieu Magnaudeix, Greenwald denounces the increasing attempts, in Brazil but also around the world, to “criminalise” journalism.

The American academic Sarah T. Roberts explains that social media networks have become popular by posing as supporters of freedom of expression with no limits. But, she argues, this promise has in fact never been kept and instead content moderation has become a globalised industry. Medapart's Géraldine Delacroix spoke to Sarah T. Roberts ahead of a seminar in Paris on digital culture.

Maria Svart is the national director of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), an activist organisation funded by its members, whose numbers have swollen tenfold since Donald Trump became president. Mediapart's New York correspondent Mathieu Magnaudeix interviewed her about the Democratic primary candidate Bernie Sanders, the rising star on the Left congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the return of the Left in the United States.

Adèle Haenel interviewed by Mediapart.

A Mediapart investigation published earlier this month revealing the acclaimed French actress Adèle Haenel’s accusations of inappropriate “touching” and of “sexual harassment” by film director Christophe Ruggia when she was a minor has rocked French cinema. Her account, which Ruggia has “categorically” denied, prompted the opening of a probe by public prosecutors, a wave of public support for her from professional organisations and figures in the French filmmaking industry, and pledges to introduce tighter regulations to crack down on sexual misconduct in the world of cinema and TV production. Haenel, now aged 30, also gave a lengthy live video interview to Mediapart, in which she spoke further about her alleged experiences and why she finally decided to speak out, presented here for the first time with English subtitles.

Robert Paxton talking about how Vichy France is remembered. © Mathieu Magnaudeix / Mediapart

When the French language version of his book 'Vichy France' appeared in 1973, the American historian Robert Paxton opened French eyes to the Vichy regime's collaboration with the Nazis in World War II. At the age of 87 he remains one of the most knowledgable people about fascism. Mediapart spoke with the emeritus professor at Columbia University about Donald Trump, nostalgia for the wartime era of Vichy president Marshal Philippe Pétain, and the spectre of a return to the 1930s. Mathieu Magnaudeix reports from New York.

Georgette Elgey during an interview with Mediapart in April 2017. © Mediapart

The French historian, writer and former journalist Georgette Elgey died in Paris this week at the age of 90. She is best known for her exhaustive, six-volume history of France’s Fourth Republic, Histoire de la IV^e République, a monumental account of the system of government in France between 1946 and 1958, of which the first volume was published in 1965 and the last in 2012. In 2017, Elgey, who was close to many of those who shaped French politics over the past six decades, gave an insightful interview about her work to Mediapart, republished here.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen casting her vote in the May 2019 European Parliament elections. © Reuters

The French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, the renamed Front National, held its post-summer congress this weekend in the south-east town of Fréjus, when its leader Marine Le Pen set out the party’s policies ahead of municipal elections to be held across the country in six months’ time. The RN, which won the majority of votes cast in France in European Parliament elections in May, hopes to at last solidly establish itself at a local level, amid a fragmented political landscape in the country and notably the collapse of the conservatives. In this interview with Lucie Delaporte, French political scientist Sylvain Crépon, a specialist of far-right politics, analyses the party’s new strategy for the elections.