Inside France’s ‘Chaos Inc.’: Communists, Unions and Activists

As France’s intense student demonstrations fused with a nationwide revolt on Saturday, communist leader and academic Vijay Prashad hailed the unrest in a message that connected protests across three continents.

“Paris-New Delhi-Buenos Aires,” Prashad posted on X, borrowing a line from the British punk band The Clash: “Let fury have the hour, anger can be power.”

Prashad’s significance stemmed not only from his comments but also from his position. He serves as executive director of Tricontinental Ltd., a nonprofit financed by American-born Marxist technology billionaire Neville Roy Singham, who lives in Shanghai.

His message reflected the way France’s riots have been folded into a broader international narrative of rebellion — a phenomenon resembling “Chaos, Inc.” It is amplified by a transnational network of communist and socialist organizations spanning Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, South America and North America.

A News Media investigation identified 54 organizations and movements involved in France’s October student protests or connected to their broader network of supporters and international amplifiers. The groups include communist parties, revolutionary socialist organizations, labor unions, environmental activists, Muslim student advocates, Palestinian-solidarity groups and international media outlets.

Only 16 of the 54 organizations in the October protest ecosystem — roughly one in three — are student or youth groups, including communist youth organizations and a Muslim student association. The other 38 consist of adult-led communist groups, labor unions, political parties, revolutionary-left organizations, advocacy groups and international propaganda outlets.

Among them are Gilets jaunes, or “Yellow Vests,” a radical far-left group that joined other organizations in leading protests this weekend, and La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed, a far-left socialist political party.

From the beginning, far-left socialist and communist organizations helped organize and promote France’s student revolt. They used complaints about school conditions as a launching point for a wider political campaign targeting capitalism, government austerity, policing and military spending.

France’s unrest is also providing momentum for the expansion of what can be described as Chaos, Inc.

News Media learned that an international coalition of 28 communist and socialist youth organizations and groups is mobilizing students and young people for a coordinated strike across 12 European countries under the slogan “Fight for Our Future, Not Their Wars!” The coalition is calling for walkouts, demonstrations, assemblies, blockades and occupations.

Organizations linked to the Singham network are among the international groups amplifying the unrest. They include Tricontinental, named after a 1966 communist convention in Havana, Cuba; CodePink; and BreakThrough News, a New York-based media outlet that promoted coverage of the French protests under the headline “ANTI-MACRON PROTESTS ROCK FRANCE.”

BreakThrough News published a montage of chaotic scenes from Montpellier, Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Saint-Étienne. The footage showed activists surrounded by smoke, Palestinian flags above crowds, black smoke rising from fires and police striking demonstrators with clubs. Dramatic music accompanied the video, which also featured politicians from La France Insoumise.

In an interview with BreakThrough News, Jodie Evans — Singham’s wife and co-founder of CodePink, a far-left group he funded — promoted a November campaign in Washington against U.S. military spending.

Evans directly pointed to youth demonstrations overseas, including those in France, Spain and India, while encouraging Americans to join CodePink’s campaign.

“I want people to look at France, Spain, and India,” Evans said as she urged Americans to take to the streets.

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News Media compiled a “Who’s Who Guide to Chaos Inc. in France,” identifying the 54 organizations in the international network promoting protests and riots in France through direct organizing, participation, public solidarity or media amplification.

WHO’S WHO IN FRANCE’S ‘CHAOS INC.’ NETWORK

STUDENT UNIONS AND YOUTH GROUPS (16)

