Paul Mazet

Grateful for this opportunity to write about a facet of my home region and to highlight that the countryside, like the city, is also a place of diversity, contrary to preconceived ideas.

2/2

The French Countryside Town That Won’t Miss Teatime - Lazo Magazine This tiny town in southern France has transformed into a microcosm of Britain, earning it the moniker of "France's most British town."

My latest for Lazo Magazine about a village in southwestern France, “that won’t miss tea time”.

1/2

lazomagazine.com/the-french-c...

Russian colonialism. A long 🧵

Some didn´t get the memo but Russia was - and is - a colonial power.

Let´s take a tour around this marvelous empire:

(I merged two threads here. That´s why the Balts are more thoroughly pictured)

1/x

⚫️ La Direction de l’AFP partage l’angoisse exprimée par la SDJ quant à la situation effroyable de ses collaborateurs dans la bande de Gaza ⬇️

Trois mois que je suis rentré de reportage durant lequel j'ai engagé la totalité des frais. Dites vous que plusieurs médias n'ont pas encore payé "par erreur" les reportages qu'ils ont pourtant publié dès réception. Au total : un smic en attente et toujours le même loyer à payer.

3 civilians, including a child, murdered and 10+ injured by #Russia ballistic missile fired on suburb of #Sumy on Tuesday

4 residents killed and 10 injured in #Donetsk region

#Ukraine #UkraineWar #RussiaWarCrimes

The Stray European | Paul Mazet | Substack Field reports and human stories from a European continent in turmoil. Click to read The Stray European, by Paul Mazet, a Substack publication.

I am happy to announce that I am launching a #Substack page.

Subscribe to #TheStrayEuropean for #free with your email to receive the future posts:

open.substack.com/pub/thestray...

The Georgian Struggle for Airtime Georgia’s protesters seek “space for debate” as part of a wider pro-European and anti-authoritarianism movement

First post in The Stray European: About how #Georgian protesters fight #propaganda and #polarisation in their country, notably with a daily protest at the Georgian Public Broadcaster in #Tbilisi unfolding for more than 120 days.

#GeorgiaProtests

thestrayeuropean.substack.com/p/the-georgi...

Due to financial, physical, and time limits, the posts will not respect any periodicity.

This blog is also (mainly, for now) a platform for unpublished research.

The Stray European | Paul Mazet | Substack Field reports and human stories from a European continent in turmoil. Click to read The Stray European, by Paul Mazet, a Substack publication.

I am happy to announce that I am launching a #Substack page.

Subscribe to #TheStrayEuropean for #free with your email to receive the future posts:

open.substack.com/pub/thestray...

At Berlin’s demonstration marking 3 years of Russia’s full-scale #invasion (24.02.25), #Ukrainian refugees already described feeling caught between Russian #imperialism and an emerging money-oriented one coming from behind (the US).

« Everyone just one something from us », said Sasha from #Kyiv.

Georgian photojournalists and documentary photographers voiced their outrage in a collective statement.

bsky.app/profile/thes...

This is a slap in the face of all the brilliant Georgian photographers who have been and still are working under really difficult conditions - their work is so much better and deeper than what is awarded here. @worldpressphoto.bsky.social ... you have to do better!

Outcry, especially among photojournalists in #Georgia, as #WPPh2025 Contest granted an award to a journalist of the #TASS agency, Kremlin-owned #propaganda mouthpiece, for his reporting on #GeorgiaProtests, the very movement fighting against the authoritarian fall in the Russian influence sphere.

Protesters repeatedly received fines amounting to 1000s of dollars under the early February amendments designed to criminalise demonstrations: often 5000 GEL for blocking roads, that is, the equivalent of several Georgian average salaries. 2/2

120 days in, Georgians are still protesting every single day, across several cities in the country, despite the Georgian Dream party’s latest wave of repression, attacking the protesters’ wallets to exert economic pressure. 1/2

At Berlin’s demonstration marking 3 years of Russia’s full-scale #invasion (24.02.25), #Ukrainian refugees already described feeling caught between Russian #imperialism and an emerging money-oriented one coming from behind (the US).

« Everyone just one something from us », said Sasha from #Kyiv.

