A network of left-wing organizations and media outlets financially connected to Shanghai-based businessman Neville Roy Singham is promoting France’s nationwide protest movement, drawing scrutiny over its links to American anti-Israel activism and prompting warnings about similar unrest in the United States.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
An international network of socialist organizations, political activists and media platforms previously involved in promoting anti-Israel demonstrations across the United States has emerged as a prominent amplifier of France’s escalating protest movement, raising questions about the influence of foreign-connected political networks as violent unrest spreads through French cities.
The organizations, several of which have received financial support from American-born technology entrepreneur Neville Roy Singham, have circulated footage of French demonstrations, promoted student mobilizations and linked the unrest to protest movements in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Singham, a former software executive who now resides in Shanghai, has attracted congressional scrutiny over his financial relationships with activist organizations and reported connections to entities associated with the Chinese Communist Party.
The activity comes as France confronts some of its most destructive civil disturbances in years, with demonstrations over deteriorating school conditions, government spending and rising living costs escalating into arson, looting and confrontations with police.
According to an investigation by Just the News, organizations connected to Singham’s international network have actively promoted the French demonstrations, drawing attention from American conservatives who have identified similarities between the movement’s participants and groups involved in U.S. campus protests following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
One prominent example is BreakThrough News, a New York-based media organization financially associated with Singham. The outlet has published reports and videos portraying French demonstrations as part of a larger international movement against government austerity, economic inequality and established political institutions.
During student demonstrations in Paris, BreakThrough distributed urgent coverage of crowds gathering near the Bastille, describing the mobilization as a “historic strike against austerity.” Its online reporting highlighted student confrontations with police and the involvement of labor organizations, socialist activists and elected officials.
One widely circulated video showed Bally Bagayoko, the far-left mayor of Saint-Denis, sliding across the pavement near students during a confrontation with police. The recording reportedly accumulated approximately 346,000 Instagram likes within a day, illustrating the international attention generated by the coverage.
BreakThrough subsequently published footage combining demonstrations in Brazil, Belgium, Chile, France, Germany, India, Spain and the United States under the message “YOUTH RISE UP AROUND THE WORLD.”
The coordinated presentation of demonstrations occurring in different countries has fueled questions about whether international advocacy networks are attempting to connect otherwise separate movements through shared ideological themes and media campaigns. The available reporting establishes overlapping organizations and public messaging, but does not demonstrate that Singham or organizations he funds directed the violence in France.
A separate Fox News Digital investigation published Oct. 9 identified 50 organizations participating in, supporting or promoting the French student movement and its international publicity efforts.
Only 15 were classified as student or youth organizations. The remaining 35 included approximately a dozen labor unions, eight communist or socialist organizations, four political parties, civil rights groups, environmental activists and a Palestinian advocacy organization.
Among the political organizations identified were La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and the French Communist Party. Major labor organizations also participated in efforts to expand demonstrations beyond students, encouraging workers to join protests over education funding, public services and economic conditions.
The findings indicate that what began as a student-led campaign has attracted established political organizations with broader objectives. Their involvement has also increased the movement’s ability to organize demonstrations, distribute political messaging and attract national and international attention.
French students first mobilized in late September over teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating school facilities and insufficient educational resources. The demonstrations expanded as labor unions and political organizations connected those grievances to wider concerns about government austerity and household expenses.
By mid-October, hundreds of thousands of people were participating in demonstrations across France. Most marched peacefully, but violence erupted in several cities, where rioters set vehicles and public buildings ablaze, damaged commercial properties and attacked police officers.
French authorities reported thousands of arrests following the weekend disturbances. In Limoges, rioters set fire to the historic town hall, while businesses and public infrastructure sustained substantial damage elsewhere.
The expanding protests have also attracted Palestinian solidarity organizations and activists whose involvement has intensified debate about the movement’s political character.
