Taking City Hall, France 2014

2,731 words

This May 1st supporters of the Front National and White Nationalists everywhere have reason to celebrate. In March, the French people (and those temporarily counted among the French) went to the polls to choose their City Councilors and Mayors. As mentioned in the previous article there are more and more French who no longer see themselves as fitting into the Left and Right. This was reflected in the record high abstention rate of over one third. When the largest “party” is the sofa party, momentum shifts to the political movements with the highest level of commitment on the part of its members and sympathizers. 

The FN now has 15 mayors and ~1,500 Councilors[1] across the country (previously it was 0 and 63). Marine Le Pen set the goals of being present in 500 municipalities and winning 1000 seats which the media thought was impossible. Below are profiles of victors from the four largest municipalities and an assessment of what was the key to victory.

Stéphane Ravier is the Mayor of the largest municipal unit ever held by an FN politician. He has served on the City Council of his sector in Marseille since 1995 (when he was 25) and alongside Jean-Marie Le Pen at the Regional level since for 2010 and played a large role in the delay of construction of the Grand Mosque of Marseille. The Grand Mosque has received the green lights necessary, but it is processing very slowly (sabotage?) and one hopes can be disrupted legally again.

Ravier is a longtime activist known for organizing “summer university” conferences, particularly in the southeast. He is known for speaking very directly about the struggle for law and order in Marseille. In the past couple of years, not a week goes by without news of another drug gang related murder. Weapon of Choice: AK-47. The French people are not used to high rates of murder and this is a scandal. Those whom the French press refer to as “youth” Ravier refers to as barbarians and scum. He has spoken out in the recent past about the “invasion” that France is facing and clearly states that his goal is “Reconquest,” an obvious reference to the last expulsion of Arabs from the European continent.

In France’s three largest cities, Paris, Marseille, and Lyons, are divided in to smaller units with mayors who elect a mayor for the city at large. Ravier will have a great deal of discretion in managing the largest and most blue collar sector of Marseille, but will not have complete mayoral powers.

Robert Ménard, like the MP Gilbert Collard, in my opinion, represents a necessary segment of the future leadership of nationalist parties. After Thilo Sarrazin, a German Socialist Party central banker, wrote Germany Destroys Itself there was great hope that he would lead a kind of Third Way, Nationalist mutiny of the current governing elite. Unfortunately he did not. Robert Ménard may be such a leader. It is very common to have city specific lists like, “Houston’s Future” or “Portland United” that identify as “diverse left” or “diverse right.”

Robert Ménard led “Choose Béziers” which was supported by FN, as well as two other minor parties to the right of Sarkozy’s party. Technically, though, it was not an FN list. Only a handful of potential Councilors on his list were registered as FN. His list also included 3 Identitarian leaders from Béziers.

In his youth Robert Ménard was active in the far left and in the left wing of the Socialist Party. He founded Reporters Without Borders and ran it from 1985 through 2008. His organization led the movement to raise awareness about China’s treatment of Tibetans and political prisoners leading up to the Beijing Olympics. He was awarded the Legion d’Honneur at the suggestion of former Foreign Minister and founder of Doctors Without Borders, Bernard Kouchner. After departing Reporters Without Borders he was approached by other parties to run for office, starting with the moderate MoDem party.

Since leaving his organization he has spoken out about the Islamization of Europe and has promoted the work of Renaud Camus, author of La Grande Remplacement. He appears regularly on television and radio as both an interviewer and interviewee. He also was working with the Troisième Voie (Third Way) think tank of Serge Ayoub, mentioned in a previous article, until it was given administrative death.

While campaigning Ménard was careful to walk a tightrope to gain FN supporters without alienating voters who have never supported the FN. He did still speak frankly about the city’s problems. While touring the central area he remarked to journalist that he saw only Gypsies and Arabs. He made no further comment, but this was enough to raise the hairs on the neck of the journalists. He campaigned on a very specific set of policy changes focused on reducing crime and redeveloping the center of the city. Currently, there crime stops after 11pm because the unarmed police do not patrol the streets after that time. Béziers receives 700,000 tourists each year, but 97% of them left last year as soon as they saw the historic parts and did not stop to eat or shop. This should be a case were increases in security will pay for themselves through higher tax revenues in a revitalized downtown. He also highlighted some non-security related issues, such as that the residents of Béziers pay more for tap water than anyone else in France because of questionable agreements approved by previous mayors.

Despite being an international figure, Robert Ménard has always stayed strongly linked with the town he grew up in and its people, of which one third live under the poverty line. He arrived as a child after his entirely French family escaped Algeria during decolonization. His father was a working man who both fought with the OAS (the militia seeking to remain in Algeria, which included great men such as Dominique Venner) and he was also a trade unionist in the Communist CGT. These political commitments would have appeared schizophrenic to the older generation, but in our time and through the leadership of figures like Robert Ménard, we understand better than his contemporaries.

Steeve Briois is a story of inspirational tenacity and courage. He joined the FN at age 16 and has been in every election in his town/canton/legislative district for 20 years. He has been physically attacked by Communist CGT activists when he has marched in support of workers and in the past couple of years he was given a beating while walking his dog that required a few stitches to close his head wound.

Hénin-Beaumont is in the far northern region of France, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, which has undergone decades of de-industrialization and chronic unemployment and those with jobs feel constantly at risk of losing them. A very strong “Third Way” and economically populist approach has found resonance in his town as residents have grown tired of the petty patronage system and empty promises of the Socialists. Briois won an especially impressive victory with over 50% in the first tour, eliminating the need for a second vote.

