The autor - James Manley

A photo of me. Click for my Facebook profil.

I am a french Insoumis, and the Green Party of England and Wales. I am a member of the CGT union.

My name is James Manley and I was born in Manchester in 1971. I have an English father and a Parisian mother, and I have dual French-British nationality. This dual nationality displeases some, especially with a Jewish grandfather. He had to flee Paris, with his brother, to hide in Berry during world war II. I lived, just after my birth, 9 years in Germany before coming to France. Somehow I am European but like many dual nationals, I am a foreigner everywhere, whether in France or England. And I am lucky that it is not too pejorative. I also like chess, salsa and astronomy.

I did most of my studies in Strasbourg. Then I went to Paris, where I did my higher education until the DESS, and I obtained a degree in artificial intelligence at Paris VI, Jussieu. I have always loved mathematics and logical disciplines. It was the culmination of a course and a specialization in computer science, which allows me to work as an engineer. I had obtained a DEUG in physics and one in math and economics. I was disappointed by the second, by the simplicity and contradictions of the economic theses. I ended up studying computer science.

I became interested in politics as a teenager. I started with history books about the French Revolution, and what followed it. I come from a right-wing family, my father was pro-Thatcher. I became a leftist because I wanted a better world, while cultivating a democratic ideal. I admire movements and people such as Solidarność (the one of Lech Wałęsa's because the others ended up going wrong), Lech Wałęsa, Mikhail Gorbachev, Salvador Allende, Vaclav Havel, Alexander Dubček and of course Jean Jaurès. During my studies, because of my Chapka hat, I was nicknamed "Gorbachev". I have nothing to do with the Stalinists and I have never approved of authoritarian socialism. Stalin was a horrible monster. My first contact with the militant milieu was when I was looking for a book on Solidarność, while walking down the Avenue de Colmar in Strasbourg, in 1995 or 96. I stopped at the PS and the CFDT. They didn't have my book, but at the CFDT, they invited me to a youth and student movement. I accepted. In the months that followed, I took part in a colloquium of European trade unionists, against the far right and racism, in Cologne, I believe. Since then I have always asked myself questions about these problems. Later, in Paris with my new job, I joined a union there. I took part in meetings of young executives. I have good memories on a human level, but I was evolving and I felt less comfortable with their union line. I had sympathies for the "CFDT en lutte" movement, I felt more comfortable with radical left-wing ideas. And in the end I joined the CGT in 2007. It was the year of Nicolas Sarkozy's election, and also the year in which a certain number of prejudices about the radical left fell away. Later in 2009, I resigned from the PS that I had joined in the early 2000s. So I joined Jean-Luc Mélenchon's left-wing party and I took part in meetings and demonstrations. In 2003, as Tony Blair was preparing to attack Iraq, I left the Labour Party for the Greens in England and Wales. I support Green leader Zack Polanski and I am a also a sympathizer of Jeremy Corbyn. Today I'm still at the CGT, at info-com'cgt, and the lfi. I am still a member of the Greens in the United Kingdom. In reality, I evolved like Jean Jaurès, who was an example for me.

I am a feminist man. When one loves women, one respects them, and it is natural to demand strict equality. I'm only interested in women's sport. I really like basketball, the ESBVA in Lille-Villeneuve d'Ascq, football also with PSG (Paris). I have an emotional memory when I think back to the match between the PSG and Manchester United women, on October 23, 2023, at the Parc des Princes. It was the first time I entered this stadium, it was magical. For my associative activity, I had my first contact in the 2000s, when I demonstrated with "Ni pute ni soumise ", in the XXth arrondissement in Paris. Later I participated in the General Assembly for the creation of efFRONTé-es. I have attracted attention by proposing mutual respect in male-female relations as a framework and purpose. Unfortunately, I didn't develop my idea. I campaigned there and wrote three articles. A first article to ask for political asylum for the Tunisian FEMEN Aminia. A second on women's football and a PSG (Paris) - OL (Lyon) match. And a last one about two chess champions and the 2016 women's championship. And I continued to frequent them, even though I was no longer a member. I continue to question the patriarchy of society, even without being an active member of an association.

I had been to a trade union conference, against racism by the extreme right, I think in Cologne, in the summer of 1996. I have continued to think about these topics ever since. More recently, I took part in a study day on racism and the far right, at the CGT in Créteil. I wanted to defend human rights, both in France and internationally. I had a first contact with the LDH in the mid-2000s. Then I finally opted for Amnesty International because I find them sober and effective. Violations of these rights speak for themselves, if they are well documented. I started contributing between 2006 and 2007. I have always remained loyal to this NGO. In the event of financial problems, she has always been the last to whom I stop the subscription, and the first to take them back. The freedom of one ends where that of others begins! Anything that does not harm anyone is allowed. How does homosexuality or transidentity harm others? Why do uninteresting details such as the color of the skin, it could have been the color of the eyes, arouse such aggressiveness? In 2018, I started to be an activist, to participate in meetings and to get people to sign petitions. I think that France needs new counter-powers, in particular to guarantee human rights, and to make France an exemplary country in the respect and promotion of these rights. I also attended the "Maison des Potes", contributed to "SOS Méditerranée", the "Shoah Memorial" and volunteered at RESF. The generation of the 1940s are collectively responsible for the Shoah, mass murder, genocide. Ours is collectively and massively responsible, at the worst, for not helping people in danger, by refusing to help migrants who flee for their lives. And I'm not even talking about the genocide in Gaza, or the risk of ecocide that is coming.

I was born in an agnostic family. My mother told us that we could not know, before we died, whether neither God nor heaven existed. However, I was interested in the religion classes at the German school, and I began to believe at the age of nine. The move to France, near Strasbourg, was going to change everything. The Alsace-Moselle region is governed by the concordat, so I had religion classes. These courses were not given in a serious way, it was a hubbub. In addition, I was starting to take an interest in history. And the French Revolution is critical of Catholicism, and religions in general. In addition, I have studied science, where skepticism is widespread. I started to ask myself questions. How does a theistic God act on our lives? It requires a force that would come out of nowhere! I probably started to be an atheist when I was a teenager. But the abuses of religions pushed me, later on, towards activism. I had already built this site and imagined a movement that would later be called "Atheists Against All Hatred" ("Athées contre toutes les haines" or ACN), when the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper-Cacher attacks, as well as those of November 13 in 2015 took place. They strengthened my determination. Atheism is a humanistic concept. In this logic, I demonstrated against Islamophobia, without denying this atheism, because the right to practice one's religion peacefully is a fundamental right. This was the case on May 11, 2025, in Paris.

I am an idealist, rather worried about for future generations, and ashamed of the state of the planet that we will transmit to them. I am involved in many movements, from France Insoumise, to the CGT, to Amnesty International but also DIEM25. I am also a donor for associations such as the SPA and 30 millions d'amis, or humanitarian associations. Depending on the years, I have also been active in ATTAC and the "friends of the Paris Commune of 1871". I was part of a chess club in the past, and I continue to practice every day. I really like cats, they are fantastic animals! If I could act, I would set myself the goal of giving a profoundly democratic and humanist imputation to the radical left.

PS: a rant to help Mayotte. It is scandalous that this French department has shortages of drinking water. How long do we have to put up with saving on essential resources? A misalignment factory is necessary!

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Last modified on Friday 03^th of July 2026 at 03:15 pm