Social Bastion (French: Bastion Social) was a French political movement founded in 2017 by former members of the far-right student association Groupe Union Défense (GUD) and dissolved by official decree in 2019 after several racially motivated attacks committed by its members.[1] The movement advocated nativism and remigration.[2][3]
Inspired by the Italian movement CasaPound, with which they maintained ties, Social Bastion used similar political actions such as squatting, demonstrations, and humanitarian aid restricted to white homeless people.[4][2][5] The group was also close to the Belgian Nation Movement and the Swiss Résistance Helvétique.[6]
Social Bastion was banned by the French government on 24 April 2019, along with six other far-right groups, due to the involvement of several of its members in acts of violence.[1][10][11] Despite this, the movement has survived under different structures, growing from 6 to 15 local branches.[8][12] As of November 2020, legal proceedings are under way for "reconstitution of a disbanded group".[12]
Convictions
On 12 December 2017, a leader of the Strasburg branch of Bastion Social was convicted to 8 months in prison for the assault of a young man of Algerian origin.[13] On 27 June 2018, two founding members of the Marseille branch were convicted to 6 months in prison for the aggression of an off-duty gendarme and a Black Guadeloupean man.[14] In October 2018, a member of the Clermont-Ferrand branch was convicted to 1 year in prison for two racially motivated attacks.[15]