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Les Identitaires

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"Generation Identity" redirects here. For similarly-named Identitarian groups, seeIdentitarian movement.

The Identitarians
Les Identitaires
PresidentFabrice Robert
Founded6 April 2003;21 years ago(2003-04-06)
Preceded byRadical Unity
HeadquartersBP 13
06301NiceCedex 04
NewspaperNovopress
Youth wingGeneration Identity/Generation Identitaire (formerly)
IdeologyFrench nationalism
Ethnopluralism
Identitarianism
Anti-Americanism
Anti-Islam
Neo-fascism
Factions:
Neo-Nazism
Political positionFar-right
ColoursBlack,Blue
Website
les-identitaires.fr

Les Identitaires(English:The Identitarians), formerly theBloc identitaire[1](English:Identitarian Bloc), is anIdentitariannationalistmovement inFrance.[2][3][4][5][6][7]Like theFrench New Right,some generally consider the movementfar-rightor sometimes as asyncreticmixture of multiple ideologies across thepolitical spectrum.[2][8][9][10][11]

Les Identitaires contain a number of strains of political thought includingnativism,Catholic social teaching,direct democracy,regionalistdecentralisation,andYann Fouere's concept of aEurope of 100 Flags.[5]The group additionally advocates ananti-Americanandanti-Islamicforeign policy, calling theUnited StatesandIslamthe two major imperialistic threats to Europe.[4]

It was founded in 2003 by some former members ofUnité Radicaleand several otheranti-ZionistandNational Bolsheviksympathisers. It includesFabrice Robert[fr],formerUnité Radicalemember, former elected representative of theNational Front(FN) and also former member of theNational Republican Movement(MNR), and Guillaume Luyt, former member of the monarchistAction française,former Unité Radicale member, former director of the youth organisation of the FN,National Front Youth(FNJ). Luyt claims inspiration byGuillaume Faye's works in theNouvelle Droitemovement.

The movement is widely consideredneo-fascist,although Les Identitaires does not consider itself as such.[3][4]Génération Identitaire was banned in March 2021.[12]On 14 February 2023, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) released a report in which it classified Les Identitaires as a "white nationalist" and "Anti-Muslim" group.[13][14]

Ideology

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It opposes "imperialism, whether it beAmericanor Islamic, "[4]and supports thefar-rightGreat Replacementconspiracy theory.[15]

The Bloc Identitaire runs the agency and website Novopress, that has associates in most of Western Europe and North America.[16]

Novopress

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Novopresspresents itself as an "international news agency"[17]founded by Fabrice Robert, a leader of theFrenchnationalist organizationBloc Identitaire.[18]Among its managers is Guillaume Luyt, former leader of theFront national de la jeunesse.[19]Patrick Gofmanis one of the editors of Novopress.info (French section).[20]

Novopress is politically geared towardsconservative,anti-Islamistand sometimes evenfar rightthemes. As of 2008Novopress had 13 national editions in Europe and North America, including inIreland,ItalyandFrance.

Logo of Novopress

Youth wing

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The youth wing of Bloc Identitaire, called in FranceGénération identitaire,[1]orGeneration Identity,expanded to other European states soon after its creation in 2012, includingGenerazione Identitariain Italy andIdentitäre Bewegungin Germany and Austria.[21][22]Other youth wings are also present in theCzech Republic,theNetherlands,Belgium,Slovenia,Hungary,and theUnited KingdomandIreland.France banned Generation Identity in March 2021.[23]

Controversies

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The Bloc Identitaire has been accused of intentionally distributing several popular soups containingporkin order to exclude religious Jews or Muslims; in Strasbourg, Nice, Paris, and in Antwerp with the association Antwerpse Solidariteit close to theVlaams Belang.These so-called "identity soups" ( "soupes identitaires" ) have been forbidden by the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin in Strasbourg on 21 January 2006, and called "discriminatory and xenophobic" by MEPCatherine Trautmann(PS) in a 19 January 2006 letter to theHigh authority for the struggle against discrimination and for equality(HALDE).[citation needed]

This ethno-regionalist movement has also organised a campaign against the rap groupSniperin 2003, which was taken up by the conservativeUnion for a Popular Movement(UMP), leading to the cancellation of several concerts of the band. UMP deputyNadine Moranointerpolated Interior Minister (UMP)Nicolas Sarkozyon this theme, while 200 UMP deputies, led byFrançois Grosdidier,tried without success to censor several hip-hop bands. Sarkozy criticized the hip-hop group as "ruffians who dishonour France."[citation needed]

In 2004, the Bloc Identitaire also organized a campaign against Italian writerCesare Battisti,one-time member of the terrorist groupArmed Proletarians for Communism,who was wanted in Italy for an assassination carried out during theYears of Lead,in which he denies responsibility. Battisti accused the "cell of the Italian embassy" of having "financed" the Bloc identitaire's campaign against him (inMa Cavale,p. 160). Battisti was convicted to life sentence in his homeland for a total of 36 charges, including participation in four murders. The French government would subsequently decide to extradite him to Italy, but Battisti escaped to Brazil where he was granted political asylum.

