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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

As I do every week on my Substack, I wrote about the latest news on France and the far right. This week: students take to the streets. substack.com/home/post/p-... #France #Protest #Manif

substack.com

(Re)voir Review: Jeunes en Colère, Sénat aux LR and Milei Seeks a French Heir

This week in French news from immigration to the far right.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The human consequences of this decision, though portrayed as temporary, will be massive. While these geriatric justices "hear arguments," people's lives are being ripped apart.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

How you can tell a bully's back is to the wall. They start rewriting history.

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Forbidden Stories @forbidden-stories.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

NEXT: The Forbidden Stories Lab will officially launch on October 9 at UC Berkeley. The event is open to all, with registration available via the link and will also be livestreamed: journalism.berkeley.edu/event/homeco...

journalism.berkeley.edu

Forbidden Stories: 'The Deportation Project' and keeping journalists’ stories alive

UC Berkeley Journalism offers a two-year Master of Journalism (MJ) degree and a summer minor, preparing students for careers in journalism.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I've been working with @forbidden-stories.bsky.social to develop ways to respond to declining press freedom in the US and this is one of them. Really excited to be a part of the FS Lab initiative.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Highly recommend reading the latest big project from @forbidden-stories.bsky.social! For months, the team diligently traced Trump's third-party #deportation apparatus, dredging up documents showing the network of opaque deals and their deep human consequences. forbiddenstories.org/projects_pos...

forbiddenstories.org

The Deportation Project: Inside the Trump administration's secret deals to expel people worldwide - Forbidden Stories

72 journalists, 26 news organizations, 15 countries: a global investigation into the Trump administration’s secret third-country deportation system

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

One year ago, I launched my freelance career. Since, I've published 38 articles, including several long-form pieces for @longreads.com, @truthdig.com, @inkstickmedia.com, @codastory.com and others, while also translating into English for @lemonde.fr and @publiceye.ch. Starting off the next chapter!

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Cécile Andrzejewski @cecileski.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Depuis des années, Nejma Brahim fait un travail de dingue sur les questions d’exil. La semaine dernière, elle a voulu se rendre au Maroc pour récolter les témoignages de familles endeuillées par le drame de Ceuta. Elle a été interdite d’accès au territoire marocain par les autorités du pays.

blogs.mediapart.fr

Mediapart dénonce le refoulement d’une de ses journalistes par le Maroc

Venue recueillir les témoignages de familles endeuillées par la tragédie migratoire à Ceuta, notre journaliste a été interdite d’entrée sur le sol marocain. Mediapart condamne cette entrave au droit …

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404 Media @404media.co · 17/08/2026

SCOOP: 404 Media placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it. What did we find? It ended up at an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books. Yes. This is literally the logo outside the Amazon warehouse door. Read now:

404media.co

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility

We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

“Not knowing when you get out of that hell, that was one of the biggest tortures.” The second installment of series for @truthdig.com looks at the European plan to supercharge third-country deportation schemes, including to countries with patterns of rights abuses: www.truthdig.com/articles/the...

truthdig.com

EU to Migrants: ‘Go Back to Where You’ve Never Been’

Brussels lays the groundwork for U.S.-style third-country deportations.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

#NEW: Several big investigations from @forbidden-stories.bsky.social have just come out, including some that I worked on. They include new revelations on #Pegasus spyware abuse by Morocco, and an unprecedented testimony by an insider from the country's DGST security service. #PegasusProject 1/6

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Jules Boykoff @julesboykoff.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Read @phineasjfr.bsky.social on how the 1978 World Cup, hosted by Argentina’s military dictatorship, galvanized calls for a boycott, demands that echo today in the USA as activists confront rising authoritarianism through sport. @nacla-report.bsky.social nacla.org/no-football-...

nacla.org

“No Football Between The Concentration Camps”

The 1978 World Cup, hosted by Argentina’s dictatorship, spawned powerful calls for a boycott, demands that are especially important today.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

#Breaking: Today the EU approved a new law that will supercharge Europe's deportation apparatus. I wrote for @truthdig.com about how France became a testing grounds for some of the policies that will now be adopted across the continent. 1/6 www.truthdig.com/articles/thi...

truthdig.com

This Is How ICE Comes to Europe

A European Union deportation law is paving the way for ICE-style tactics and infrastructure across the continent.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

My latest (and first for @truthdig.com) is about the aggressive, scarily familiar tactics the EU is about to vote through in order to ramp up mass deportation.

