Almost no one was missing. On the Place de la République in Paris, the most prominent names in French culture took part in a rally on Wednesday to say no to the far right, just days before the second round of the legislative elections. Annie Ernaux spoke via video. “Our descendants will judge us by our decision next Sunday,” said the Nobel Prize winner for Literature. She was followed by actress Judith Godrèche, leader of the French Me Too movement; director Costa Gavras, a champion of political cinema in the 1970s; historians such as Pierre Rosanvallon and Patrick Boucheron, or the DJ Étienne de Crécy, pioneer of the French Touch. Hours earlier, the most listened to French singer in the world, Aya Nakamura, the black beast of the extreme right, called for a vote against the ultras.
However, not all French culture is left-wing. On the other side, the group that supports Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), there is a less visible and audible group, but no less influential. Without being declared supporters of the party, prominent French writers and intellectuals have been preaching theses similar to those of the RN in their books and speeches for years. In the not-so-distant times – those of Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine’s father and founder of the party – the former National Front ostentatiously displayed its animosity towards intellectual circles. The situation has changed: in recent times, the RN has made a relative rapprochement with the literary and intellectual elites, although not always successfully.
“In the 1950s, French writers were communists. In the 1980s, they went to communist rallies. [François] Mitterrand. The RN does not have such obvious support, which does not mean that there are no cultural figures who feel close to the extreme right. The problem is that no one dares to say it publicly,” argues François Krug, investigative journalist and author of French reactionsan essay on what he calls “the literary extreme right”, where he reveals the secret connection with the ultras hidden in the careers of some well-known writers.
The most significant case is that of Michel Houellebecq, perhaps the most widely read French writer in the world. Although he has never called for a vote for Marine Le Pen – although he was close to doing so in 2013, according to his friend and English translator, Gavin Bowd – his novels contain opinions close to the far-right ideology. “Even though they are inscribed in a purely literary dimension, they also have a political effect. When someone as respected as Houellebecq expresses these ideas, there are voters who accept them as true,” warns Krug, who underlines his personal links with Action Française, a monarchist and far-right political group.
In 2022, the Grand Mosque of Paris denounced the writer for inciting hatred against Muslims (although it later withdrew the complaint when the writer rectified). Another case is that of Sylvain Tesson, the great writer and traveler. His work, humanist in spirit, has nothing explicitly political or any shared trait with the RN, but Krug discovered that he had initially worked at Radio Courtoisie, a far-right radio station, and that he maintains friendships from its circles. “In addition, some of his writings contain the idea of the hierarchy between peoples and the impossibility of coexistence between races,” he notes. For his part, Yann Moix, a writer who collaborates in the media of the businessman Vincent Bolloré, where voices abound with the RN, began his career, according to Krug, by writing “fanzines denialists and anti-Semites.”
Knowing what’s happening outside means understanding what’s going to happen inside, so don’t miss anything.
KEEP READING
“They have tried to attract cultural figures without much success, but the situation could change if the party comes to power,” says Gisèle Sapiro, a sociologist of literature.
There are very few cultural figures who declare themselves RN voters. Actors such as Alain Delon and Brigitte Bardot once showed their sympathy for Le Pen senior. Comedian Philippe Chevallier supported the far-right leader in 2022, but there are not many other well-known names. The new (and young) leader of the RN, Jordan Bardella, was able to convince another generation, but no one has stepped forward. A few days ago, The World The newspaper published that actress Mathilde Seigner, Roman Polanski’s sister-in-law, organised dinners to introduce Bardella to “actors, chefs and sportsmen”, but had to withdraw the information when Seigner denied it on her social networks and threatened to sue the newspaper. “There are many people around us who are not seen, but who will come out,” warned Louis Aliot, vice-president of the RN, mayor of Perpignan and possible minister of Bardella if he manages to form a government.
“They have tried to attract cultural figures without much success, but the situation could change if the party comes to power. We could enter a situation of accommodationas Sartre would say,” answers sociologist Gisèle Sapiro, a sociologist of literature, professor at the EHESS (School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences) in Paris and author of Can the work be separated from the author? (Clave Intelectual), where he examines the cases of far-right authors such as Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Charles Maurras—writer and leader of Action Française, the old anti-parliamentary and anti-Semitic far-right—or, more recently, Richard Millet and Renaud Camus.