In footage circulated from the demonstrations, Palestinian flags appeared alongside banners associated with communist and other left-wing groups. The imagery has been cited by commentators who describe the relationship between radical-left organizations and Islamist political movements as a “red-green alliance,” a term referring to cooperation between groups that may differ ideologically but share certain political objectives.
The presence of Palestinian symbols does not, by itself, establish that participants support Islamist organizations or that those carrying the flags participated in violence. Nevertheless, the overlap between international Palestinian activism and left-wing protest organizations has become a focus of scrutiny in France and the United States.
Members of Urgence Palestine, a French pro-Palestinian organization, joined student demonstrations carrying Palestinian flags. French lawmaker Louis Boyard, affiliated with La France Insoumise, also appeared at a campus blockade displaying a Palestinian flag.
Urgence Palestine has faced separate legal pressure from the French government, which began pursuing its dissolution in 2025. The group and its supporters have opposed that effort, arguing that the government’s actions threaten lawful political advocacy.
An international campaign opposing the proposed ban has described Urgence Palestine as an organization defending Palestinian rights and challenged efforts to restrict its activities.
The movement’s international relationships have received further attention because several organizations involved in promoting French demonstrations previously participated in American campaigns concerning Israel, NATO and U.S. foreign policy.
One connection involves Indian Alliance Paris, an organization representing Indian students and professionals in France. The group participated in a January 2023 event organized at the People’s Forum in Manhattan, a New York activist center that has hosted numerous socialist, antiwar and pro-Palestinian programs.
The event focused on opposition to NATO and included organizations associated with Singham’s broader political network, including CodePink, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Democratic Socialists of America.
The People’s Forum has played a significant role in organizing and supporting American demonstrations, including protests responding to Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
According to earlier reporting on the People’s Forum and its political activities, the organization has provided infrastructure, meeting space and organizational support for numerous activist campaigns.
Singham helped establish the People’s Forum in 2017 through financial commitments reportedly exceeding $20 million. Its leaders have since participated in organizing hundreds of demonstrations across the United States.
The arrangement has attracted congressional attention over the origin of funding and whether organizations receiving support from Singham maintain financial or operational connections to Chinese state-linked entities.
In September 2025, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., raised concerns about the People’s Forum’s nonprofit status, questioning whether the organization was engaging in political activity connected to Chinese Communist Party interests while benefiting from federal tax exemptions.
The committee’s allegations do not independently establish that the organization operates under the direction of the Chinese government. However, the financial relationships and reported institutional connections have become subjects of congressional examination.
Singham founded the software consulting company ThoughtWorks and sold it in 2017 before relocating to Shanghai. He has subsequently supported a network of organizations involved in international political advocacy, media production and socialist organizing.
A 2023 New York Times investigation into Singham’s financial network identified extensive financial relationships between his charitable activities and groups promoting political messaging favorable to Beijing.
The report described organizations supported by Singham that disseminated Chinese government positions and worked with people or institutions connected to China’s political system.
A separate Just the News investigation into Singham’s activities in China reported relationships involving Chinese propaganda organizations, state-run universities and groups promoting Communist Party policies.
The House Oversight Committee voted in 2026 to subpoena Singham as part of its continuing inquiry into foreign influence and the financing of political activism in the United States.
The financial relationships have taken on additional significance as Singham-associated organizations promote demonstrations beyond American campuses, including the current French movement.
Vijay Prashad, executive director of Tricontinental, an organization that has received funding associated with Singham, publicly celebrated the French demonstrations and connected them to protests in other parts of the world.
Prashad highlighted mobilizations in Paris, New Delhi and Buenos Aires, presenting them as expressions of a wider international political movement.
Indian Alliance Paris has similarly praised French student demonstrators while drawing comparisons with youth activism in India.
The organization’s involvement connects the current French protests with organizations that participated in political events in New York several years earlier.
Another prominent figure within Singham’s activist network is Jodie Evans, his wife and a co-founder of CodePink, an American organization known for its opposition to U.S. military interventions and defense spending.
