overseas, the impossible conquest of the founder of the National Front

A political monster is gone. Reviled by some for his racist, homophobic and negationist outbursts, adored by others for his vision of a strong, Christian France free of its migrants, the death of Jean-Marie Le Pen on January 7, 2025 marks the end of the unfinished epic of the father of the French extreme right. If he knew how to impose nationalism and nostalgia for colonialism in the public debate, Father Le Pen never knew how to conquer the country. And even less overseas.

The man with the glass eye, born in Morbihan in 1928, often described himself as an adventurer. A sailor. His first relationship with an overseas land is more of an adventure story than political conquest. In the 1970s, Jean-Marie Le Pen took his ship and crossed the Atlantic and the Pacific, heading for the Marquesas Islands, in French Polynesia. Perched on his sailboat, the good Breton sailor passes the time by scribbling in his notebook “the lost worlds of his childhood”, as he tells it in Le Figaro in 2015.

Who is he traveling with? How long has he been gone? The lieutenant, lawyer and politician gives few details about this great trip. Except that the journey was long and laborious. “When the boat finally reaches Polynesia, the crew is at the end of their resources”tells the right-wing daily.

Jean-Marie Le Pen then disembarked in the port of Hiva Oa, right next to the ship of Jacques Brel, the Belgian singer now buried in the Marquesas. “We had exchanged a few views, he pointed us to a lobster place and I noticed that he had a large scar on his chest”remembers the founder of the National Front (FN), the party he created in 1972.

Aside from this happy memory, the history of Jean-Marie Le Pen and the Overseas Territories is above all stormy and conflictual. Above all, it tells the story of the eternal standoff between the former French colonies and the nostalgia for the French Empire. Like any contender for the most prestigious office of the State – President of the Republic – it is firstly as a candidate and representative of his political movement that Jean-Marie Le Pen attempts several times to set foot in ultramarine land. But opposition from the population sometimes makes him quickly turn back.

In 1987, the leader of the far-right party decided to export his campaign for the presidential election the following year to the West Indies. However, the former soldier has already made a name for himself for his xenophobic and negationist thoughts. He therefore arrives in hostile territory. All the more hostile since, just before going to Martinique, he did not fail to heavily emphasize the Martinican origins of the “killer of old ladies”Thierry Paulin, who murdered around twenty people in Paris between 1984 and 1987.

The local left takes a dim view of the arrival of this political beast. An anti-Le Pen Martinican front was then formed, bringing together the collective “Against racism and fascism” and the “Le Pen Déwo” committee (Le Pen out), led by the separatists.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, then FN MEP, had invited his friends from the hard right of the European Parliament to a congress, which was to be held on December 7 in the Méridien hotel, in Trois-Îlets, a town in the south of the island.

On December 6, an employee at Orly airport in France spilled the beans and indicated that the candidate for the presidency of France had boarded an Air France plane, heading to the Caribbean. A crowd of demonstrators then headed towards Fort-de-France, hoping to prevent the plane from landing by invading the airport tarmac. It’s a success. Le Pen turns back. On presidential election day, a few months later, only 1.17% of voters put his name in the ballot box. Far from the 14.4% received nationally.

Story of this day of December 6, 1987 with Martinique La 1ère:

Martinique has never gotten along well with the nationalist politician. Ten years after the “Le Pen Déwo” movement, in December 1997, the frontist tried his luck again. But he is violently attacked at the airport. Officially, Father Le Pen was only on the island to transit to Puerto Rico, knowing full well that he was not welcome in the West Indian department. On site, he is harangued by activists. Blows and insults rained down. RFO Martinique had captured the images of the altercation:

Overseas, if some Ultramarines have drawn out their fists to express their rejection of Lepenism, others have on the contrary established friendly relations with Jean-Marie Le Pen. This is the case of Maurice Brasier, Reunion Islander and activist from the very beginning of National Front on the Indian Ocean island. The restaurateur regularly welcomed the far-right politician into his home.

In 2014, the man who became the honorary president of the National Front after the party was taken over by his daughter, Marine, was also moved by the death of the former deputy of La Jean Fontaine meeting. Between 1984 and 1986, the latter joined the FN, thus becoming its very first Reunion representative in the National Assembly.

The patriarch also knew how to use overseas political figures to his advantage. Especially when they defended the unity and greatness of France, its credo. In 2013, New Caledonia senator Dick Ukeiwë died. Representative of the Kanaks in favor of maintaining the Caillou in the French fold, the man then received tributes from Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Even if we had differences since we did not belong to the same political group, Mr. Dick Ukeiwé always remained faithful to his attachment to the motherland and defended French New Caledonia with passion and conviction.

Moreover, it is only in New Caledonia that the Breton party obtains its “good” scores overseas. We are then in 1988. The archipelago is torn apart during the events which pitted independentists and non-independentists against each other. Like any extremist party, the FN surfs on divisions in society to garner votes. Two days after the hostage-taking in Ouvéa, in 1988, the frontist lists obtained 22% of the votes in the regional elections. A record. The FN thus won 8 seats in Congress (out of the 48 in the local assembly). The same year, 13% of voters supported Jean-Marie Le Pen in the first round of the presidential election.

But, with the turning point of peace and the signing of the Matignon (1988) and Nouméa (1998) agreements, political tensions calmed. Which does not suit Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is losing votes. His Caledonian breakthrough was only temporary.

Generally speaking, Father Le Pen fails to convince the Ultramarines in the elections. And as proof: even during the political earthquake of 2002 – which saw him qualify for the second round of the presidential election, a great first for a far-right party – the Overseas Territories showed complete rejection. to the candidate from the first round. In the overseas departments and territories, the scores of the one who obtained 16.86% of the votes nationally border on the ridiculous: 2.94% in Guadeloupe, 1.75% in Martinique, 4.99% in Guyana, 3.81% in Reunion, 2.53% in Mayotte, 0.77% in Wallis and Futuna and 4.21% in French Polynesia… Only in New Caledonia (10.84%) and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (13.39%) does it exceed the 10% mark.

However, the tide has turned. The Ultramarines’ natural barrier against the extreme right is no longer as solid today. If Jean-Marie Le Pen, indisputably an important figure in French political life, was able to impose nationalist and ethnocentric ideals in the country, it was his daughter, Marine Le Pen, who succeeded in transforming the essay. Including Overseas.

Twice, the candidate of the National Rally (new name given to the FN) qualified for the second round of the presidential election, in 2017 and in 2022. Poll after poll, France is turning brown. The countryside and medium-sized towns have taken the RN turn. In the last legislative elections, the far right even made a historic breakthrough in the National Assembly. With 125 deputies, it constitutes the first group at the Palais Bourbon. And even has two elected officials from Overseas: one from Reunion, Joseph Rivière, and one from Mayotte, Anchya Bamana. Never seen before.

A symptom of a growing disavowal of the overseas population towards central power, the RN is becoming more and more attractive overseas. Overseas voters ignore the racist past of its founder. When Jean-Marie Le Pen was punched in the face when landing in Martinique, his daughter put flower necklaces around her neck to the sound of traditional songs when she landed in Mayotte. One thing is certain: outside France, the name Le Pen no longer scares people.