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Emile Chabal

@emile-chabal.bsky.social
4.3K followers 3.1K following 276 posts

Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Edinburgh. Historian of 20thC France/Europe, incl. politics, ideas, (im)migration, empire. Editor, Contemporary European History. "Age of Hobsbawm" out 18 Aug: tinyurl.com/mwvt75fs

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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 19h
@jacobinmag.bsky.social really leaning into Hobsbawm Fall with a *second* throughtful review of my book. Where @eriklinstrum.bsky.social probed my "demystification", @iciaurriz.bsky.social focuses on another key theme: Hobsbawm's multiple renewals in face of defeat. jacobin.com/2026/10/hobs...
jacobin.com
Eric Hobsbawm, Historian of Defeat
Eric Hobsbawm was in Berlin when Adolf Hitler took power, in Paris at the Popular Front’s peak, and in the Communist Party when it all came down. Emile Chabal’s new biography follows a historian who a...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Last call for my London gigs on Monday, 17:30 @ihr.bsky.social and Tuesday, 19:00 @housmansbookshop.bsky.social! Come along and say hello :) Sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... housmans.com/event/book-l...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Possible, yes, though I haven't heard of that being a causal trigger. The current protests seem more "systemic" to me.
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Sounds interesting. Yes, def echoes of eg. 1986 Loi Devaquet protests or 2006 anti-CPE, although this time it seems more spontaneous and less structure.
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
The Inourtimeification of Radio 4..?
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Reposted by Emile Chabal
Matthew Sweet @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Sorry to inform to you that Free Thinking has been axed. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
BBC to cut raft of Radio 4 programmes including You and Yours
The corporation said it would be investing in a new consumer programme, while announcing more cuts.
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Matt Binder @mattbinder.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
the tech industry is about to invent books
Andrew Yeung 
@andruyeung
X.com
We created gyms because modern day work no
longer required physical activity. Without exercise,
our muscles atrophy.
I predict we'll need gyms for our brains too, once Al
starts doing our knowledge work.
10:53 PM • 10/4/26 • 1.3M Views
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Yes! We can exchange our passion plays... Apparently, I'm coming down for a joint French-British IHR seminar on 8 Feb, so hope we can meet then. It's been way too long.
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Amazing! So well deserved as well...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Thanks :)
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
A pleasure!
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
That sounds wonderful! So happy if my scattered thoughts can help you in class!
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
A similar, earlier piece by Olivier Filleule and Fabien Jobard makes a similar point: laviedesidees.fr/Un-splendide...
laviedesidees.fr
Un splendide isolement
Tandis qu'en France, la police tenue pour coupable d'acharnement appelle à un rassemblement contre la « haine anti-flics », en Allemagne, en Suède, en Suisse, l'interaction entre police et manifestant...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Agreed, altho I think Fr is unusual at a European level in combining technological militarisation with a strong resistance to de-escalation strategies now widely deployed elsewhere in Europe. There's a history to this - Luca Provenzano has written about it eg. here: booksandideas.net/La-police-pa...
booksandideas.net
La police par les armes
L'exception française dans le maintien de l'ordre n'est pas d'origine récente. Cet article en fait la genèse en revenant sur les interventions policières des années 1968 et en comparant les politiques...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
PPPS. Hard not to agree with critics of the militarisation of the Fr police when reading abt the use of "grenades", incl the one that blew off a 15-yr old's hand on Mon. Telling that similar grenades are used in Latin America where the police are famously gentle... www.lemonde.fr/societe/arti...
lemonde.fr
Qu’est-ce que l’EF-SON, la grenade assourdissante à l’origine de la mutilation d’un lycéen et dont l’usage a été suspendu par le gouvernement ?
En dotation depuis un an dans les rangs des forces de l’ordre, l’usage de l’engin, fabriqué par l’entreprise française Alsetex, partenaire historique du ministère de l’intérieur, a été suspendu à titr...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Thanks! I realise lots of the sources referenced are in French (not sure if you're proficient), but I always prefer to give ppl interesting material, even if not in English.
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Thanks!