In 2010, they staged a protest in "resistance to the Islamization of France" at theArc de Triomphe(relocated from an earlier planned site inGoutte-d'Or) where people would eat pork and drink grape juice orwine.[24][25]In November 2012 theGénération Identitaire,the youth wing of the BI, occupied the mosque inPoitiers,the site whereCharles Marteldefeated an invading Muslim Moorish force in 732.[5]In June 2018, Facebook banned Generation Identity for violating its policies against extremist content and hate groups.[26]

In December 2018,Al Jazeeraproduced a documentary entitled "Generation Hate" featuring an undercover journalist who had infiltrated Génération Identitaire. The documentary included undercover footage of Génération Identitaire members in the northern French city ofLilleracially abusing and assaulting migrant youths, advocating violence against Muslims, and alleged linkages between Génération Identitaire andFront National.[27]Génération Identitaire's actions were condemned byMayorof LilleMartine Aubryand Prefect of the North Michele Lalande, who advocated prosecuting offenders for inciting hatred and closing downLa Citadelle,which served as a meeting place for location Génération Identitaire members in Lille. Prosecutor Thierry Pocquet Haut-Jussé has also announced an investigation by theCentral Directorate of Public Securityinto the activities of the Génération Identitaire members.[28]

On 11 July 2019, Germany'sFederal Office for the Protection of the Constitution(BfV), the country's domestic intelligence agency, formally designated theIdentitarian Movementas "a verified extreme right movement against the liberal democratic constitution." The new classification will allow the BfV to use more powerful surveillance methods against the group and its youth wing, Generation Identity. The Identitarian Movement has about 600 members in Germany.[29]

Lawsuit

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In August 2019, aFrench courtsentenced three members of Generation Identity to a six-month jail term, fines of €2,000 each and loss of civic rights for five years, and fined the pan-European organisation €75,000, over an anti-immigrant operation in theAlps.Generation Identity president Clément Gandelin, spokesman Romain Espino and Damien Lefèvre were found guilty of "exercising activities in conditions that could create confusion with a public function". The case was that the operation, involving about 100 of their members at theCol de l'Échellein April 2018, could have been mistaken for a police action.[15][30]

Ban

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On 3 March 2021, France banned Génération Identitaire (Generation Identity), as the Interior MinisterGérald Darmaninsaid the movement incited "discrimination, hatred and violence".[12]A few weeks before, dozens of people protested in Paris against the dissolution. About 200 protesters were estimated to be present.[31][32]

Jordan Bardella,at the time the spokesperson for theNational Rally,posted statements of support for Génération Identitaire. As a result, Facebook removed the posts and suspended certain features of his account.[33]

