what does the red triangle worn by Manuel Bompard during the debate with Gabriel Attal and Jordan Bardella mean?

The coordinator of La France insoumise explains that its pin takes up a historical symbol of the workers’ and anti-fascist struggle, worn by other left-wing personalities. He denies any link with the use of the red triangle by pro-Palestinian activists.

Blue suit, red tie and red triangle hanging from the lapel of the jacket. During the televised debate which pitted him against Gabriel Attal and Jordan Bardella in view of the legislative elections, Tuesday June 25 on TF1, this last detail on Manuel Bompard’s outfit caught the eye of several critical figures from La France insoumise. On the social network X, they questioned the meaning of the scarlet pin worn by the coordinator of LFI, invited on behalf of the New Popular Front.

“Last night, Manuel Bompard, representative of the ‘new Popular Front’ or Nupes bis and loyal to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, wore on his jacket the inverted red triangle, which since October 7 has become the symbol of Palestinian Islamists in Gaza (he said ‘other meanings, but not anymore).judged the journalist of Release Jean Quatremer, Wednesday morning, on his account. A message which triggered an outcry from left-wing activists on “a symbol of anti-fascist resistance”.

“The red triangle comes from the history of concentration camps, of political opponents. LFI members have absolutely always worn it”also reacted the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau on this same social network. The essayist Raphaël Enthoven, evoking the anti-fascist history of this symbol and its more recent use by Hamas supporters, accused the outgoing LFI deputy of ambivalence: “By displaying this triangle, Bompard ticks all the boxes : from the workers’ demand to the threatening symbol for the Jews”he writes in particular on X.

The symbol pinned to Manuel Bompard’s outfit appeared for the first time in France during the demonstration of May 1, 1890, according to historian Sylvain Boulouque, specialist in social movements. The red triangle then sits alongside the more popular red rosehip, which he gradually supplements over the years, he explains to franceinfo. This red triangle is also used to represent the demand for a maximum working day of eight hours. Its triangular shape echoes the slogan “8 working hours, 8 leisure hours, 8 hours of sleep” – a three-sided symbol to represent the famous three-eight. As for the color red, it comes from the workerist culture in which this struggle for the limitation of daily working hours is anchored.

Fifty years later, the Nazis used this same symbol to distinguish political prisoners (communists, resistance fighters, conscientious objectors, etc.) in concentration camps. This classification then allows the Nazi to differentiate them from Jews, who wear a yellow star, or from homosexuals, marked with a pink triangle. At the end of the war, anti-fascist activists reappropriated the red triangle as a symbol of resistance to the extreme right, in memory of their deported comrades. The pink triangle will follow the same path in the homosexual community : we find it for example, reversed, in the logos of the associations SOS homophobia and Act Up.

More recently, in France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has helped bring the red triangle back into fashion among left-wing activists. In an amateur video from 2011, available on YouTube, the rebellious leader explains that it is “a Belgian comrade”, who gave him this accessory, when he was sorry to be compared to the National Front and was looking for a way to highlight his difference with the far-right party. He has worn it regularly since, notably during his presidential campaigns of 2017 and 2022.

Since the Hamas attacks on October 7 in Israel, and the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, a red triangle has also been used by pro-Palestinian activists, particularly on the internet, to show their support for the Gazans, reports the Qatari channel Al Jazeera. A reference, among other things, to the red triangle on the Palestinian flag, explains Thomas Vescovi, historian and author of The Failure of a Utopia, a history of the left in Israel. We can also see this symbol in videos broadcast by Hamas “to mark Israeli military targets”he adds.

In Brooklyn, in the United States, red triangles were painted on the house of the Jewish director of the Brooklyn Museum, several media outlets including the Guardian reported in mid-June. Images posted on social networks show a facade vandalized with red paint, where these triangles are next to inscriptions such as “Zionist white supremacist”. “The red triangle is a simple and universal shape. Its use, and therefore its interpretation, can be different depending on the context.”recalls Thomas Vescovi, who warns against hasty interpretations of this symbol.