The Jeune Garde is a French anti-fascist organisation.[1][2]
| Formation | January 1, 2018 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Anti-fascism |
Region served | France |
Official language | French |
| Affiliations | New Popular Front |
History
editThe Jeune Garde was founded in January 2018 in Lyon.[3] In 2019, a Strasbourg section was founded and in 2020, a section in Paris was founded.[4] In 2021, local sections in Lille and Montpellier were founded.[5] The group uses the Three Arrows as its logo, basing itself off the logo of the French Section of the Workers' International of the first half of the 20th century.[6]
In September 2021, members of the far-right Zouaves Paris group assaulted Raphaël Arnault, the Jeune Garde's Lyon spokesperson, as he disembarked from a train arriving in Paris.[7] In late-November 2021, Jeune Garde demonstrators clashed with members of the Collectif Némésis, an Identitarian advocacy group that self-describes as feminist, after members of Némésis attempted to join a protest march against sexual violence in Paris organised by the Collectif NousToutes.[8] In December 2021, National Assembly deputy Alexis Corbière and regional councillor Raquel Garrido filed a case with the police against two supporters of far-right politician Éric Zemmour after the Jeune Garde published a video online of the two Zemmour supporters at a firing range doing target practice while talking about several politicians that they would hunt, including Cobière and Garrido.[9]
In February 2022, an anti-fascist conference in Strasbourg that the group attended was attacked by members of the neo-Nazi Strasbourg Offender hooligan group.[10] In May 2022, Arnault resigned as spokesperson for the Lyon section to run in the 2022 French legislative election against the candidate of the New Ecological and Social People's Union.[11][12]
According to Europe 1, the group was involved in around ten clashes with the far-right in Lyon in 2023.[13]
In June 2024, ahead of the 2024 French legislative election, it joined the New Popular Front alliance in an effort to contrast the rising french far-right. Arnault was named La France Insoumise's candidate as part of the Front for Vaucluse's 1st constituency.[14]
Goals
editIn March 2018, the group published a statement describing their aims as re-invigorating the anti-fascist movement in the city, saying that pre-existing movements were too isolated from society and treated fascist groups as if they existed in a vacuum, neglecting the necessity of struggles against capitalism and racism and other forms of oppression.[15] Arnault has stated that increasing collaboration between different left-wing movements is a key objective for the group.[16]
Maya Valka, spokesperson for the Paris section, has stated that the group aims to develop a more day-to-day struggle against fascism, and not just an anti-fascism that responds to emergency situations.[17] Valka has also stated that group aims to develop and international and class-focused feminism, saying that feminism and anti-fascism go hand-in-hand.[18]
Criticism
editThe Jeune Garde has been criticised by some anti-fascists for not doing enough to centre anti-racism in its movement.[19] The group has also been accused of promoting violence, with Arnault being designated with 3 Fiche S by French authorities.[14]
References
edit- ^ "À Lyon rugissent les antifas". Les Jours. March 6, 2022.
- ^ "L'antifascisme, un renouveau par la jeunesse". Le Monde.fr. October 26, 2021 – via Le Monde.
- ^ Allenou, Marie (November 1, 2021). "(Vidéo) "À Lyon, ça fait onze ans qu'on subit ces violences de l'extrême-droite", Raphaël Arnault, porte-parole de la Jeune garde". Lyon Capitale.
- ^ Vetter, Thibault (January 25, 2022). "Services d'ordre, tractage, réseaux sociaux : la riposte des antifas locaux contre l'extrême-droite".
- ^ Bernard, Guillaume (December 15, 2021). "Jeune Garde : « notre antifascisme n'a pas de feuille de route préétablie »".
- ^ "La Jeune garde antifasciste". Les Jours.
- ^ "Le leader d'un groupe antifasciste lyonnais tabassé à la sortie d'un train à Paris". actu.fr. 9 September 2021.
- ^ "Marche #NousToutes à Paris : des heurts éclatent entre les féministes du collectif Némésis et des «antifascistes»". LEFIGARO. November 21, 2021.
- ^ "Une enquête ouverte pour « menaces de mort » après la plainte d'Alexis Corbière et Raquel Garrido". Le Monde.fr. December 22, 2021 – via Le Monde.
- ^ "Strasbourg : un collectif antifasciste attaqué par un groupuscule d'extrême-droite au cours d'une table ronde". France 3 Grand Est. 26 February 2022.
- ^ Dejean, Mathieu. "Raphaël Arnault, l'antifa qui veut être député". Mediapart.
- ^ Faure, Anthony (May 13, 2022). "Législatives : le porte-parole de la Jeune Garde candidat à Lyon ?". Lyon Capitale.
- ^ Marty, Jean-Baptiste (18 June 2024). "Législatives 2024 : qu'est-ce que La Jeune garde, groupuscule antifa fondé par Raphaël Arnault ?". Europe 1. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ a b Bartoli, Eloïse (16 June 2024). "Législatives 2024 : qui est Raphaël Arnault, ce militant antifa fiché S dont l'investiture par LFI fait polémique ?". Le Parisien. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ "Présentation de la Jeune Garde Lyon". rebellyon.info. 24 March 2018.
- ^ "Ces jeunes qui popularisent l'antifascisme". 29 September 2021.
- ^ vendredi (9 October 2020). "Paris : Jeune Garde, un nouveau groupe antifa parisien" [Paris: Jeune Garde, a new Parisian antifa group]. La Horde (in French).
- ^ Daphné Deschamps (29 September 2021). "Maya : « Donner à voir un féminisme antifasciste »" [Maya: "Showing an anti-fascist feminism"]. Politis (in French).
- ^ "Lyon. Insultes islamophobes, transphobes et violences : les antifascistes se déchirent". actu.fr. 14 June 2021.