French far-right students' union
Groupe Union Défense (originally named Groupe Union Droit ), better known as GUD , was a French far-right students' union formed in the 1960s. After a period of inactivity it relaunched in 2022.[2] [3] [4]
The GUD was based in Panthéon-Assas University ,[5] [6] [7] a law school in Paris .
On 26 June 2024, the French government ordered the dissolution of the GUD.[8]
Ideology
Formed as far-right , anti-communist youth organization, in the mid-1980s, the GUD turned toward support of the Third Position movements and "national revolutionary " theories,[9] as well as embracing anti-Zionism , anti-Americanism and support for Hafez al-Assad .[10]
Culture
GUD took as symbol the Celtic cross and the comic black rats (rats noirs ).[11] [12]
Some music groups of Rock identitaire français had connections with GUD.[13] [14] [15]
History
Members of the GUD during demonstration in Paris in 2012
GUD was founded in December 1968 under the name Union Droit at Panthéon-Assas University[10] by Alain Robert (politician) [fr ] , Gérard Longuet ,[16] Gérard Ecorcheville [fr ] and some members of the political movement Occident . In its early period, it was a reactionary bourgeois student movement, and some of its early members went on to become mainstream conservative politicians, including Gérard Longuet , Hervé Novelli and Alain Madelin .[10] [17]
Members of the GUD participated in the 1969 founding of Ordre Nouveau .[18]
During the 1970s and early 1980s, linked to the Parti des forces nouvelles (PFN),the GUD published the satiric monthly Alternative .[19] Members in this period included Alain Orsoni [fr ] , a Corsican nationalist linked to organised crime and suspected of the murder of Marie-Jeanne Bozzi .[10]
On 9 May 1994 GUD member Sébastien Deyzieu [fr ] died after clashes between nationalists and riot police .[20] [21] Following these event, some French nationalist groups formed an umbrella organization Comité du 9-Mai (C9M) and holds[clarification needed ] yearly a commemorative marches in Paris on May 9.[22] [23]
In 1998, the Group united itself with Jeune Résistance and the Union des cercles résistance , offshoots of Nouvelle Résistance group, under the name Unité Radicale , but it was dissolved[24] [25] after Maxime Brunerie 's failed assassination attempt on president Jacques Chirac .[26]
In 2004, the GUD reformed under the name Rassemblement étudiant de droite [fr ] . Its publication was Le Dissident .[27]
In 2017 members of the GUD squatted a building in Lyon and founded political movement Social Bastion .[28] [29] [30]
In late 2022, graffiti appeared in educational institutions in Paris (including the École Normale Supérieure ) saying "GUD is back"; a video was released on Ouest Casual [fr ] , a Telegram channel used by the far right, commemorating some Greek neo-Nazis; and the GUD slogan “Europe, Youth, Revolution” appeared on stickers in Paris and chants at a right-wing demonstration in Lyon . Its activists were reported to be drawn from far-right trade union La Cocarde Étudiante [fr ] , the ultra-right group the Zouaves , traditionalist Catholics from Versailles, and football hooligans .[10]
Members
Successive leaders of the GUD were: Alain Robert, Jack Marchal , Jean-François Santacroce, Serge Rep, Philippe Cuignache, Charles-Henri Varaut, Frédéric Chatillon , William Bonnefoy, Benoît Fleury.
Military volunteers
Some GUD members have fought in Lebanese Civil War [31] in 1976, Croatian War of Independence [32] in the 1990s and in Burma during Karen conflict .[33] In 1985 member of the GUD Jean-Philippe Courrèges was killed in action fighting for the Karen National Liberation Army .[34]
GUD members have had links with the Department for Protection and Security , which is the security organization of the far-right political party National Front .[35]
Former member of the GUD Alain Orsoni [fr ] was member of the FLNC .[36]
See also
References
^ "Le GUD est officiellement dissous, annonce le gouvernement" . Le Monde.fr .
^ Plottu, Pierre; Macé, Maxime (7 November 2022). "Des militants d'extrême droite réactivent le GUD à Paris" . Libération (in French). Retrieved 13 December 2022 .