The latter popularized, back in 2010, the notion of the “great replacement”, or the gradual replacement of the French population. of souche (purebred) for immigrants, with great fortune in the discourse of the European extreme right. In addition, some of Marine Le Pen’s advisors come from the Research and Studies Group for European Civilization (GRECE, in its French acronym), co-founded in 1968 by the philosopher Alain de Benoist, a theorist of the New Right, a think tank which aspired to “intellectually rearm the right in France” against the cultural hegemony of the left.
De Benoist, who in 2011 gave “critical support” to Marine Le Pen, agreed to answer a few questions from this newspaper by email, although in a somewhat telegraphic manner “due to lack of time”. What is the importance of the literary and intellectual field in the RN’s discourse? “In my opinion, almost none.” Do you feel that you have any influence on the party’s political thinking? “Not at all.” If the RN wins this Sunday, what can we expect from Bardella as prime minister? “We can expect what he can do, which will be little. We are heading towards a period of great instability.” Will he vote for the RN? De Benoist did not answer. In 2017, he backed the radical left candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, in the first round. And Le Pen, in the second.
Philosopher Alain Finkielkraut voted for Macron’s party in the first round, but did not rule out voting for the RN in the second round “if there is no alternative.” “It is no longer a fascist party,” he said.
In the 1930s, some French writers converted to fascist theses. “In some respects, the situation is comparable,” says Sapiro. “For example, the radicalisation of the conservative right, which aligned itself with the extreme right after the Popular Front came to power. ‘Before Hitler, the Popular Front,’ was the motto of this right.” For the expert, moments of crisis favour “verbal violence and the designation of scapegoats” and reveal “social class reflexes, which can override republican political principles.” They are also conducive to ideological changes: in the 1930s, intellectuals who called themselves left-wing, such as Pierre Drieu La Rochelle or Marcel Déat, were quick to move to the extreme right. “Today we have some examples of the same, such as Michel Onfray,” says the sociologist.
A former thinker of the intellectual left, Onfray has been evolving towards theses close to those of the radical right. In 2020, the launch of a magazine promoted by the philosopher was welcomed by Marine Le Pen on her networks. In that same publication, Popular Frontmaintained a dialogue with Houellebecq, who also began by supporting Jean-Pierre Chevènement, former leader of left-wing sovereignty, before signing novels such as Submission andAnnihilation, including phrases that would not grate on Le Pen’s lips. In that conversation, Houellebecq said that the French only want Muslims to “stop robbing and attacking them” and claimed that “the only chance of survival is for white supremacy to become a reality.” trendy”.
The philosopher Pierre-Henri Tavoillot, a professor at the Sorbonne and a member of socialist cabinets 20 years ago, has repositioned himself politically. “I don’t think the RN is dangerous for the institutions,” he said a few days ago. “The least republican party is not the RN, but La France Insoumise,” he added in a prime-time radio programme about the party led by Mélenchon. The philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, who was a Maoist in the days of May 1968, has also changed sides, although he denies being right-wing. “These are names who certainly don’t vote for the RN, but who circulate ideas similar to those of the party. And who, being respected figures, manage to make these ideas legitimate,” Krug sums up.
A few days ago, Finkielkraut said that he would support Emmanuel Macron’s party in the first round, but argued that the RN “is no longer a fascist party.” And he did not rule out voting for the far-right party in the second round “if there is no alternative,” in the event of a duel with Mélenchon’s party (in the left-wing coalition New Popular Front), which he considers “anti-Semitic” and blames for “raising the spectres of Pétain, Maurras and even Hitler.” In 2017, his essays appeared on a list of books recommended by the party to train its militants. “I prefer that they read me than the one who reads me.” Mein Kampf“Finkielkraut replied, with unrepentant optimism.
Follow all the international information atFacebook andXor inour weekly newsletter.
.
.
_