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Diane de Vignemont @diane2v.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

My latest, for Souvenir Magazine Vauban Books, an indie publishing house out of North Carolina, has been quietly translating, annotating, and rebranding the greatest hits of the French far-right for an ever-growing anglophone audience. souvenirmagazineparis.substack.com/p/the-great-...

souvenirmagazineparis.substack.com

THE GREAT REBRANDING

Inside the ‘Dissident’ World of Vauban Books

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Incredibly honored to be engaged to @diane2v.bsky.social, despite her random British spelling of things, and so proud of her for this prize.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

This picture from the wall of France's interior ministry is wild. Of the 17 interior ministers since the turn of the century, only ONE has been a woman.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

When I cycled across #Hungary this past summer, I kept coming across this funny billboard of Peter Magyar and Volodymyr Zelenskyy hatching out of eggs carrying Ukrainian flags. My Hungarian friend explained that the ads read: "Like two eggs" ("two peas in a pod"). Let's see what happens!

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NACLA Report @nacla-report.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

In January, Venezuelans in Chile briefly celebrated the fall of Nicolás Maduro, but many now fear a harsher climate for migrants as the country shifts to the right. Read the story by @solotraveller.bsky.social on nacla.org nacla.org/from-hope-to...

nacla.org

From Hope to Uncertainty: Venezuelans in Far-Right Chile

In January, Venezuelans in Chile briefly celebrated the fall of Maduro, but many now fear a harsher climate for migrants as the country shifts to the right.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Le racisme décomplexé prend de l'essor en France. Des propos hallucinants sur une des chaînes les plus regardées du pays.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

We need to talk about how Trump starting investment accounts for babies ("Trump Accounts") is literally the exact plot of the Scott's Tots episode of The Office.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Intéressant que Bally Bagayoko fait référence à l'histoire du communisme municipal dans son intervention sur la victoire de LFI en territoire des banlieues rouges. C'est toujours une mémoire vivante.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Another great read from @diane2v.bsky.social on the societal impacts of the Pelicot trial in #France. And check out @truthdig.com's excellent work as well!

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

L'extreme droite salive déjà à la validation du "reglement retour" qui vise a durcir les conditions d'acceuil pour des personnes éxilé.e.s en Europe.

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Cole Stangler @colestangler.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Great article from @phineasjfr.bsky.social about the strong performance of the French Communist Party on Sunday jacobin.com/2026/03/fran...

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Emma Pearson @emmapearson.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Here's new Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire expertly combining cycling with giving a press conference, while on his way to his victory party. He remained on-brand by taking the Metro home

youtu.be

"On est très heureux": Emmanuel Grégoire rejoint la mairie de Paris à vélo

YouTube video by BFMTV

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Rim-Sarah Alouane, Ph.D. @rim-sarah.eurosky.social · 22/03/2026

French Municipal elections highlight a worrying trend: the far right gaining ground in many mid-sized towns. These areas are increasingly receptive to narratives of security, identity, immigration etc. This is how it spreads: locally, normalizing its presence through everyday governance.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Second round #municipales results coming through in France. So far things swinging to the center. Philippe reelected in Le Havre, all but ensuring his presidential campaign. In Nimes, the National Rally was stopped by a wide coalition led by a member of the Communist Party. Waiting for Paris like:

media.tenor.com

Office GIF

ALT: Office GIF

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Vincent Tiberj @vtiberj.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Le vote Knafo, le vote du vrai peuple qui souffre

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Now Voyager @nowvoyagermagazine.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

For 13 years, Araceli Salcedo Jiménez has been digging up clandestine graves across Veracruz, searching for her disappeared daughter. "The Search," by John Gibler, is a devastating portrait of one mother's war against Mexico's machinery of impunity: nowvoyagermag.com/reporting/th...

nowvoyagermag.com

Searching for Mexico’s Disappeared: Uncovering the Clandestine Killings of the Zetas in Veracruz

For thirteen years, Araceli Salcedo Jiménez has led soldiers, forensic teams, and fellow mothers into the mountains of Veracruz to dig up the clandestine graves of Mexico's disappeared. She is still l...

