I spent six months with Action Française
They are royalist, nationalists, brawkers, often racist, sometimes worse.It’s French Action.Journalist photographer Yann Castanier spent six months with the Paris student section.He delivers exclusively for Neon the story of this immersion in the land of the Lys Fleur.
PublicitéAbout fifteen masked young people tumble in front of the gates of the Museum of the History of Immigration, Porte Dorée, in Paris.Hoods, hats, scarves under the eyes, hard looks.In some way, they run a banner on the inscription "Stop Immigration.We are closing ".There are November 7, 2015, a week before the November 13 attacks.
Antoine triggers smoke bombs that explode and dazzle me.Mathieu* begins a speech that calls for the end of the arrival of foreigners in France.Passers -by of Arabic origin observe the spectacle, incredulous.I'm uncomfortable.I fear being taken to task.It is begging: "Action!French!Stock !French!"Vigils get angry on their talkies-talkies and evacuate visitors to a stolen outing.The tension is growing.I feel that they are afraid of an assault against the establishment.They close the grids in the precipitation.Suddenly, I hear: "Dispersion!Dispersion !»Is there really a danger?No idea.
My field of vision shrinks under the effect of adrenaline.We decampened to all Berzingue towards the boulevard.We don't know where to go.I was told "not the metro" so that I do not stop.I work Benoît, 21, brown, a little clumsy and very breathless: "I did not eat at noon!I can't take it anymore!"We stop after 500 meters.Franck, 23, joins us with the bag containing the banner."We are going back.We will find ourselves at the locals later."I just experienced my first coup with Action Française.But it's been over a month since I am close to the adventures of the Paris student section.A bubbling, active, determined section.And who hopes only one thing: to see the Republic fall.
October 9, 2015
I first enter the L'Antre du Groupuscule, next to the Louvre.The standard of the movement, yellow and blue, the colors of royalty, floats alongside the French flag in the entrance hall.I expected order and rigor.I find corpses of beers on offices and types with the cigarette in the beak.Lucien, 21, haircut in brush, apologizes: "Sorry, we made a little evening yesterday."Pierre-Charles, the chef, passes by yelling:" put this mess!»»
Founded in 1898 by anti -dédreyfusards, AF, as it is called here, was marked by the figure of Charles Maurras, nationalist and anti -Semitic, who will defeat the Third Republic before supporting the Vichy regime and then dying in prison.The photos of the local hero are displayed on the AF walls.
A conference with a colonel of the French army has just ended.About twenty young people are gathering in a separate room.Mathieu orders: “Give your laptops to put them in the card!I blow me in my ear that "it is to avoid listening".An action is preparing for next Monday.Our mission: to disrupt a conference by Bernard-Henri Lévy at the Institute of Advanced National Defense Studies.Banners must be deployed in the stands of the room to remind BHL its divergent opinions on international issues.
Mathieu announces: "You arrive by two or three so as not to stand out.No discussion by laptop or facebook.It's understood ?Three days later, I show up with a good hour in advance at the Institute, to be sure I have a place.Armed military from Famas - Assault Rifles - keep the door.I pass the security portico by asking myself how we will be able to deplate after the action, then find a place in height in the amphitheater.Bodyguards appear, BHL will not be long.I still don't see any AF activist in the enclosure.I text.Answer: "We couldn't enter.»»
They arrived too late and look at the conference on a giant screen outside.Bad timing for this act-prop.
October 16, 2015
One of the roles of the king's camelots, as the young people of the organization are called, is the sale of Action Française 2000, the group's bimonthly publication.I find Mathieu, Lucien and Antoine in front of the University of Assas.Antoine, 25, beard in battle, leather jacket on his shoulders, has the look of a metaller than a royalist.It was by watching videos of Alain Soral on YouTube that he discovered Action Française.He then reads if the coup is possible from Maurras, and it is the revelation: "It appeared to me clear, square, clean.The idea of belonging to a clan pleases him."You go out in a band of five or ten.If guys kiss you, you don't risk anything.It's a second family.»»
Antoine grew up in Saint-Martin-d'Hères, in Isère, "in a city between drug trafficking and Kalashnikovs".His parents are civil servants in National Education and "Left III Republic and secular", far from the aristocratic photo."I became a monarchist, Catholic and nationalist by reaction, facing a left that denies the ravages of immigration.»»