References

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  1. ^ab"Génération identitaire: des militants d'extrême droite à la com' bien rodée"(in French).LCI.22 April 2018.Retrieved30 August2019.
  2. ^abKleinfeld, Philip (9 January 2015)."A Close Look at the French Far Right".Vice News.Retrieved25 May2018.
  3. ^abValencia-García, Louie Dean (22 February 2018)."Generation Identity: A Millennial Fascism for the Future?".EuropeNow Journal.Retrieved25 May2018.
  4. ^abcdStaff (12 October 2015)."American Racists Work to Spread 'Identitarian' Ideology".Southern Poverty Law Center.Retrieved25 May2018.
  5. ^abcHaydn Rippon (2 November 2012),"Occupy Le Mosque: France's New Radical Nativism",The Conversation– viaBoston University
  6. ^Feder, J. Lester (4 May 2018)."Facebook Targets Major White Nationalist Group In France".BuzzFeed.Retrieved25 May2018.
  7. ^Beirich, Heidi (21 November 2014)."Identitarianism Worldwide".Southern Poverty Law Center.Retrieved25 May2018.
  8. ^«Le mouvement d'extrême droite Bloc identitaire se lance dans les régionales»,Le Point,17 octobre 2009
  9. ^Abel Mestre et Caroline Monnot, «Du Bloc identitaire au FN, l'extrême droite française se concentre sur la peur de l'islam»,Le Monde,1 décembre 2009
  10. ^Rémi Noyon (interviewer), Stéphane François (interviewé), «Oubliez "Game of Thrones": les identitaires ont des théories plus folles»,Rue89,11 mai 2014.
  11. ^Cependant,Jean-Yves Camusclasse le BI non à l'extrême droite, mais « à droite de la droite »:« Oskar Freysinger et ses inquiétantes fréquentations européennes »Archived4 June 2012 atarchive.today(interview par Patricia Briel),Le Temps,18 novembre 2010,le BI promeut l'« alter-Europe » et une certaine forme de régionalisme
  12. ^ab"France bans far-right anti-migrant group Generation Identity".France 24.3 March 2021.
  13. ^"GPAHE report: Far-Right Hate and Extremist Groups in Australia".Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.Retrieved7 April2023.
  14. ^Conge, Paul (14 February 2023)."Un rapport américain s'inquiète de l'essor des" groupes d'extrême droite haineux "en France".marianne.net(in French).Retrieved7 April2023.
  15. ^ab"French court jails far-right activists over anti-immigrant Alps stunt".The Guardian.29 August 2019.Retrieved30 August2019.
  16. ^Ludovic Finez,« Les "infos" xénophobes de Novopress »,27 July 2005.
  17. ^Finez, Ludovic (22 July 2005)."Les" infos "xénophobes de Novopress (Novopress's "xenophobic" news ")".Club de la Presse Nord-Pas de Calais.
  18. ^Boucher-Lambert, Silvère; Saretta, Olivier (26 February 2009)."Comment l'antisémitisme tisse sa toile sur Internet (How anti-Semitism weaves its web on the Internet) ".L'Express.
  19. ^Duyck, Alexandre (8 June 2008)."Les Identitaires sur Google (The Identitaires on Google) ".leJDD.fr. Archived fromthe originalon 20 October 2009.Retrieved10 May2018.
  20. ^Sample article:L’humeur de Patrick Gofman: J’inaugure le Salon du Livre! (The mood of Patrick Gofman: I inaugurate the Book Fair!),Societycolumn, 20 March 2008
  21. ^"Identitäre Bewegung Österreich".Archived fromthe originalon 14 May 2018.Retrieved12 July2022.
  22. ^"Identitäre Bewegung Deutschland e.V. | Heimat-Freiheit-Tradition".
  23. ^Bennhold, Katrin (3 March 2021)."Germany Places Far-Right AfD Party Under Surveillance for Extremism".The New York Times.
  24. ^Robert Marquand (17 June 2010),"Facebook draws 7,000 to anti-Muslim pork sausage party in Paris",The Christian Science Monitor,the group sent out a press release, calling upon "all Parisians… and French" to meet at the Arc de Triomphe Friday to eat ham and drink grape juice
  25. ^Mara Gay (17 June 2010),"Paris Facebook Group Throws Anti-Muslim Booze & Pork-Sausage Party",Politics Daily,archived fromthe originalon 19 February 2015,retrieved19 February2015,thousands will gather to protest the presence of Muslims in France by drinking alcohol and eating sausage
  26. ^Bailey, Luke (21 June 2018)."Far-right group Generation Identity have been banned from Facebook across Europe".i news.Retrieved22 June2018.
  27. ^"Generation Hate: French far right's violence and racism exposed".Al Jazeera.10 December 2018.Retrieved27 December2018.
  28. ^"Cinq questions sur" Generation Hate ", le documentaire polémique d'Al Jazeera sur un bar identitaire de Lille".France Info.15 December 2018.Retrieved27 December2018.
  29. ^Croucher, Shane (11 July 2019)"Identitarian Movement, Linked to Christchurch Mosque Shooter, Classified as Extremist Right-wing Group by German Intelligence Agency"Newsweek
  30. ^"Members of far-right group Generation Identity jailed after anti-migrant operation in French Alps".The Independent.30 August 2019.Retrieved30 August2019.
  31. ^"Dozens protest dissolution of Generation Identity group in France".20 February 2021.
  32. ^http:// dailyjournal.net/2021/02/21/eu-france-protests/[dead link]
  33. ^"Maréchal et Bardella" censurés "après des posts sur Génération identitaire? Facebook répond".Le HuffPost(in French). 22 February 2021.Retrieved30 March2022.
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