^ B.Corson, Equipe (16 November 2022). "GUD, le retour d'une légende brune" . POLITIS (in French). Retrieved 13 December 2022 .
^ Macé, Maxime; Plottu, Pierre (25 March 2022). "Brève histoire du GUD, ce groupuscule fascisant dont a fait partie Loïk Le Priol" . Libération (in French). Retrieved 13 December 2022 .
^ L'université en Ile-de-France (4) Paris-II Assas, la longue marche vers le centre droit
^ Avec "Assas Patriote", l'extrême droite tente de reprendre pied à Paris-II Panthéon-Assas
^ Élections à Assas: le GUD tente de reprendre pied
^ "Le GUD est officiellement dissous, annonce le gouvernement" . Le Monde.fr .
^ L’Odyssée des Rats noirs : voyage au coeur du GUD
^ a b c d e Blast le souffle de l’info (16 November 2022). "Extrême droite : les rats noirs de retour - Site d'information français d'actualités et d'investigation indépendant" . Blast - Le souffle de l’info - Site d’information français d’actualités et d’investigation indépendant (in French). Retrieved 13 December 2022 .
^ El otro Mayo del 68: la contrarrevolución de la rata negra
^ La rata negra mascota del neofascismo europeo
^ Une musique groupusculaire : le rock identitaire français
^ GUD, Génération identitaire, Action française... leurs racines, leurs méthodes
^ Le Rock Identitaire Français (5) Chapitre III : Les acteurs du RIF : les groupes
^ Nicolas Lebourg, « Une ligne vraiment très droite », Politis, no 1143, semaine du 10 au 16 mars 2011, p. 8-9.
^ Henley, Jon (20 July 2002). "France's neo-Nazi breeding ground" . the Guardian . Retrieved 13 December 2022 .
^ Dossier extrême droite radicale: Groupe Union Défense
^ Dossier extrême droite radicale: Groupe Union Défense
^ L'extrême droite radicale tente une sortie sur le social, le 9 mai
^ Jacques Leclercq, « Comité du 9-Mai », Droites conservatrices, nationales et ultras : Dictionnaire 2005-2010, L'Harmattan, p. 124.
^ Commemoration Sebastien deyzieu (C9M)
^ Il y a 25 ans, Sébastien Deyzieu
^ Christophe Bourseiller, "Les risques de la spirale", in: Maxime Brunerie/Christian Rol, Une vie ordinaire, Paris: Denoël, 2011, 224 p., p. 8-15.
^ Would-be assassin rooted in hard right
^ Chirac escapes lone gunman's bullet , BBC
^ "Du côté obscur de la droite" . Archived from the original on 2019-07-31. Retrieved 2019-07-31 .
^ Lyon: le Gud squatte un immeuble pour venir en aide aux Français dans le besoin
^ A Lyon, le GUD expulsé de son squat
^ À Lyon, le GUD réquisitionne un bâtiment pour aider les Français
^ Not Only Syria? The Phenomenon of Foreign Fighters in a Comparative Perspective, p. 94
^ James Ciment World Terrorism: An Encyclopedia of Political Violence from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 Era , p. 234.
^ "La Souris rattrapée par le Chat…tillon: quand LSD choisit finalement son camp" . Archived from the original on 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2019-07-31 .
^ C’était un 4 octobre…
^ Abel Mestre et Caroline Monnot, « Les réseaux du Front national », Sylvain Crépon, Alexandre Dézé, Nonna Mayer , Les Faux-semblants du Front national : sociologie d'un parti politique, Presses de Sciences PoP
^ Alain Orsoni: seul face à sa peur
Bibliography
Frédéric Chatillon, Thomas Lagane et Jack Marchal (dir.), Les Rats maudits. Histoire des étudiants nationalistes 1965-1995 , Éditions des Monts d'Arrée, 1995, ISBN 2-911387-00-7 .
Roger Griffin , Net gains and GUD reactions: patterns of prejudice in a Neo-fascist groupuscule , Patterns of Prejudice , vol. 33, n°2, 1999, p. 31-50.
Collectif, Bêtes et méchants. – Petite histoire des jeunes fascistes français , Paris, Éditions Reflex, 2002, ISBN 2-914519-01-X .
External links
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