Before the university, Lucien speaks with nostalgia for the past: "Assas, that's more what it was.Before, the GUD had offices in the university.There was their flag floating at the window.The French Action is in the midst of recruitment.Sections have been opened in Bordeaux, Lille, and Aix-en-Provence activists are very active.In all, AF would have 3,000 members throughout France.
After an hour, the three accomplices sold only four numbers.Comment from Antoine: "It's full of Bernstein here.»Translation: lots of Jews, therefore radins.Mathieu takes it up: “The heavy jokes on these subjects, we will have to stop.We welcome lots of new ones."Antoine insists:" I am not anti-Semitic, I am Judeo-criticism."Boss tackle:" These theoretical considerations, we don't care!»End of the debate.At AF, the chef decides.
November 6, 2015
After a new conference on the premises of the movement, we go to quench your thirst in a nearby bar.Before, hook by a kebab.Philippine* Rales: "I would eat well, but no meat.We are Friday.20 years old, redhead with a diaphanous complexion, she is one of the rare AF girls.She comes from an Aristo family and lives in a good chamber of the 16th arrondissement.
"I did my high school at the Saint-Pie-X institution in Saint-Cloud.Her grandparents were at AF, she is following their traces today.Without being moved by the valves of his friends: "They say to me:" Are you not finished, with your Hitlerian youth?"" Philippine claims "a very traditional vision" of the family.
"The man is made to work and the woman, to give birth.They are not equal, but complementary."Her guy will be Catho, it is decided, with the same cultural, social and political references as it.His dream ?"Stay holy all my life.We gather in front of the bar counter.The boss, already a little drunk, does not seem embarrassed."I'm used to it, they often come.»»
We chain the pints and the cigarettes.I notice a tattoo on Antoine's arm, an immense cross and four small with the acronym IHS: "It is the abbreviation of Jesus Christ Son of God Savior.It is a symbol that the first Christians used.»Vodka shots."Dry ass!Dry ass!"Well heated, they start the royal, the anthem of the organization, while making arms of honor:" If you want your deliverance, think clear and walk straight!Kings have done France!A Black tries to flirt Iris, a friend from Philippine.The guys get closer to monitor him.
Around midnight, I feel that Mathias* wants to talk to me.We go out on the opposite sidewalk.Glass of beer in hand, floating look: "You know, it was the hassle for me.I'm not like others there.He grew up in a dilapidated building bar."I did not know my father.My mother was alone.Sometimes she didn't eat for my brother and me.His eyes are filled with tears."I had to work at 16 to pay part of the rent.My mother did not let me continue my studies.»»
Right now, he sleeps in the premises of Action Française.He is looking for a small studio in Paris and pays the schooling of his brother by being a graphic designer for nationalist groups."I do this to have a good life.Below, there were blacks who lived with aid.We had nothing."He ended up letting go:" In 39-45, I would have been SS.Anyway, I am National Socialist ”.
I struggle to contain my disorder.Next to it, Antoine and Fabien, drunk, take themselves in the arms.It is 2 am.We will have to go to bed.Tomorrow, we have planned to "close" the Museum of Immigration History.
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January 21, 2016
To commemorate the decapitation of Louis XVI, a large mass is given in Saint-Germain-l'Auserrois, next to the Louvre.The nave is crowded.Antoine and Alexandre stand out in the middle of pleated skirts and checkered shirts.Antoine Rales: "I don't know what the others are doing.We said noon.The Count of Paris and his wife, current descendants of royalty, appear.After mass, pizza.Between two slices, the discussion is in full swing.Politics and love.
Alexandre, black gloves and shaved hair on the sides, talks about his new girlfriend, whom he has been frequent for two weeks."Maybe we'll get married."Mathieu leads the interrogation:" She sucks?"Second question:" Is she Catho?"I thought they were PAM," not before marriage. "Mathieu Nuance: "It is rather sometimes before marriage.»Explosion of laughter.Everyone nods.
The conversation deviates from Alexander's future tattoo.I do not well understand the reason he is thinking.Pierre-Charles says: "It's a Slavic thing." Really ?The tension rises around the table.Antoine ends up letting go of the song."It's an SS inspiration tattoo." Faintness.Antoine tries to dissuade him: "Between your FAF cup, the leather jacket and the black gloves, it's already enough.»»
