Retirees with tanned complexions, Dior sunglasses on their noses, flock to the refreshment bar to fill their glass of wine, politely served by Generation Identity alumni. For four days, Reconquête (Eric Zemmour’s party) reconstituted its ideal village in Gréoux-les-Bains, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. An atmosphere halfway between a Medef evening and a business school integration weekend.
Same time, same place for this second edition of the summer universities. 3,000 participants claimed, much less than last year’s 7,000. On the program: conferences given by party executives and friendly networks. The themes: immigration, wokism, Europe and civilisation.
Slight adjustment compared to the first edition: the stands present for the event have undergone a small cleaning: the Iliade Institute, an identity laboratory refusing the “major replacement” and wishing to “perpetuate European memory”, no longer remains. more’Elements, the star review of Alain de Benoist’s New Right. The latter gave way to representatives of the Cocarde, a far-right student union, and the IFP, the school of the union of the rights of Alexandre Pesey. Around it gravitate a few identity activists, members of Defend Marseille, flowered shirts and the flag of the Phocaean city on the shoulders. They particularly stood out with the display of a banner “Let them return to Africa!” on the roof of a building in Marseille.
Liberalism, conservatism and xenophobia
It’s very hot. On the platform which welcomes the guests, we scan the audience of activists, whose average age far exceeds 35 degrees. Necessary announcement to avoid any accident: “Remember to hydrate well.” It is midday, hungry supporters crowd around the food trucks to enjoy lamb shanks or truffle croque-monsieur. Trays in hand, we discuss the next prospects: the European elections. The most enthusiastic believe in it: Marion Maréchal has just announced it, she will wear their colors in June. We feel the executives are revitalized. The campaign speech has already been rehearsed: it will focus (surprise!) on the “bringing together of the right”. It’s not really about union. “The idea is to say, the apparatuses don’t want it but the voters do,” explains Nicolas Bay, vice-president of the party. A thematic triptych will serve as an ideological basis: first “mass immigration, Islamization, declining birth rate”, then “freedom to undertake, reduction of charges and constraints”, finally an “anti woke, anti-LGBT activists. In summary: a large dose of liberalism, a lot of conservatism without ever, of course, departing from xenophobia.
Activists share the bottom. “I am against foreigners if they compromise the proliferation of my offspring,” declares one of them, in their thirties. I know that the wave of Muslim invasion compromises the French project of those who died in Verdun, that of the influence of France.” The message, for this campaign which will last nine months: “If you refuse the disappearance of Europe, join us.” The argument: “A conservative and patriotic arc is being built, with Poland, Hungary, Italy, and Reconquête, in France, is the privileged interlocutor.” The members of the party maintain the hope, in the event of an election, of joining the ECR group. And it doesn’t matter how many people are elected. “Better 10 effective Reconquest MEPs rather than 30 useless RN MEPs”, loose a vice-president.
Reconquest, chapter two
Eric Zemmour, rather than Europe, prefers to talk about Africa first. Of the need to put an end to Françafrique precisely. Introduction: “Decolonization was nothing but a fool’s bargain: deprived of its empire, France did not stop keeping a string of resentful young states on life support, incapable of meeting their own needs.” Development: “No more tolerance for all these countries which send us their unemployed, their delinquents and their unaccompanied minors, but never get back their illegal immigrants.” Conclusion: “Decolonization is for everyone, we renounce Françafrique. Let’s refuse African France.” Standing ovation.
Target obliges, the defeated presidential candidate then continues with an “economically right-wing” speech. In summary: “You want the State to protect your money instead of protecting immigrants with your money! We want a continent without class struggle, without race struggle, without religious war or civil war, and we are going to do everything to get it.” Here’s to the Reconquest, chapter two. The best soup is made in old pots. Now for Marion Maréchal, who has a few minutes left.
Sufficient time to launch, once again, an appeal to the right, to all those who “like François-Xavier Bellamy [NDLR : qu’elle devrait affronter dans les urnes au mois de juin] should be at our side, to defend the convictions in which you have always believed.” The candidate then attacks these same Republicans, whom she accuses of having betrayed their ideals, within the EPP group in the European Parliament. She , elected MEP, would focus on the “protection of common European civilization”. In short: “We, the land Romanized, Christianized and subject to the spirit of discipline of the Greeks, we are not a land of Islam, of sharia and terrorism.” The audience, delighted, lifted their straw hats and sang a shy Marseillaise before heading towards the cars. Another good weekend spent in the South.