Uddrag af et interview med Arnaud Delrieux fra Génération Identitaire:
Génération Identitaire recently gained worldwide attention with their "Declaration of War" video, and their occupation of a mosque at the historically important location of Poitiers.
Identitarianism, nationalism, communitarianism, socialism? How would you describe identitarianism to a non-French person?
There is no “identitarianism.” Génération Identitaire is not a club for ideologues fantasizing about the “Grand Soir” (the general upheaval to come) or “glorious tomorrows.” We are young and pragmatic, both in our methods and worldview. This does not, however, keep us from having an ideal: we want to live in peace on our land according to our identity, like every people has the right to.
The 20th century was the century of ideologies – Liberalism, Socialism, Communism, Nationalism, all of which failed. The 21st century is the century of identities. Indeed it is the very substance of the European people that is threatened by the steamroller of globalization, invasion-migration and multiculturalism.
A nation can rise from the ashes of war or economic crisis, but it cannot survive the disappearance of its own people. There are 10 to 12 million Muslims in France and around 15 million immigrants, African and Muslim for the most part. It is the foremost political problem. Our fight is one for survival. We do not want to disappear, we want to live, and we want to be actors of our history and not simple bystanders. We do not want to become the Native Americans of Europe.
Identitarianism: is it a movement? A party? An association? How would you describe it?
Génération Identitaire is a combat community. “Community” because we are more than a political movement: we are a clan within which rules the spirit of mutual assistance and solidarity. “Combat” because, when facing those that promote migrational policies that are criminal towards the European people, the struggle must be universal: beyond the political realm, we have a vocation to fight on the social and cultural ground. As Frédéric Mistral said: “it’s not about having an electoral majority, it’s about rebuilding a people!” We are an avant-garde of popular awakeners, not small time politicians hidden behind their necktie.
Génération Identitaire recently made itself known to Europe with its "Declaration of War" but also with its action at the Poitiers mosque. What are the consequences of your success?
If you’ll allow me, I’d like to come back on the occupation of the Poitiers mosque you were talking about.
With this successful first action, Génération Identitaire showed in what way our combat community was legitimate on the political scene: we are awakeners and we give a hard kick in the nest of political correctness and its ability to impose, beyond the debate itself, the very terms of that debate to the political class and the media! In that sense, we are stingers, we lead the way. What can still be saved in France depends primarily on the capacity for a non-electoral structure like ours to engage in direct contact with the French people through shock actions with high media repercussions, which are our trademark. For example, no less than 250 news articles, excluding the appearances on nightly television news broadcasts, followed the occupation of the Poitiers mosque.
Showing the way, being role models, is our prime ambition. Through these kinds of concrete actions, we sow the seeds of the coming reconquest. We are a beacon towards which a certain number of young people will turn when the extreme ethnic and political polarization of French society will lead to the return of political and social mass movements.
Is there a chance Génération Identitaire might be disbanded and outlawed by the French government?
They can try to intimidate us, but they can’t dissolve the rage within our hearts. No one can disband passion, no one can disband youth. In the upcoming months, you will keep on hearing from us. Facing the political elites that have declared war on our people, we won’t back down!
When you say “Europe,” what do you mean?
I’m not talking, of course, about the European Union. Europe is a community of civilization and culture. As Europeans, we are all inheritors of Rome, Athens, Sparta and Christianity. As Frenchmen, we are in a good position to discuss this. Indeed, there is no such thing as a “French race”: we are a mix of different European ethnic groups, be they Celtic, Latin or Germanic. Europeans have to be aware of that which has bound us for 30,000 years now, ever since our prehistoric ancestors painted on cave walls what they saw around them: all over Europe we find the same patterns, the same animals, the same beliefs. Throughout our history, every spiritual, cultural, economic, social and political movement that has appeared in a European country has had its equivalent in neighbouring countries.
I have a perception of France as the European country that went the furthest into multiculturalism, is there any way to reverse this?
Of course! Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
History is full of surprises. No one can predict what will happen tomorrow. What I can tell you is that a growing majority of French people, and especially young French people, share our sentiments and our rage. According to two recent polls, 76% of French people believe that “Islam progresses” too quickly, close to half of our countrymen consider it a “threat” and 52% of the population think that “there are too many immigrants in France.” Since the 80s, according to all of the analysts and polling institutes, this general sentiment progresses at a swift and uninterrupted pace. The silent majority of this country is with us, and when the ethnic rupture will be felt by a growing number of our compatriots, fear will definitively switch sides. Nothing can defeat survival instincts.
A thing is certain, for better or for worse, the French people are frondeurs [rebels] and they will have the opportunity to demonstrate it again. Militants of the longest memory, neither optimistic nor pessimistic but simply realistic, we are confident in our people!
We are in the same situation as Lenin who, in January 1917, said: “We may not see the decisive battles of the coming revolution”… A few weeks later, the Bolshevik revolution broke out in Russia. Once the gears are in motion, there is no stopping the machine.
