Uncompromising portrait of a young French identity

A warning shot? Worse, an explosion. By announcing, to almost everyone’s surprise, the dissolution of the National Assembly, following the European elections of June 9, from which the National Rally (RN) emerged victorious, President Emmanuel Macron profoundly shook up the political scene. French.

At the same time, the Head of State led France into new ultra-polarized early legislative elections, rarely seen in the political landscape of France. Voters could thus give the keys to power to Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, a first in modern history since the Pétainist Vichy regime of the 1940s.

“As we speak, the National Rally [RN] will never have been so close to winning the legislative elections,” say Marylou Magal and Nicolas Massol. The two French journalists are the specialist reporters responsible for covering the fascist sphere for the weekly The Express and the daily Release. They have just published the book The extreme right, new generation, the conclusions of an edifying investigation carried out over more than two years at the heart of what they call “identity youth” which leans more and more towards the extremes.

Whether they are executives of the RN, members of Éric Zemmour’s Reconquest party, supporters of the Republicans (LR) – the main right-wing party in France – or members of sometimes violent radical groups, the members of this conservative and xenophobic fauna are linked by the same whim: that of identity. Among this new generation of extremist figures, investigators distinguish pillars, such as Jordan Bardella, Marion Maréchal, niece of Marine Le Pen, Sarah Knafo, Geoffroy Lejeune or Stanislas Rigault. All this motley, long-toothed little world has been sharing, for more than ten years, evenings, meetings and ideological bodies forming a sprawling nebula in full swing.

“The fact that Éric Ciotti, president of the LR, did not hesitate to make a pact with the RN just a few days after the dissolution demonstrates the obvious porosity between the ideas of the right and those of the extreme right,” underlines Nicolas Massol.

Despite “secondary” disagreements regarding the economy or social projects, they have one thing in common: they all find themselves in a fight against the supposed Islamization of France, analyzes Marylou Magal. “This is a generation of politicians who are completely foreign to the culture of the cordon santé between the right and the extreme right. They did not know the era of Jean-Marie Le Pen plastered as the devil of the Republic. They no longer have the reluctance that their parents had to openly declare themselves to be extreme right or to ally themselves with it. What matters to them is the fight against Islam and immigration. »

Making something new out of something old

The RN is the direct descendant of the National Front, founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen, journalists recall. This one – known for his numerous racist and anti-Semitic slip-ups – will have his day of glory in 2002 when he qualified for the second round of the presidential election against Jacques Chirac.

But it is Marine Le Pen, daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who offers new impetus to the far-right group, which she renamed National Rally in the interests of de-demonization. She renews part of the old guard with younger faces, like Jordan Bardella, who joined the party in 2012. At only 28 years old, the latter, a true rising star of the party, is the showcase of a new generation of executives who form the ranks of the French extreme right. “With him, the RN has built a new virginity, managing to recruit young right-wingers who no longer hesitate to get involved in the far-right party. The radical ideas he conveys have not changed, but there has been a right-wing and extreme right-wing of French society which has accompanied his rise. »

According to journalists, Bardella is a pure product of the National Front (he took his party card at the age of 16) and is ideologically nourished by radical elements. “You should know that, in his entourage, there are young people from La Cocarde, which is a far-right student union saturated by the thinking of the New Right, a Nazism movement [née en France à la fin des années 1960] who thinks that a multicultural society is a society that is a source of multiple conflicts. »

For Marylou Magal, the strategic alliance of the rights among young activists had been simmering for several years already, but she thinks that it really came to fruition from “La Manif pour tous”, demonstrations in 2013 against the legalization of gay marriage .

“This is, in our opinion, the triggering moment. The political apparatuses of the UMP and the National Front [devenus LR et RN] have until now remained fairly hermetic. But they will meet in the processions, which will sometimes create very strong bonds between their leaders. This ecosystem rubs shoulders, knows each other and thinks the same thing. They will thus realize, over the course of the parades, that they share strong similarities together. It is from there that they will put in place joint initiatives. »

This generation, compared to the older ones, is just as radical, but much less marginal, add the investigators. They claim that the rise of far-right ideas within French society has resulted in the birth of a large-scale reactionary media environment founded by Vincent Bolloré, a conservative billionaire and devout Catholic.

“With the CNews channel or Europe 1 radio, the RN benefits from a much stronger audience than it was previously. His ideas were decompartmentalized thanks in particular to the speeches of a polemicist like Éric Zemmour, who was the first to clear the doctrine of identity before launching himself into politics,” underlines Nicolas Massol.

Today galvanized by high voting intentions, the RN hopes to win a majority in the National Assembly within a few weeks, propelling its leader, Jordan Bardella, to prime minister. “Unlike the former leaders who did not think one day they would reach the highest positions of state, he seems very ambitious. He is indeed preparing to exercise power. We don’t have a crystal ball, but it is possible that the RN will win the bet this time. » Response, July 7.

The extreme right, new generation. Investigation into the heart of youth identity

Marylou Magal and Nicolas Massol. Éditions Denoël, 2024, 272 pages.

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