France’s ‘Chaos Inc.’: Communist Groups, Unions and Activists

As France’s confrontational student demonstrations expanded into a nationwide uprising Saturday, communist leader and scholar Vijay Prashad used social media to frame the events as part of a global wave of protest spanning three continents.

“Paris-New Delhi-Buenos Aires,” Prashad wrote on X, pairing the locations with a lyric from the British punk group The Clash: “Let fury have the hour, anger can be power.”

His role drew attention as much as his statement. Prashad serves as executive director of Tricontinental Ltd., a nonprofit supported by Neville Roy Singham, an American-born Marxist technology entrepreneur who is based in Shanghai.

The post reflected the way France’s unrest has been folded into a broader international story of revolt—described by critics as “Chaos, Inc.”—promoted by a cross-border network of communist and socialist groups operating across Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, South America and North America.

A News Outlet investigation identified 54 organizations and movements connected to France’s October student protests, their supporters and international media amplifiers. The network includes communist parties, revolutionary socialist organizations, trade unions, environmental groups, Muslim student advocates, Palestinian-solidarity activists and overseas media outlets.

Only 16 of the 54 groups—roughly one-third—are student or youth organizations, including communist youth associations and a Muslim student group. The other 38 consist of adult-led communist organizations, labor unions, political parties, revolutionary-left groups, advocacy networks and international outlets accused of promoting the movement’s message.

Those groups include the Gilets jaunes, or “Yellow Vests,” a radical far-left movement that joined other organizations in leading demonstrations over the weekend. Also involved was La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed, a far-left socialist political party.

From the beginning, far-left socialist and communist groups played a role in organizing and publicizing the student revolt. Their efforts broadened complaints about school conditions into a larger political campaign targeting capitalism, government austerity measures, policing and military expenditures.

The unrest in France is also being presented as a catalyst for expanding what critics call “Chaos, Inc.”

News Outlet reported that an international coalition of 28 communist and socialist youth groups and organizations is mobilizing students across 12 European countries for a coordinated strike under the slogan, “Fight for Our Future, Not Their Wars!” The campaign calls for walkouts, protests, assemblies, blockades and occupations.

Organizations linked to the Singham network are among those amplifying the unrest. They include Tricontinental, whose name references a 1966 communist gathering in Havana; CodePink; and BreakThrough News, a New York-based outlet that promoted footage of the French demonstrations under the headline, “ANTI-MACRON PROTESTS ROCK FRANCE.”

The video montage featured scenes from Montpellier, Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Saint-Étienne. It showed smoke-filled streets, Palestinian flags above crowds, fires sending black plumes into the air and police striking demonstrators with batons. Dramatic music accompanied the footage, which also included politicians from La France Insoumise.

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

Evans pointed to youth-led protests in France, Spain and India as examples while encouraging Americans to join CodePink’s planned campaign.

“I want people to look at France, Spain, and India,” Evans said as she called on Americans to protest in the streets.

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News Outlet has compiled a “Who’s Who Guide to Chaos Inc. in France,” detailing the 54 organizations tied to the protest network through direct coordination, participation, public expressions of solidarity or media coverage.

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.