Template:Short description Template:Infobox political partyOccident was a French far-right militant group, active in France between 1964 and 1968 and considered the "main activist group on the extreme right in the 1960s".Template:Sfn Occident activists were known for their "commando" actions against various "enemy" targets, such as left-wing students, PCF offices, immigrant associations, and anti-colonialists.Template:Sfn A number of former Occident members later became prominent figures in mainstream right-wing parties; some even obtained ministerial positions.<ref name="lemonde" /> The movement was banned by the French authorities in October 1968, following violent confrontations with left-wing groups during the May 1968 events.<ref name="legifrance" />
HistoryEdit
Occident was founded in April 1964 by Pierre Sidos and dissidents from the Parisian section of the Federation of Nationalist Students (FEN), following their defection from the white nationalist movement Europe-Action (1963–66), led by Dominique Venner. At the outset, Occident appeared as a remake of Jeune Nation, an older neo-fascist group Sidos had created back in 1949, and disbanded by the authorities in 1958. Occident similarly used the Celtic Cross as their emblem, and violent activism played a significant part in their political agenda.Template:Sfn
On January 12, 1967, a group of Occident members attacked the Vietnam committees on the campus of the University of Rouen. About 20 members of Occident were arrested, including Gérard Longuet, Alain Madelin and Patrick Devedjian (all future right-wing ministers). Suspicions arose in the group that someone had tipped off the police. Patrick Devedjian, summoned for an alleged meeting, was brutally interrogated by fellow members, including waterboarding in a bathtub. Devedjian escaped in the nude.Template:Sfn
In January 1968, Roger Holeindre (future vice-President of the National Front) founded the Front uni de soutien au Sud-Viêt-Nam (United Front in Support of South Vietnam) which supported the US war effort.<ref name="Dic">E. Lecoeur, Dictionnaire de l’extrême-droite, Larousse 2007, pp.232-233</ref> Occident actively participated in this Front.<ref name="Dic" />
Following violent confrontations during the May 1968 turmoils, Occident was termed an illegal violent group and dissolved by the administration of Charles de Gaulle on 31 October 1968 by application of the 1936 law on combat groups and private militias.<ref name="legifrance">Décret du 31 octobre 1968 portant dissolution de l'association dénommée Occidental</ref>
ViewsEdit
The Vietnam War had replaced the Algerian War as the battleground of the far right against communist expansionism. Occident proclaimed itself "a violent movement and proud of it", active to "defend the West wherever it fights".Template:Sfn
Building on a "rudimentary fusion of nationalism, neo-fascism and social Darwinism", Occident was strongly anti-communist and anti-liberal. They called for the establishment of a corporatist economic regime and promoted the overthrow of "the Masonic and plutocratic republic", through a "second French Revolution that [would] sweep away the pernicious effects of the first". Occident advocated for a "new race" of leaders who would emerge from the "nationalist ranks", not through the "myth of election" but via the "selection of the best elements from the entire nation".Template:Sfn
Notable membersEdit
Prominent former members include:
- Patrick Devedjian<ref name="lemonde">Template:Cite news</ref> — minister
- Alain Madelin<ref name="lemonde" /> — minister
- Gérard Longuet<ref name="lemonde" /> — minister
- Claude Goasguen<ref name="lemonde" /> — member of French parliament
- Hervé Novelli<ref name="lemonde" /> — member of French parliament
- Pierre SidosTemplate:Sfn — founder of L'Œuvre Française
- William Abitbol<ref name="lemonde" /> —member of European parliament
- Jean-Jacques Guillet — member of French parliament
- François d'Orcival<ref name="lemonde" /> — member of the editorial committee at Valeurs Actuelles
- Jacques BompardTemplate:Sfn — founding member of the National Front
- Dominique Venner — founder of Europe-Action
- François Duprat<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> — founding member of the National Front
- Jean-Gilles MalliarakisTemplate:Sfn
- Marie-France StirboisTemplate:Sfn
- Bernard AntonyTemplate:Sfn
- Pierre VialTemplate:Sfn
ReferencesEdit
BibliographyEdit
See alsoEdit
- Organisation armée secrète (OAS, the French terrorist group against the independence of Algeria)