As in several other cities in France, around a hundred people gathered in the city center of Angers at the call of the anti-fascist militant left to “celebrate” the death of the founder of the RN at 96 years old.
“Jean-Marie Le Pen is finally dead, let’s all celebrate together.” A few hours after the announcement of the death of the founder of the National Front at the age of 96, Tuesday January 7, the poster began to circulate on the social networks of the militant left of Angers. We see Jean-Marie Le Pen’s father clenching both fists, as if he were rejoicing over his own death. The meeting was set for 8 p.m., on the Place du Ralliement. Similar gatherings were organized all over France – from Paris to Rennes, via Lyon or Saint-Brieuc.
“He’s different”
Rhetorical question: can we rejoice at the death of a man, even if he – among others – the probable author of torture in Algeria and the re-founder of a French extreme right whose party counted among its creators former Waffen-SS? To this question, the nearly 80 people gathered in the town of Maine-et-Loire under a light rain answered in the affirmative. “I don’t normally celebrate the death of a human being, but this is different.” testifies one of them, his face hooded. Several police vehicles scan the gathering from a distance.
Porosity
Faced with the omnipresence of the extreme right and its ideas in the political and media fields, this death seems to act as a catharsis for those present. “He still represented hatred, racism, Islamophobia, homophobia,” list Elliot, 24 years old, a sweater from the film Hate on the back. “It’s a historic event,” judge Antoine, 30 years old. “My eyes are dry,” adds Jauad, 19 years old. Placed on a bench, a small speaker spits out the song Rubbish of the punk group Bérurier noir. There is also a magnum of red wine and plastic cups. Pépé, 30 years old, smiles: “I’m happy, like when we won the World Cup!”
In a city marked by the establishment of small far-right groups, this death has a particular flavor. Between 2017 and 2023, the Alvarium, then the Rally of Right-Wing Students (Red) occupied the land. Symbol of the porosity between the violent extreme right and the party with the tricolor flame, the former spokesperson for Alvarium, Jean-Eudes Gannat, was a candidate in two elections, in 2014 and 2015, under the National Front label. His father, Pascal Gannat, was Jean-Marie Le Pen’s chief of staff between 1988 and 1992. Both had since distanced themselves from the party, but not from the founder of the FN.
For the left-wing sympathizers present this Tuesday evening in Angers, this death seems to bury a time when the extreme right was really considered inaccessible: in joy, determination and concern. “It’s the end of something,” breathes Lauriane, 19 years old. Between two anti-fascist slogans, the small crowd chants in chorus “He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead.” Nathan, a 25-year-old student, does not give in to the euphoria of the moment: “He is dead, but there remains an entire ideology and a whole fight to be waged to annihilate him.”
