“The devil of the Republic is dead”
Jean-Marie Le Pen has just died. Before being pushed aside by his own daughter, Marine, he embodied the far-right on the political scene and polarized French society.
Jean-Marie Le Pen died at the age of 96. He had been hospitalized in the Paris region since mid-November and had lived withdrawn from public life since his ouster as head of the party he founded, the National Front (FN), in 2011.
His daughter Marine Le Pen took over and transformed the FN into the National Rally (RN).
The current president of the RN, Jordan Bardella, paid tribute on in the European Parliament, he has always served France, defended its identity and its sovereignty.
A figure of the far-right, Jean-Marie Le Pen was a finalist in the 2002 presidential election against Jacques Chirac. His presence in the second round then mobilized millions of people who demonstrated in France against the racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia that he embodies.
Jean-Marie Le Pen became famous for his publicized provocations: against immigrants, Muslims, Jews, against his political adversaries too, or by contesting the historical importance of the gas chambers used by the Nazis during the Second War. world, among other declarations.
Several times, his comments resulted in him being convicted in court, notably for public insult and contesting crimes against humanity.
Although he opposed decolonization in Africa (notably during the Algerian War), the far-right leader found support among certain leaders on the continent. Ivorian Patriots, loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, had thus gotten into the habit of marching in Paris alongside the FN on May 1, to celebrate Joan of Arc.
In 1987, Jean-Marie Le Pen planned a trip to Africa. He went to Libreville to meet the then Gabonese president, Oma Bongo Odimba, then to Ivory Coast where he was received by Félix Houphouët-Boigny whom the frontist leader proposed as winner of the Nobel Peace Prize . On the other hand, protests against Jean-Marie Le Pen’s visit to Dakar and Kinshasa forced him to cut short his tour.
Later, Jean-Marie Le Pen was invited to Equatorial Guinea by Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Former members of the National Front supported the networks of Bob Denard and Jacques Duchemin even became advisors to Moïse Tschombe, advisor to François Tombalbaye (former Chadian president) and even minister to Jean-Bedel Bokassa, in the Central African Republic.