"არსებობს შავი სიები" - როგორ აბრუნებენ ევროპელ ჟურნალისტებს საზღვრიდან 20 მარტს საქართველოში არ შემოუშვეს ლიეტუველი უფლებადამცველი, ქალთა უფლებებზე მომუშავე შვედური ორგანიზაციის, Kvinna till Kvinna-ს („ქალები ქალებისათვის“) სამხრეთ კავკასიის ოფისის ხელმძღვანელი რეგინა ეგ...

International journalists and activists denied from entering Georgia: limpid signs of an ever-growing authoritarianism of the pro-Russian government.

Does the ruling Georgian Dream party want to go behind closed doors as it heads towards dictatorial ruling?

www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/%E1%83%94%...

The Struggle for Airtime: Georgia's Protesters Seek "Space for Debate" - EA WorldView Protesters outside Georgian Public Broadcasting, January 29, 2025 (Paul Mazet) EA on TVP World: The Democracy Protests in Georgia EuroFile Special: Fighting for Rights, Fighting for Georgia — The Stor...

With a struggle for airtime at the Georgian Public Broadcaster in #Tbilisi, #Georgians underline that the fight against #authoritarianism starts with the one against #propaganda.

Latest article for EA WorldView, edited by @scottlucas.bsky.social

eaworldview.com/2025/03/geor...

The Struggle for Airtime: Georgia's Protesters Seek "Space for Debate" - EA WorldView Protesters outside Georgian Public Broadcasting, January 29, 2025 (Paul Mazet) EA on TVP World: The Democracy Protests in Georgia EuroFile Special: Fighting for Rights, Fighting for Georgia — The Stor...

With a struggle for airtime at the Georgian Public Broadcaster in #Tbilisi, #Georgians underline that the fight against #authoritarianism starts with the one against #propaganda.

Latest article for EA WorldView, edited by @scottlucas.bsky.social

eaworldview.com/2025/03/geor...

In Berlin and Brussels, Georgians Fight for Their European Future In the center of the German capital, the 18th-century landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, is more than just a tourist attraction. Standing amid German government institutions, it’s also a popular spot for...

For Lazo Magazine, @paulmazet.bsky.social writes about the Georgian activists making their voices heard across European capitals.

lazomagazine.com/in-berlin-an...

In Berlin and Brussels, Georgians Fight for Their European Future In the center of the German capital, the 18th-century landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, is more than just a tourist attraction. Standing amid German government institutions, it’s also a popular spot for...

"People never updated [their view of Georgia]", explains an activist in Berlin.
My latest article for Lazo Magazine:

lazomagazine.com/in-berlin-an...

Be it in #Kutaisi, #Zugdidi, or #Batumi, the core group reaffirmed its determination to stay « until #victory ». Stopping is not an option. « We must fight and fight for winning », says Gocha, a civil society actor in Batumi. 10/10

In each visited location (#Kutaisi, #Zugdidi, #Batumi), the #motivation shown by every single protester interrogated is striking and appears limpidly unaffected in the long run, if not reinforced by the latter. 9/10

Other Georgian cities witness such daily gatherings of opponents to the regime, its repression, and its policies. In parallel, #protests also unfold in certain cities regularly, even if not every day, such as in the harbour city of #Poti. 8/10

Beyond the city’s size playing a role, that key figure of civil society in western Georgia explains this by describing #Batumi as the “2nd place of corruption” involving the ruling party, notably linked to the construction business in an increasingly vertical city. 7/10

In #Batumi, the second largest city in Georgia, the situation remains similar. On the 56th day of continuous protest, Ruslan Tsulukidze notes that the city might be « the 2nd important place of #protests ». 6/10

In #Zugdidi, protestors like Keren Batok are willing to integrate other #social problems, whether national or specifically local, within the scope of this national movement and to « put new context » alongside the geopolitical one. 5/10

In the small but vibrant #Zugdidi, demonstrators have gathered daily in front of the regional administration of the State representative, facing a dense line of policemen monitoring them. The city has its specificity: #Abkhazia, a #Russian-occupied region of #Georgia, is 10km away. 4/10

That same evening, protesters from Tbilisi visited them, assuming it was important to bring support to the regions of the country and to fight the feeling of being left over. Before joining their counterparts in #Kutaisi, the crew of #activists just spent the day in #Zugdidi. 3/10