Mathieu concludes: "We are neither right nor left.Let's say even less on the left than on the right.»»
January 23, 2016
For AF, this is the great moment of the year: the parade in honor of the death of the king.Mathieu, Alexandre and the others hold the blue and yellow flags next to the statue of Joan of Arc.The procession, supervised by the police, starts.Slogans fuse: “We want Louis XVI!Not Marianne the slut!"The king in Paris!Down with the Republic!»Pierre-Charles seizes the megaphone and begins the royal.Antoine scrolls with his girlfriend.
We arrive at Place de la Concorde, in the exact place where Louis XVI was guillotined.Silence.Tormers are distributed and lit while night falls on Paris.The blue of the sky goes out, like royalty over 200 years ago.Nostalgic are barely 150.
February 6, 2016
Tonight, we are attacking a big piece: the National Assembly.
An action is planned to pay tribute to the 19 members of the far -right leagues who died of Concorde in 1934, during an aborted coup.In their premises, activists are filming their weapons.Motorcycle helmets and wooden sleeves drag in the hall.Mathieu leads his troops: "We do not know if it is possible to do the action before the Assembly with the state of emergency.Two will go into scouts and tell us if we are more heading towards the Place de la Concorde."I feel like I am part of a commando operation.Waiting.Stress.The phone is ringing."We go to the assembly in groups of two or three.»»
In the metro, we stand at a good distance so as not to be spotted.Our eyes hardly meet.Arms gendarmes are around the assembly.An AF couple stalls against a wall and kissed.Three friends discuss a bench.I'm not sure where to go, I end up pretending to be a tourist and take pictures.Suddenly, several silhouettes go in front of the grids.
I cross the street at full speed and fail to be crushed.Antoine and Louis, a high school student, light smoke bombs.The others deploy a flag.They howl: "Down with the Republic!To live France, long live the king!"After thirty seconds, one shouts" be careful!».We get out.
Later, I learned that Lucien and Louis were arrested in the metro.Sanction: police custody and a reminder to the law.
February 10, 2016
Antoine invited me to his home. He lives in Fontenay-sous-Bois, in a student residence, surrounded by Asian and African immigrants. Books drag on his desk. He comments: "I read Ezra Pound [modernist American poet and defender of Italian fascism, editor's note] and I write poetry. Metal CDs are scattered, including My Dying Bride and Nothing Christ groups. Antoine has complicated relationships with his parents. His commitment does not pass. “My mother has the opinions of everyone, therefore of anyone. They no longer talk to each other. “With my father, there is frontal opposition. He is very cultivated, on the left, and speaks five languages, but we respect ourselves. "He continues:" Most of my friends are going around AF. There are those who understand, and the others. People tell me "you have changed" or "your friends fachos". That hurts me. I decided to devote myself to this fight for my country. I am lucid. Whatever if I don't see the restoration of the monarchy during my lifetime. I do this for my children. »»
Each weekend, in the Bois de Boulogne, it's a fight.Sports course and combat training.This Sunday in February, there are only six of us.Mathieu Rales: "Ah they piss off!We give them on Saturday and they cannot be there on a Sunday at 4 p.m.!»The race starts fully.Aloïs and Julien* draw the tongue from the start.We chain the pumps."Come on guys, we hold, we hold, we hold!"Aloïs, of Korean origin, is quickly renamed bamboo.Between two abs sessions, he lets go: "In three years of activism, I have heard a lot about Jews and Freemasons, but I haven't seen a lot.»»
We continue on the "Close-Combat".Mathieu, as a manly leader, is waiting for the challengers.Franck throws himself first.They are quickly put on the ground and covered with mud.Mathieu takes a stamp in the face from Julien, a little nervous.Comment from the boss: "We said hand open ... But that's good, you want it.»»
Mathieu insists on the importance of this physical training."We are neither violent nor hateful, but not cake either.The "anti-FA" only exist through us.If they fall on us at 40, we must be able to defend ourselves."And when is the revolution?"We are not there for a moment of militant ecstasy.But if the conditions are met, we will.From my first contacts in September until my last interviews in March, I got to know these activists with ideas very far from me.I discovered individual journeys that go from a persistent aristocracy to real social frustrations.Antoine, Mathieu, Philippine, Lucien, Alexandre ... All united in the hope of the return of the monarchy.And a France that never existed.
* These first names have been modified.
Author: Yann Castanier
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