Phineas James
@phineasjfr.bsky.social
Bilingual journalist in Paris; previously @forbidden-stories.bsky.social Words in Longreads, The Guardian, Le Monde, Al Jazeera, The Nation, Jacobin, New Lines Magazine, Society, L'Humanité, etc. Open to tips, commissions and bad puns.
France is the third country to introduce a social media ban for children.
French Lawmakers Pass Bill Banning Social Media for Children Under 15
In France, lawmakers passed a bill banning social media for children under the age of 15. The legislation also bans students from using mobile phones in schools. France is the third country to introdu...
democracynow.org
#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
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-...
“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.
nacla.org
#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...
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.
truthdig.com
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.
Truthdig@truthdig.com · 2mo agoA European Union deportation law is paving the way for ICE-style tactics and infrastructure across the continent.
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-...
THE GREAT REBRANDING
Inside the ‘Dissident’ World of Vauban Books
souvenirmagazineparis.substack.com
Incredibly honored to be engaged to @diane2v.bsky.social, despite her random British spelling of things, and so proud of her for this prize.
Diane de Vignemont@diane2v.bsky.social · 2mo agoI am incredibly honoured to have been awarded this year's Daniel Singer Prize for my (very personal) New Lines Magazine essay on the Minneapolis Uprising. I'll be talking about the lessons of the French Resistance for grassroots movements in the present day at the Socialism Conf in Chicago this fall
If you read one thing today let it be this. @codastory.com on Epstein's obsession with blue eyes: www.codastory.com/authoritaria...
"All my fundees have blue eyes." Epstein and the tech world's dark ideology - Coda Story
The Epstein files reveal beliefs about race, eugenics, and engineering humans that run to the heart of Silicon Valley.
codastory.com
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.
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!
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...
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.
nacla.org
Le racisme décomplexé prend de l'essor en France. Des propos hallucinants sur une des chaînes les plus regardées du pays.
Rim-Sarah Alouane, Ph.D.@rim-sarah.eurosky.social · 4mo agoMeanwhile in France...Last week, on far-right opinion channel CNEWS (owned by far-right business man Vincent Bolloré), psychologist Jean Doridot compared the new mayor of Saint-Denis Bally Bagayoko to a "tribe chief" and an "ape". www.charentelibre.fr/france/de-la...
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.
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.
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!
Diane de Vignemont@diane2v.bsky.social · 4mo agoMy latest, for @truthdig.com During the first days of the trial of Gisèle Pelicot's 51 rapists, we had no way of knowing whether the men sitting next to us in court were attendees, fellow reporters — or rapists. For France, that realization was a turning point. www.truthdig.com/articles/fra...
My dogged former colleagues at @forbidden-stories.bsky.social just continue banging out investigation after investigation on Russian #disinformation networks around the world. The latest about journalists in the #Sahel is worth a read: forbiddenstories.org/sahel-journa... @ileap.bsky.social
In the Sahel, journalists, activists and NGOs in the crosshairs of Russian agents from “The Company” - Forbidden Stories
Propaganda Machine Reading time: 9 min. In the Sahel, journalists, activists and NGOs in the crosshairs of Russian agents from “The Company” To build its network of influence and expand its reach in A...
forbiddenstories.org
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.
Great article from @phineasjfr.bsky.social about the strong performance of the French Communist Party on Sunday jacobin.com/2026/03/fran...
My story for @thenation.com on France’s municipal elections. Left-wing parties had some big wins but there are plenty of reasons to be concerned. www.thenation.com/article/worl...
It Could’ve Been Worse—But France’s Local Elections Are a Warning to the Left
The French left managed to hold on to key cities, but the far right and mainstream right also won key victories—and the intra-left bickering shows no signs of subsiding.
thenation.com
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
"On est très heureux": Emmanuel Grégoire rejoint la mairie de Paris à vélo
YouTube video by BFMTV
youtu.be
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.
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:
Office GIF
ALT: Office GIF
media.tenor.com
Latest opinion polling from #Paris second round shows neck and neck battle between right winger Rachida Dati and left coalition candidate and Hidalgo successor Emmanuel Grégoire for mayor: www.parismatch.com/actu/politiq...
Grégoire, Dati, Chikirou : Découvrez les résultats de notre sondage exclusif pour le second tour des municipales à Paris
Après le débat tendu entre les trois candidats à la mairie de Paris, un sondage Ifop-Fiducial pour Paris Match et Sud Radio révèle un résultat serré pour le second tour de dimanche.
parismatch.com
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...
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...
nowvoyagermag.com
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.
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).
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.
Fascinants les premiers résultats de Nimes, ou les Communistes et le RN sont coude-à-coude avec 30 pourcent chacun. #Municipales2026
