Heritage warns America could follow France’s unrest
On Oct. 10, Heritage warned of an American future like France’s as French school protests entered their third week and analysts described a fight for the presidency.
The Heritage Foundation warned on Oct. 10: “France today, America tomorrow, if the Socialists and Islamists are not defeated.””” The post identifies Nile Gardiner as director of the Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation1.
“France today, America tomorrow, if the Socialists and Islamists are not defeated.”
Heritage's warning, as it appeared on X:
Behind that warning is a revolt that started over classrooms, Fox News reports: protests over school conditions and funding, now entering their third week. Gardiner told Fox News, "I think at the very heart of this, is the far-left and the Islamists combining forces to undermine France itself." Nathalie Szerman, a researcher at MEMRI, says "dozens of schools across France have suffered vandalism and blockades, and many were even set on fire." She says pro-Palestinian groups such as Urgence Palestine declared October "a month of revolt" and are "supporting and fueling these demonstrations2."
Simone Rodan-Benzaquen of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies grants that "Students have reason to be angry about overcrowded classrooms and absent teachers." She says La France Insoumise leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon is "encouraging the citizens to see their schools as a front in a larger political battle, one whose real prize is the presidency." That prize is open: President Emmanuel Macron is term-limited and cannot run in elections this coming spring, and Rodan-Benzaquen says Mélenchon "will likely benefit" however the protests play out. Former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Theo Wold calls the riots "a consequence of mass immigration2."
The toll is mounting: the Associated Press reports more than 6,100 arrests, and the Interior Ministry says 715 police officers have been injured. Some 500 high schools were closed on Wednesday, down from 891 on Tuesday. In the schools still open, the education ministry replaced lessons with structured dialogue and crisis meetings through Friday2.
Schools belong to the families they serve, not to a presidential campaign. When a party leader treats classrooms as a front in his bid for power, parents lose the one institution they entrust with their children. Watch the spring vote, where observers see a possible runoff between Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen, Fox News reports2.
Sources
- @Heritage on X, 2026-10-10: France today, America tomorrow, if the Socialists and Islamists are not defeated. @NileGardiner is Director of the Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation. https://x.com/Heritage/status/2108966537633595464/video/1, 2026-10-10
- France’s student riots spiral as experts warn protests go beyond schools | Fox News
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