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Thank you for the generous review!
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Yes, it's what Hobsbawm would have called "collective bargaining by riot". Whereas other West/North European countries developed more stable forms of collective bargaining after 1945, France didn't. Herrick Chapman good on this in 'France's Long Reconstruction'. So pressure always comes from below.
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The French police *always* think everything is a riot!
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
No, the school protests right now are very diverse, including schools in many rich neighbourhoods with sons and daughters of affluent families. They cross class and geography at the moment, which is striking. As for ex-right, I don't think there's a good correlation one can make.
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Bruno Leipold @brunoleipold.com · 06/10/2026
Paperback of Citizen Marx published today. Now available for the (slightly) more reasonable price of $29.95/£25.00 (+30% off with code PUP30) 🙂
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
PPS. Some unedifying statistics about the staggering number of arrests (mostly of minors) during these protests compared to previous protest movements: bsky.app/profile/vinc...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
...organised or structured by LFI. Hence the point about "recuperation". The same happened with gilets jaunes (no party was able to "recuperate" them) and eg. Nuit Debout.
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
...compare with eg. protests against CPE in 2006, where trade unions worked hard to organise students. These ones are "spontaneous". There is overlap btw parts of LFI & school protests bc LFI is a product of social mvts & has connections to radical pol mvts, but the current protests are not...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
That isn't quite correct - established left parties in Fr have often *not* been very supportive of student/youth protests (most famously PCF in 1968, PS didn't exist then but its predecessor SFIO was also opposed). Also, key point about now (2026) is that current school protests unstructured...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Well, there is some truth to that - but perhaps careful which words you use - "riots" and "protests" aren't the same thing... bsky.app/profile/emil...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
PS. For those who read French, this interview with the political scientist Vincent Tiberj is really helpful. www.lemonde.fr/idees/articl...
lemonde.fr
Vincent Tiberj, politiste : « La condescendance du gouvernement à l’égard des lycéens témoigne du refus de prendre au sérieux les citoyens qu’ils sont »
Le sociologue explique, dans un entretien au « Monde », comment, avant même de chercher à amorcer un dialogue, le gouvernement a géré les rassemblements lycéens comme s’il s’agissait d’émeutes urbaine...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
...And remember, too, that intergenerational transmission of protests is strong in Fr. Older activists will help younger ones to make connections btw what they are doing and eg. the gilets jaunes or the Nuit Debout. Many testimonies to this effect on intergen solidarity:
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
...The result is both violence *towards* police and hideous violence directed at protestors, who in this case are often minors. With all this, it shd come as no surprise that a) kids are angry; b) govt is powerless; c) the mvt has continued to grow... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Teenager's hand blown off during confrontation between France school protesters and riot police
The prefect of Pas-de-Calais says the 15-year-old's life is "not in danger" after the "very serious" incident.
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
...this has been widely discussed in the past and continues today. Explanations are many and varied, see eg. recent literature by Amit Prakash & Danielle Beaujon on historic causes, but also more recent journalistic work on police fatalities: www.liberation.fr/checknews/co...
liberation.fr
Combien la police tue-t-elle de personnes chaque année ?
Les derniers propos de Philippe Poutou ont relancé les questions sur le nombre de victimes tuées par la police. En 2020, l’IGPN indiquait 32 décès, des enquêtes journalistiques et militantes fournies ...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
...something which, historically, the French state is very bad at doing. Hence the rise of "spontaneous" protest mvts like this current one, and the desperate attempt at recuperation by pol parties (eg. LFI, in this case). Finally, there is the old nugget of police violence...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
...political landscape. This has rendered French political parties largely incapable of transmitting social grievances and has reinforced the "verticality" of the political system. This, then, is a disaster for social "dialogue" btw state... www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
The deluge: France’s 2024 legislative elections
Published in Modern & Contemporary France (Vol. 32, No. 3, 2024)
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
...reforms come from? This is in the context of a high-risk 2027 election cycle that could see the far-right come to power in some or another. Worth saying that this process has undoubtedly been accelerated by Macron's destructuring of the... www.ft.com/content/9b25...
