Editorial. The dissolution of the GUD by the government, a political decision loaded with meaning

Several small far-right groups, including the GUD (Union Defense Group) were dissolved on Wednesday in the Council of Ministers, a few days before the legislative elections.

On Wednesday June 26, the government declared the dissolution of the GUD and several other far-right associations. Another dissolution, but this one was expected. Gérald Darmanin announced it last week. The Minister of the Interior therefore dissolved three small groups operating in Lyon, as well as the GUD, the Union Defense Group, a legendary name in the history of the extreme right. With the Celtic cross as its emblem and the iron bar as its tool, this student union, born in December 1968 at the Parisian faculty of Assas, has been distinguished for decades by numerous acts of violence. Several times put to sleep, he had returned to service two years ago.

This dissolution comes at a very particular moment of tension. Racist incidents have been increasing for three weeks, and the executive fears unrest in the event of a victory for the RN in the legislative elections. On June 9, moreover, several members of the GUD who went out to “celebrate” in the streets of Paris Jordan Bardella’s victory in the Europeans beat up a young man while uttering homophobic insults. Two of them were sentenced to prison, including a certain Gabriel Loustau, the son of Axel Loustau, a close friend of Marine Le Pen. Here we touch on the other political dimension of Gérald Darmanin’s decision.

This decision also targets Marine Le Pen, who formed her oldest and most faithful friendships within Gud, friends who are still present today. Axel Loustau therefore, ex-treasurer of his micro-party Jeanne, ex-RN regional advisor, but also Frédéric Châtillon, responsible for numerous communication campaigns for the Lepéniste party, and whose commercial practices earned the RN a condemnation last week definitive for “concealment of misuse of corporate assets”. Without forgetting Jean-Lin Lacapelle, very close to Marine Le Pen, former European deputy and candidate for the legislative elections in Loiret.

The far right is a big family. There is the grandfather, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who they are trying to make people forget, the daughter who already sees herself at the Élysée, the granddaughter back home, Jordan Bardella, a sort of ideal son-in-law, who posts selfies and TikTok videos, and then at the end of the table, the rowdy cousins, the old friends of the GUD who they would like to hide when they take office. Hence the order of silence given on Thursday within the National Rally when this past threatens to resurface with the dissolution of the GUD: not a word, not a comment. When power is within reach, there is no more room for feelings or old memories.