1. – Les étudiant·e·s d’Alsace — The Students of Alsace: A Strasbourg-based student federation affiliated with FAGE that posted about the early October mobilization while describing itself as politically independent. It coordinated protests in Strasbourg on Oct. 17 with an Instagram post that said, “MOBILISER,” which means “MOBILIZE.” Another post invited activists onto the streets with the message, “LE COMBAT CONTINUE,” or “THE FIGHT CONTINUES.”
2. Étudiants Musulmans de France (EMF) — Muslim Students of France: A Muslim student association involved in student representation and campus solidarity whose social-media activity appears in the protest research; its exact Oct. 17 role remains unconfirmed.
3. Fédération des associations générales étudiantes A national student federation that joined calls for student mobilization against the “extremely violent repression” of youth. It shared footage of its members marching on Oct. 17, with the hashtags #manifestation #genz #17octobre.
4. Fédération Syndicale Étudiante A left-wing student organization whose activists appeared in demonstrations and announced “Democratic and Antifascist Vigilance Committees,” linking high-school grievances to the treatment of anti-Israel activists and union members. On Saturday, it posted videos with its trademark solid red flags. One message read: “In Bordeaux, protesters invade the house of the mayor! On October 17, the whole country is on a standstill. Everyone is mobilizing for better living conditions, and against cutting the budget for public service! In Bordeaux, we hear echoing in the protest: Only one solution, the Revolution! The mobilization of the 17 continues: let’s block everywhere in France!”
5. Interfac Île-de-France — Regional Student Coordination: A student coordination organization among Oct. 17 organizers involved in discussions over demonstration routes in Paris.
6. Les Lycéens! — The High School Students!: A high-school student organization active in the early school blockades.
7. Renouveau lycéen — High School Renewal: A high-school student organization identified in coverage of the October school mobilization.
8. Rassemblement pour l’égalité et la démocratie Jeunes — Youth for Equality and Democracy: A youth civic and political organization associated with organizing support for students in Seine-Saint-Denis; its specific Oct. 17 role has not been independently established.
9. Solidaires Étudiant·e·s — Solidaires Students: A left-wing student union that supported the high-school movement and helped connect university students with the October demonstrations.
10. Union Étudiante — Student Union: A national university student union that helped mobilize students for the Oct. 6 demonstrations and encouraged participation in the broader movement.
11. Union nationale des étudiants de France (UNEF) — National Union of Students of France: One of France’s established student unions, it was among the organizers of the Oct. 6 nationwide demonstrations.
12. Union syndicale lycéenne (USL) — High School Students’ Union: A French high-school student union that helped organize the initial school blockades and October demonstrations before publicly supporting students joining the Oct. 17 Yellow Vest mobilization.

COMMUNIST, MARXIST, TROTSKYIST AND REVOLUTIONARY-SOCIALIST ORGANIZATIONS (11)

1. An international communist organization whose French publication Le Bolchévik called on labor unions to mobilize in support of the school protests.
2. A communist publication associated with the Organisation Communiste de France; separate organizational participation in the October 17 protests has not been established.
3. A political movement whose elected officials supported student blockades, including lawmaker Louis Boyard, who waved a Palestinian flag alongside students at Paris-Est-Créteil University.
4. A revolutionary anti-capitalist party that urged continued mobilization after the Oct. 6 protests.
5. Organisation communiste révolutionnaire — REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST: A communist organization identified in the wider research whose precise legal identity and direct October protest activities require additional verification.
6. Parti communiste français (PCF) — French Communist Party — COMMUNIST: Party leader Fabien Roussel publicly supported student demonstrators in Paris alongside communist elected officials and activists as demonstrators carried party flags.
7. Parti des Indigènes de la République (PIR) — Party of the Indigenous of the Republic — DECOLONIAL POLITICAL MOVEMENT: A political organization that defended the student revolt and circulated imagery of protesters outside Lycée Paul Éluard holding a Palestinian flag.
8. Parti de l’égalité socialiste — Socialist Equality Party — TROTSKYIST: A French socialist organization that called for workers’ action committees and broader mobilization in support of the student movement.
9. A British revolutionary communist organization that published an article connecting the French student revolt to opposition to capitalism, imperialism and support for Palestine.
10. Révolution Permanente — Permanent Revolution — TROTSKYIST: A revolutionary socialist organization and publication that reported on university blockades and encouraged solidarity between high-school and university students.
11. An international socialist publication that covered the French school blockades and placed them within a broader argument about austerity, militarization and capitalism.

MUSLIM STUDENT AND PRO-PALESTINE ORGANIZATIONS (2)

1. Union juive française pour la paix (UJFP) — French Jewish Union for Peace: A Jewish peace and Palestine-solidarity organization that publicized “support for high school students” who joined protests in early October.
2. A French Palestine-solidarity organization whose protest-related social-media activity appears in the research, although direct organization of the October 17 demonstrations is not established.