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Latest from #Paris. Far right candidate Sarah Knafo has bowed out of the mayoral race, the day after the traditional right and centrist parties fused lists. The left unity group led by Emmanuel Grégoire and hard-left LFI candidate have three hours to unite, or risk losing the city to the right-wing.

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Rim-Sarah Alouane, Ph.D. @rim-sarah.eurosky.social · 15/03/2026

Round 1: 24.9% of Parisians voted for fmr minister Rachida Dati. Voting for someone with more judicial cases than Paris metro has stations is …a bold civic experiment? At this point electing her would just save time: City Hall & the courthouse could share the same address. Paris vous aime (ou pas).

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Some takeaways from France's first round of municipal elections. 1. High abstention rate Typically local elections are high turnout. Not this year: 2026 beat 2020 but that election took place during the Covid pandemic. The lesson? Even locally, people feel politics no longer represents them.

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Quand la recherche IA oublie Pierre-Yves Bournazel...

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Fascinants les premiers résultats de Nimes, ou les Communistes et le RN sont coude-à-coude avec 30 pourcent chacun. #Municipales2026

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Phineas James @phineasjfr.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

French voters are heading to the polls today for the first round of municipal elections #municipales2026. I wrote for @jacobinmag.bsky.social about how the killing of far-right activist Quentin Deranque has cast a shadow over local races. jacobin.com/2026/03/fran...

jacobin.com

How a Political Killing Took Over French Municipal Elections

The death of French far-right activist Quentin Deranque one month ago has cast a shadow over elections typically focused on local concerns.

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Cole Stangler @colestangler.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

For @thenation.com, I spoke with Dominique de Villepin, France's fmr foreign minister best known for leading opposition to the Iraq War in 2003. He blasted today's illegal war, the timid response from 🇪🇺, and told me those responsible need to be held accountable. www.thenation.com/article/worl...

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Edwy Plenel @edwyplenel.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Le rapprochement entre droite et extrême droite s’accélère partout en France. Si aucun accord d’appareil n’existe entre les partis LR et RN, de nombreux cadres locaux de droite ont fait le choix de s’allier avec l’extrême droite pour les municipales. www.mediapart.fr/journal/poli...

mediapart.fr

Municipales : le rapprochement entre droite et extrême droite s’accélère partout en France

Si aucun accord d’appareil n’existe entre le parti Les Républicains et le Rassemblement national, de nombreux cadres locaux de droite ont fait le choix de s’allier avec l’extrême droite pour les élec…

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Emma Pearson @emmapearson.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

As some figures on the French centre-right and far-right prepare to do deals around the local elections, Paris' Green leader has a very 🇫🇷 metaphor - trying to separate these alliances afterwards is like trying to take the sugar out of your coffee

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Adam Smith @adamndsmith.com · 07/03/2026

Three days between these stories. It’s an absolute joke

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Ron Deibert @rondeibert.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

I am old enough to remember when there was momentum behind banning facial recognition tech for police Now, it's all: scan-your-face-if-you-are-not-white A knock on the window and a glimpse of America’s surveillance future www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

motherjones.com

A knock on the window and a glimpse of America’s surveillance future

“This is taking a big and very scary step toward a kind of totalitarian checkpoint society,” a privacy advocate warns in a special France 24–Mother Jones report.

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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

The same technological pinpoint accuracy that was used to slaughter children in Gaza now being used to slaughter children in Iran.

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