PODCAST. “Sovereign citizens”, from protest to conspiracy

The video of a couple refusing to submit to a police alcohol test went viral on social media last week. They present themselves as “sovereign citizens”, named after the conspiracy movement originating from the United States. From refusal of authority to conspiracy, what are their beliefs?

“We do not contract”, the sentence from a video has accumulated millions of views on social networks last week. In this video, a couple of motorists are arrested by the Hauts-de-France gendarmerie for a road check. The couple refuses to submit to an alcohol test and explains, “I do not contract with a private company. I no longer belong to the French presidency company”, explains the man. To justify their refusal, they claim to be “sovereign citizens”a conspiracy movement which rejects the authority of the State.

Coming from the base of a protest movement, the “sovereign citizens” refuse all established authority. They do not respect the laws, do not pay their taxes and go so far as to refuse the use of their last name… To justify themselves, the argument of sovereign citizens is that a secret would be kept in the upper echelons of power : the State would in reality be a private company, to which they do not want to contribute.

“The argument generally used by sovereign citizens is that the French Republic has a SIRET number, explains Rudy Reichstadt. Indeed, France is registered with INSEE because, as he explains, “this facilitates legal-administrative interactions.” In summary, “no plot on the horizon”.

In France, a community project in the Lot

One of the most popular figures of the movement is Alice Pazalmar. In 2019, she created One Nation, a movement based on “sovereign citizens” with a more esoteric influence. In 2020, its popularity exploded on YouTube. In particular, she films herself burning her passport as a refusal of state authority. “We are truly in the nuclear heart of this thinking of sovereign citizens, supports Tristan Mendès France, she goes calling itself a sovereign being.”

And the formula works. Alice Pazalmar will even “becoming quite a popular figure in the complosphere”, says Tristan Mendès France. The creator of One Nation even managed to raise €265,000 to acquire 200 hectares in the Lot. The goal is to establish a real community of several hundred people there. A project which ultimately never saw the light of day due to the concern of the locals.

Theory of the pedophile elite, rejection of institutions… One Nation, the conspiracy movement which wants to extend its influence in France (francetvinfo.fr)

Violence on a global scale

From Canada to Germany, the movement of “sovereign citizens” is present across many countries. Originally, this conspiracy movement came from the United States. Today, estimates put the number of followers in the country at 350,000. Of the “sovereign citizens”, particularly linked to the riots of January 6, 2021 at the Capitol and numerous acts of violence – sometimes fatal. From 1983 to 2020, twenty-seven American police officers died in armed clashes with members of the movement.

Rudy Reichstadt explains: “We see that it is a worldview that leads those who adopt it to desocialization.” “There are truly broken lives”says Tristan Mendès France. “Some will lose their driving license, their job, others will lose their social assistance. In short, they will be crushed by their own beliefs.”

“Sovereign citizens, from protest to conspiracy”, this is the 66th episode of Complorama with Rudy Reichstadt, director of Conspiracy Watch, and Tristan Mendès France, lecturer and member of the conspiracy observatory, specialist in digital cultures . A podcast to be found on the franceinfo website, the Radio France application and several other platforms such as Apple podcasts, Podcast Addict, Spotify, or Deezer.