LABOR UNIONS, TEACHERS’ FEDERATIONS AND FARMERS (12)

1. CGT Éduc’action — CGT Education: The education-sector organization of the General Confederation of Labour that joined union mobilization calls.
2. CFDT Éducation Formation Recherche Publiques — CFDT Public Education, Training and Research: A public education and research union that joined education-sector statements supporting the school movement.
3. Confédération générale du travail (CGT) — General Confederation of Labour: One of France’s major national labor confederations that supported the October school mobilizations and joined the Oct. 17 cost-of-living protests.
4. Confédération nationale du travail (CNT) — National Confederation of Labour — ANARCHO-SYNDICALIST TRADITION: A revolutionary-syndicalist labor organization that endorsed the student movement, declaring that students were right to revolt.
5. Confédération paysanne — Peasant Confederation: A farmers’ union that called on agricultural workers to join Oct. 17 protests, linking rural economic grievances with the national mobilization.
6. Fédération syndicale unitaire (FSU) — Unitary Trade Union Federation: A major education and public-sector union federation that supported the school mobilization.
7. Force Ouvrière’s education federation, which joined calls supporting high-school demonstrations.
8. Force Ouvrière (FO) — Workers’ Force: A national labor confederation whose education affiliates joined calls supporting high-school students.
9. SUD éducation — SUD Education: A left-wing education union that joined mobilization calls involving students and education workers.
10. Syndicat national des enseignements de second degré (SNES-FSU) — National Union of Secondary Education: A major secondary-school personnel union that supported strikes and demonstrations in solidarity with students.
11. A left-wing labor federation whose regional branches promoted Oct. 17 demonstrations and strikes after earlier student solidarity mobilizations.
12. A national trade-union federation whose education organizations supported the school movement.

HUMAN-RIGHTS, PARENTS’, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC-JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS (11)

1. The French section of Amnesty International that reported on police treatment of minors during the school protests.
2. An economic-justice organization that linked protest grievances with opposition to austerity and restrictions on civil liberties.
3. A climate-mobilization network that encouraged participation in Oct. 17 protests and connected environmental concerns with household economic pressures.
4. An international environmental activist movement whose imagery appeared in photographic coverage of the French demonstrations.
5. Fédération des conseils de parents d’élèves (FCPE) — Federation of Parents’ Councils: A national parents’ federation that called on members to demonstrate and announced participation by its national board in Paris.
6. A radical far-left French protest group revived around fuel prices and the cost of living whose Oct. 17 demonstrations converged with the student mobilization.
7. A professional drivers’ coalition that promoted participation in the Oct. 17 mobilization, including a gathering at Place de la Bastille.
8. Les Soulèvements de la Terre — Earth Uprisings: A radical environmental movement that celebrated the student revolt and called for an antifascist uprising.
9. A French civil-liberties organization that publicized support for students and criticism of police repression.
10. Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples (MRAP) — Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Between Peoples: An antiracism organization identified in earlier coalition activity around the student demonstrations.
11. A French antiracism organization included in coalition activity supporting the school movement.

INTERNATIONAL AMPLIFIERS AND ADDITIONAL OCT. 17 ORGANIZERS (2)

1. A New York-based outlet that reported on French student demonstrations and previewed their participation in the October 17 cost-of-living mobilization.
2. A France-based Indian diaspora organization that connected French and Indian youth protests through its social-media messaging. It has partnered with the SIngham network’s People’s Forum for an event.

THE NEXT MOBILIZATION: NOV. 20 EUROPEAN YOUTH STRIKE

1. A British socialist organization that advertised the Nov. 20 strike and connected opposition to war with campaigns involving universities and Palestine.
2. An international socialist organization that endorsed the Nov. 20 action and connected opposition to militarization with criticism of capitalism.
3. The international organizing coalition announced plans in August for coordinated Nov. 20 student walkouts and demonstrations across Europe under the slogan “Fight for Our Future, Not Their Wars!”
4. A British socialist party whose October commentary linked France’s student revolt with wider European mobilization and the forthcoming strike.
5. A British socialist student organization that promoted the Nov. 20 strike and sought to connect student opposition to military spending with wider socialist campaigns.
6. A British anti-war organization that promoted the youth strike and encouraged demonstrations opposing military spending.