During an Oct. 14 interview with BreakThrough News, Evans cited youth demonstrations abroad while promoting a CodePink campaign opposing American military spending.
“I want people to look at France, Spain and India,” Evans said.
Her remarks came as CodePink prepared demonstrations in Washington, D.C., for November, targeting proposed U.S. military expenditures.
The interview illustrates how organizations involved in American political advocacy are referencing the French protests to promote broader campaigns against government spending and military policy.
Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, has argued that the organizational overlap reflects an international activist infrastructure capable of mobilizing around multiple political causes.
“What we’re seeing here is the same Red-Green ecosystem that disrupts infrastructure chokeholds in our country such as the Brooklyn Bridge, college campuses and congressional hearings,” Gonzalez told Fox News Digital. “And in the case of BreakThrough News, the same sugardaddy – Neville Roy Singham.”
Gonzalez’s characterization reflects concerns among conservative researchers that left-wing political organizations and Palestinian advocacy networks are using common financial and communications resources to sustain protest movements across national borders.
Conservative radio host Glenn Beck has offered a similar interpretation, warning that youth-led demonstrations in France could foreshadow unrest in American cities.
According to the Dallas Express’ coverage of his remarks, Beck described a “red-green alliance” that was using students and teenagers to advance political objectives.
He warned that “what’s happening there is coming to America,” connecting the French disturbances to activist strategies already employed during demonstrations in the United States.
Other American political figures have advanced different explanations for the violence.
President Donald Trump and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz have attributed the French unrest partly to immigration policies, arguing that insufficient border enforcement and failures of integration have contributed to instability.
“This isn’t about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president’s statement attributed religious and ideological motivations to the unrest. French authorities, however, have described the demonstrations as originating in disputes over education and economic conditions, with radical-left groups and opportunistic criminals blamed for much of the subsequent violence. The available evidence does not establish that the broader movement represents an effort by Islam to take control of France.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has also criticized what he describes as cooperation between communist organizations and Islamist political movements.
Speaking at a Republican conference in Dallas in September, Cruz denounced the “red-green alliance” and urged the Trump administration to designate the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a terrorist organization.
According to Just the News’ reporting on the proposal, the senator’s remarks formed part of a broader Republican push for additional scrutiny of organizations accused of supporting extremist political activities.
CAIR is a U.S.-based Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. A proposed terrorist designation would require a separate legal determination; the organization’s participation in domestic political advocacy does not itself establish involvement in terrorism.
As American political figures debate the causes and implications of the French unrest, the government in Paris continues efforts to contain the violence.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu imposed targeted overnight curfews in several major cities following the weekend disturbances. French officials reported that the restrictions helped reduce violence, although additional demonstrations remained scheduled.
President Emmanuel Macron condemned attacks on public buildings, businesses and police while acknowledging the underlying public dissatisfaction concerning economic conditions and government services. Authorities have promised investigations and further security measures as the protest movement continues.
The French demonstrations have attracted support from diverse constituencies, including students, teachers, labor unions, left-wing parties, Palestinian advocacy organizations and anti-austerity activists. Their objectives and methods are not necessarily identical, and participation in the same demonstration does not establish membership in a common organization or responsibility for violent acts committed by others.
The international amplification of the protests nevertheless demonstrates how contemporary political movements can gain visibility through organizations that already possess established media platforms, funding networks and experience mobilizing supporters.
The connections documented among BreakThrough News, the People’s Forum, CodePink, Tricontinental and other organizations show that several groups involved in American anti-Israel activism are also participating in the international promotion of France’s demonstrations.
What remains unestablished is whether those relationships extend beyond advocacy and publicity to any direct role in organizing violent activity.
Congressional inquiries into Singham’s financial network are continuing, while French authorities investigate the individuals and organizations responsible for rioting, arson and other criminal acts.
The unfolding developments have brought renewed scrutiny to the funding, coordination and political objectives of international activist organizations as France’s domestic unrest becomes part of a wider debate over political extremism, foreign influence and the use of protest movements to advance ideological agendas.
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