ft.com
France: between the bond market and the barricades
The country is being hit by a pre-election debt sell-off. Many fear it could shake the Eurozone
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
...kids angry abt lack of job opportunities + blocked pathways to stable employment. In addition, the lack of coherent governance since 2024 elections has paralysed French policy-making, while state faces major budget deficit. Where will money for structural...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
...few French regions equipped to deal with such heat + timing led to poor exam performances. Also, teachers hv been complaining abt this for a long time, and generally dislike Macron. Larger structural issues are also key: eg. youth unemployment, which is famously high (20%+)...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
...Protests have short & long-term causes. Short-term: French schools were brutally exposed by the May-June heatwave, which created terrible conditions for kids and teachers. This is not the first year, but it was the most nationwide heatwave... www.lemonde.fr/economie/art...
lemonde.fr
Dans une école « bouilloire » de Paris, la température chute de plusieurs degrés grâce à une série de travaux sobres et écologiques
Terre crue et peinture à base d’argile, isolant en laine de coton recyclé, parquet massif, brasseurs d’air, toiles à ventouses sur certaines fenêtres, brise-soleil en bois fixe… Un ensemble de techniq...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Those of us who work on contemporary France have long predicted some kind of social protest in advance of the 2027 elections. It could have been a gilets jaunes mk 2 related to high petrol prices, but instead it was school students. Some thoughts... www.lemonde.fr/politique/ar...
lemonde.fr
Un gouvernement fébrile, à la merci d’un embrasement qu’il n’a pas vu venir
La journée de mobilisation de mardi inquiète au sommet de l’Etat, alors que la tension n’a cessé de croître en près de trois semaines d’actions et que l’exécutif semble avoir pour l’instant donné la p...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Start your week as you mean to go on... with 25% off my book via the Harvard University Press website! Use code "NEW25" at checkout. www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
hup.harvard.edu
The Age of Hobsbawm — Harvard University Press
An intellectual biography of Eric Hobsbawm, one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century.Eric Hobsbawm (1917–2012) was one of the foremost European intellectuals of the twentieth cent...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Muchas gracias, Jesús - me alegra mucho que lo hayas disfrutado!
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
🥰
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
On left & right, protest is historically a form of social "dialogue" in a country where the state (esp since 1945) has strong authoritarian tendencies. Also speaks to anaemic relationship btw state and intermediary bodies ("partenaires sociaux"). This makes protest seem necessary.
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Helpful to put current protests in context, esp bc school protests are quite unusual elsewhere. Key point is strength of intergenerational transmission amongst activists in radical social mvts in France. Protest culture is handed down from elders. I made this point in my France book several yrs ago:
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Thanks!
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Excellent panel and a great audience for this event at the Scottish Parliament in late August. I played my usual role as the in-house historian...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Love this review of the book in @jacobinmag.bsky.social by @eriklinstrum.bsky.social, which opens out onto larger questions about "demystification", Eurocentrism, and what is left of Hobsbawm in 2026. Can't wait to continue these conversations! jacobin.com/2026/10/hobs...
jacobin.com
Eric Hobsbawm Owed His Success to Mass Culture
Eric Hobsbawm was a master of what he self-deprecatingly called haute vulgarisation, Oxbridge-inflected confident generalization based on selectively chosen data. He combined this elite education with...
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Lol
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
An absolute career highlight! What a privilege to discuss my book w/Julia Hobsbawm, Martin Jacques and an amazing slice of London's intellectual literati, all in the incredibly fancy Shapero Rare Books on New Bond St. And to think I started this project as a young researcher in November 2012...😊
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Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The question is: could AI write it or not..?
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sometimes one just feels inadequate. This snippet from @emile-chabal.bsky.social's fascinating intellectual biography of Eric Hobsbawm describes his reading and essay criticism of Sorel, in I believe a third language (French). He was around 19 years old and about to go to university.
Extract from Chabal's book The Age of Hobsbawm, describing his critical views of Sorel's interpretation of the French Revolution, having "just read" Sainte-Just's despatches to the Committee of Public Safety
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