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The French Left Has Little to Gain From Bailing Out Macron

Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · 9d

France's new PM Sébastien Lecornu has closed the door on a rapprochement with the center left. My latest for @thenation.com on the political paralysis in France:

www.thenation.com/article/worl...

Emmanuel Macron’s hand-picked prime minister is showing few signs of wanting to compromise, as corporate interests revolt against talk of new taxes.

Emmanuel Macron Is on His Last Legs

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Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · 21d

Large union-led protests and strikes are expected tomorrow in France in rejection of Emmanuel Macron.

My latest for @thenation.com on the French crisis and Macron's dwindling options:

www.thenation.com/article/worl...

The French took to the streets en masse last week, days after the collapse of the latest Macron-aligned government. But the divided left-wing opposition is struggling to capitalize.

Opinion | The Solution to France’s Woes Is Hiding in Plain Sight

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Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · 29d

One big driver of France's entwined political/fiscal crises is Macron's refusal to retreat on his economic agenda, namely the tax breaks for corporations and the rich enacted since 2017. The country needs new taxation on wealth.

My latest for
@nytimes.com :

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/o...

www.nytimes.com

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Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · Sep 3

I wrote about the latest political crisis in France for
@thenation.com , as PM François Bayrou approaches an almost certainly fatal confidence vote called for September 8:

www.thenation.com/article/worl...

The French Center Plays Brinkmanship With Fiscal Crisis

Prime Minister François Bayrou is gambling his political survival on a confidence vote, in a probably doomed attempt to force France’s hung parliament to accept an austerity budget.

Attacks on higher education in Europe and the US are part of a familiar story: while universities may once have been bastions of disinterested, critical

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Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · Aug 21

I wrote about @thomasporcher.bsky.social's new book "Le Vacataire" and the crisis of higher education in France. In this week's @thetls.bsky.social:

www.the-tls.com/politics-soc...

The adjunct trap

www.the-tls.com

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Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · Aug 5

For @jacobinmag.bsky.social, I wrote about Brecht, rearmament and the slippery uses of "tragedy":

jacobin.com/2025/08/brec...

For Bertolt Brecht, War Isn’t Humanity’s Eternal Fate

With Europe in ruins in 1945, Bertolt Brecht wrote that war “has been discredited for some time to come.” That period seems to be meeting its end, as European states push a new era of rearmament.

How Fossil Fuel Mad Men Have Aided and Abetted the Industry’s Climate Denial

Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · Aug 4

My latest for the @thenation.com on the ad industry's role in the climate crisis and the push for regulations:

www.thenation.com/article/envi...

But even the ad world isn’t immune to the groundswell of climate organizing.

Georges Abdallah’s Release Is Long Overdue

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Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · Jul 20

On Thursday, a French appeals court upheld George Abdallah's release from prisoner, after nearly 41 years behind bars. Check out my @jacobinmag.bsky.social long read from last October on the life and times of Georges Abdallah, Europe's longest held political prisoner:

jacobin.com/2024/10/geor...

Now starting his 41st year in jail, Lebanese communist Georges Abdallah is Europe’s longest-held political prisoner. French authorities keep finding pretexts to deny his release, trampling on civil li...

France’s Government Promises More Work, Fewer Holidays

Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · Jul 20

For @jacobinmag.bsky.social, I wrote about French PM François Bayrou's budget proposal and the coming battle over a new round of austerity in France:

jacobin.com/2025/07/fran...

After raising the pension age and cutting taxes on the rich, now Emmanuel Macron’s government wants to scrap the Easter Monday and VE Day bank holidays. The plan is sure to face stiff resistance, with...

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, une histoire états-unienne

Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · Jul 17

Georges Abdallah va être libéré fin juillet. Dans mon dernier article pour @mediapart, je reviens sur le rôle joué par les États-Unis dans son maintien en détention, qui a fait d'Abdallah le plus ancien prisonnier politique en Europe:

www.mediapart.fr/journal/inte...

Le jugement en appel de l’affaire Georges Ibrahim Abdallah est attendu jeudi 17 juillet. Retour sur le rôle de Washington dans l’incarcération en France du militant libanais, plus ancien prisonnier p…

www.mediapart.fr

Reposted by Harrison Stetler

New York Review of Architecture @nyreviewofarch.bsky.social · Jul 14

Bonne fête nationale! This Bastille Day, we’re revisiting @harrstetler.bsky.social’s 2024 review of “Paris Is Not Dead” by Cole Stanger, exploring gentrification in the city of lights.

nyra.nyc/articles/we-...

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Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · Jul 10

I spoke with Ian Brossat, Paris' former Communist Party deputy mayor of housing policy, about @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
and what lessons NYC can draw from the French capital's attempts to confront the cost of living and housing crisis.

Via @jacobinmag.bsky.social :
jacobin.com/2025/07/bros...

Zohran Mamdani Can Learn From Paris’s Housing Victories

As Paris’s deputy mayor, Ian Brossat massively expanded the French capital’s public housing stock. He spoke to Jacobin about the left-wing city hall’s record and what lessons it might have for Zohran ...

As Trump and Netanyahu Push for War, Europe Is Once Again Silent

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Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · Jun 24

The Israel-Iran crisis was another big failure for European "diplomacy," again revealing the refusal by European states to seriously distinguish themselves from Trump and the US.

My latest for @thenation.com :

www.thenation.com/article/worl...

Ahead of a NATO summit, European capitals are unwilling to strain ties with Washington.

Emmanuel Macron’s Bid to Divide the Left Is Paying Off

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Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · Jun 23

My latest for @jacobinmag.bsky.social on the fall out of the French Socialist Party's congress in mid June. One year after the formation of the New Popular Front, France's left-wing parties are more divided than ever:

jacobin.com/2025/06/macr...

One year since the New Popular Front won a surprise election victory, France’s left looks more divided than ever. This month’s Socialist congress showed how much the party is at loggerheads with Jean-...

France Can’t Ban Solidarity With Palestine

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Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · Jun 4

I spoke with Salah Hamouri about the threat of a "dissolution" order targeting @urgencepalestine.bsky.social, as the French government prepares to ban the country's leading Palestine solidarity campaign :

jacobin.com/2025/06/fran...

Emmanuel Macron’s government is calling for a ban on one of France’s largest Palestine solidarity campaigns. The proposal is repression of free speech — and makes a mockery of Macron’s attempt to soun...

Debt, a Tool for Crushing Democracy

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Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · Jun 2

Interviewed Benjamin Lemoine for @jacobinmag.bsky.social about the politics of sovereign debt :

jacobin.com/2025/05/debt...

The European Union has reimposed tight limits on states’ budget deficits — but with exemptions for military spending. After years of claims that austerity was over, we’re now seeing it used selectivel...

What if the law could work like a machine? Enter some facts. Tabulate according to the criminal code. Out comes the sanction. This is, in fact, an old conceit. At Léviathan’s opening, Khallaf Baraho, ...

Harrison Stetler @harrstetler.bsky.social · May 14

I wrote about Lorraine de Sagazan's new play Léviathan, a brilliant satire of the French justice system and the politics of the law:

In this week's @thetls.bsky.social :

www.the-tls.co.uk/arts/theatre...

Performing the law

www.the-tls.co.uk