French Unrest Benefits the Political Right

 By Henry Srebrnik, [Moncton, NB]  Times & Transcript

In France, the violent protests against racism that erupted last month have wound down, but the political aftermath of the demonstrations has benefited politicians on the right of the political spectrum.

They have given Eric Zemmour a second wind. The leader of the right-wing Reconquête Party, who placed fourth with over seven per cent of the vote in the 2022 presidential election, in a July 9 interview with the Spanish newspaper El Debate, asserted that the country “is on the verge of civil war.”

He added that “most of the political class wants to believe that it is a social crisis when the root cause is obvious: immigration.”

But the main beneficiary of the recent events has been right-wing leader Marine Le Pen of the Rassemblement National (RN). Her party has been strengthened by the riots, with many contending she would have handled the violence better.

A poll conducted for the French newspaper Le Figaro that was published June 24, just days before the disturbances began, found that 74 percent of French people believe there are too many migrants in the country. They want stricter immigration controls, more deportations, and even a referendum on immigration into France.

Le Pen has long railed against what she sees as France’s drift into permissiveness and lawlessness. She lambasted the government on Twitter on July 2 as “a power that abandons all constitutional principles for fear of riots, which contributes to aggravating them.”

She condemned the “anarchy” and called on authorities to declare a state of emergence or curfew. “Our country is getting worse and worse and the French are paying the terrible price for this cowardice and these compromises.”

For the RN, the moment had arrived for a recruitment drive. “Restore order to France!” said one email attempting to attract new members. The message was part of a push by Le Pen and her allies to capitalise on the crisis, attack President Emmanuel Macron’s government, and showcase their long-held hardline policies on crime and immigration.

As the unrest spread, RN party president Jordan Bardella unleashed a right-wing tirade, referring to the “growing savagery of society resulting from a completely insane immigration policy.” He promised to expel all “foreign criminals” from France if the RN wins the presidential election in 2027.

“We gave these neighborhoods everything,” Bardella insisted, saying the problem was “cultural, sometimes religious” rather than economic. He wants an end to “generous” subsidies for problem areas, which he described as “a bottomless pit.”

Author and political scientist Chloé Morin, a former advisor to two prime ministers between 2012 and 2016, thought the events were an “important political moment” for Le Pen. She “still has a lot of work to do to take the presidency but so far this week she has been canny and not made any mistakes,” Morin suggested.

Support for Le Pen’s agenda had already been increasing even before the riots. The party has gained traction in groups among whom it had previously been weak, such as retirees and the highly educated. It has even seen increased support from Jews.

The Muslim population in France, at about 10 per cent, is the highest in Europe and Islamism has gained ground in France, particularly in high schools.

Jewish symbols were targeted: Holocaust memorials in Paris and Nanterre were defaced. Antisemitic chants were heard during the riots and Jewish businesses were ransacked in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles, dubbed “little Jerusalem” due to its large Jewish population.

In May 2022, after Le Pen lost to Macron in the presidential election, the RN delivered a surprisingly strong performance in legislative contests, winning an unprecedented 88 seats, up from only eight before. And she received 41.5 percent of the vote in the presidential election’s second round, up from 34 per cent in 2017.

That gave Le Pen’s party new legitimacy and furthered her push to “detoxify” the image of the movement started 50 years ago by her father Jean-Marie, who has denied the Holocaust and espoused xenophobic ideas.

A survey conducted by Ifop-Fiducial for the Journal du Dimanche in mid-June revealed that more than 41 per cent of French voters want to see Le Pen win the next election.

The riots also introduced a new element. While they at first seemed a retread of the banlieue uprising of 2005, it has displayed a new development -- a right-wing counter-mobilisation against the rioters.

In provincial cities like Lyon, Angers and Chambéry, groups of masked and hooded youths appeared, dressed in black and armed with batons and pepper spray, to confront the rioters and the left-wing demonstrators supporting them.

In Lyon, for three nights around 50 masked militants, some armed with batons, paraded through the city centre, chanting “French people wake up: you are at home” and “Blue, White, Red: France for the French.”

In Chambéry there were skirmishes between “Identitarian” militants and rioters following a series of right-wing marches through the city centre.

The former head of France’s Directorate General for External Security, Pierre Brochand, thinks France is developing into “separatist counter-communities” which will eventually challenge the democratic French nation-state with “alternative sovereignties.” 

While the violence has died down, the  riots will mark another grim milestone in France’s growing angst over its future. And Le Pen will continue to blame the authorities for the chaos.