A student’s death energizes the French far right
Reactions to the violent killing of ultraconservative activist Quentin Deranque offer a glimpse at the culture wars roiling France ahead of next year’s elections
The beating death of ultraconservative activist Quentin Deranque in the French city of Lyon last week has pushed both the country’s far right and left flanks toward bellicosity, as both ends of the political spectrum blame the other for his death and the threat of further violence. That two of the people detained for the killing, which occurred during a street brawl between far-left and right activists, were aides in a far-left lawmaker’s office has only inflamed already fraught tensions ahead of upcoming local elections and a national election next year to replace outgoing President Emmanuel Macron. As French politicos jockey for influence in the wake of Deranque’s death, has Europe reached its own Charlie Kirk-esque inflection point?
‘Lawless party, unfit to govern’
Despite France Unbowed’s efforts to “distance the party from Deranque’s violent death,” it has nevertheless “come under attack from rivals across the political spectrum,” said the BBC. Even “more moderate figures on the left,” including ex-President François Hollande, have accused France Unbowed of broadly “being responsible for lowering the tone of politics in France.” The “backlash” against France’s left is, in ways, “reminiscent of the American right’s offensive against ‘antifa’ movements” following the shooting death of far-right wing provocateur Charlie Kirk, said Jacobin.
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Conversely, Deranque’s death is “proving to be a turning point for the French far right,” despite the movement being “riddled with deep divisions,” said Le Monde. A planned march of far-right factions this weekend could “provide an opportunity” for ultraconservatives to “rally around a common cause: the figure of Deranque,” who has been “elevated to the status of political martyr” for some. For many on France’s far right, his killing and the reaction could ultimately “strengthen the unity” of a political movement that has “always valued aesthetics and ritual more than doctrine,” said historian Nicolas Lebourg to the outlet.
Shift for France’s ‘cordon sanitaire’
Deranque’s death and the furor surrounding it are “reshaping” France’s domestic politics to the “benefit of the populist National Rally,” said The Times. It has cast the nationalist right wing as “victim” while pushing the left, which traditionally claims the moral high ground, into “disarray.” Now, France’s “partisan landscape” seems to be “reshaping itself around an unprecedented paradox,” said Euro News: The “cordon sanitaire” — a method by which political parties are isolated and excluded from governing coalitions — which has “long applied to the far right” is now being used against France Unbowed.
The National Rally has “turned a corner,” said political communications professor Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet to Euro News. Rather than pushing back against demonization efforts, the party is in the “process of normalization” by framing itself as a “French political force that is here to stay, with a significant presence that is part of the landscape.”