Our enemies, not missing any opportunity attack or divide us have started a whisper campaign that his personal life is not very Catholic. I doubt this will hurt him with the younger generation of voters and probably not with the vast majority of older voters either.

David Rachline is the mayor of the southern town of Fréjus. He is one of the youngest mayors of France at only 26, but he has been active with the Front National since the age of 15. He is close to the movement of Alain Soral, Égalité & Reconciliation and was deeply involved with the FN-Soral partnership.

I believe it is interesting to note that, had he lived in the Third Reich he would have been sent to the east because he has one or two Jewish grandparents. This first came to light when Rachline was the head of the FN Youth wing and a leader in the party said to the press, “how can the FN be anti-Semitic when the head of our youth wing has the same last name as one of the founders of LICRA [France’s ADL].” It has been seized upon by members of the press attempting to drive a wedge in the party to which Rachline has pointed out on various occasions that he is not “Jewish according to their codes” or that “he has never had a circumcision nor a Bar Mitzvah” and during the last election developed the picture further stating that his father was a committed atheist/leftist who decided with his Christian mother to raise him without religion in order to make a decision as an adult about religion. His parents were separated and his father died when David was a teenager. In any case, he has never made a spectacle of himself, as Black Tea Party Republican politicians do, as somehow giving legitimacy to the FN by his presence. By all accounts he is FN to the core.

One of the most pleasing moments was when the losing mayor, the Jewish White Collar criminal Elie Brun, was surrounded by cameras in his war room listening to the results from a Muslim Quarter which supported David Rachline. He then said, “After everything I’ve done for them, son of a bitch . . . Now they can build their mosque all by themselves and stop annoying the shit out of me.” He then laughed at his own joke, but his staff didn’t find the humor in his statement.

Between Winning and Losing

So what made the difference between the winners and the losers? Those who were elected had deep roots in the cities where they ran, and the rare exceptions spent at a minimum more than one election cycle familiarizing the voters with themselves and their positions. Nationally known figures who parachuted into districts were not so successful. Also, I may be wrong, but the FN could possibly be the party with the most gender parity since the potential councilors alternated on their lists between males and females and 1 of 2 MPs and 1 of 3 MEPs are female. This is well appreciated by voters and helps cast away the idea that this is a party of brutes. The Nationalist Party of Denmark, which successful entered a governing coalition and even re-established border checks to catch illegal immigrants (an act contrary to the Schengen Treaty), is also female led.

Municipal corruption and a divided opposition were key to most of the victories. A typical example would be a very corrupt politician from Sarkozy’s party (including some ex-convicts) or the Socialists would be opposed by an Independent ticket from the same side of the aisle and the other major party. As long as the FN was the leading party in the first tour, they would win the second. On the contrary, in the case of Bruno Gollnisch (who was Marine Le Pen’s opposition for party leader) he fell behind the “Independent Right” list in the first tour and lost votes in the second, because voters were more afraid of being stuck with the corrupt Center-Right leader.

All of the Socialists Party candidates in situations where the FN was in the lead were instructed to approach all parties to create a “Republican Front” against this apparent threat to the Republic. This can only help the FN in the long term since it reinforces the message that the UMP and PS represent a false choice. Many local officials refused this order and where it was followed, the FN often gained votes in the second round.

Another surprise results is that even Arabs are sick of Arabs. Both Stéphane Ravier, David Rachline, and other candidates, received support from Arab voters despite their use of words like “barbarians,” “invasion,” “thugs,” and “reconquest.” It is illegal for the French government to compile racial statistics, but Arabs may very well be the first victims of Arab crime and public harassment. It is easy to imagine them taking a chance with the only party with an expressed desire of protecting the rule of law in their neighborhoods, particularly since they can always vote the FN out in 5 years.

One very disappointing defeat was in the town of Forbach in Moselle, just south of Alsace. This region has long been a base of FN support and, whether we like it or not, there is a strong link between what one’s family was doing during the war and support for the FN. The FN was the leading party during the first round, but a strong closing campaign by the former Deputy Mayor Kalinowski, a thorough ground game of recruiting the many German residents to vote in the municipals (a right granted recently by the Socialist Parliament/President), and a constant focus on the horrors of Nazi occupation by the mayor and the media. Also, a weak showing by two other center-right lists in the first round led many of their supporters to back the Socialist. This was however, a case of the candidate being parachuted from the central office of the party, but the FN is now the principal opposition within the city council and well placed for the next election.

A Tale of Two FNs?

One of the major claims in the media is that there are now two FN programs, one in the South and Southeast focused on low taxes, crime, and corruption and one in the North and Northeast that is economically socialist. Eric Zemmour, someone who often courts controversy with his opposition to Arab and Black immigration divides it another way, those who are living in the hell of mass immigration and those who are afraid that their town and region are next.

Also, a continuing trend under Marine Le Pen is that the 2nd tour vote is no long stuck at the same raw score as before. It means that the FN is no longer limited to its hard core but gains votes from sympathizers and at times loses practical voters in the second round. This means that the FN is becoming a party like the any other, no longer a demon stalking the Republic. Marine Le Pen’s dediabolization strategy is bearing fruit.

The Difficult Road Ahead

Of course, just being elected is the beginning of our renaissance as a people. This may sound stupid and annoying to us, but there are a lot of French (and even more Germans) who still think that Nationalists will start constructing concentration camps the moment they arrive in power. This is despite the examples of Switzerland, Denmark, and Austria. Seeing FN mayors in office focused on trash pickup, street cleaning, and organizing farmers markets and annual fairs will create a psychological transition as Nationalists in power becomes mundane, at least for the French.

Young Arab thugs have rioted in several towns with new FN mayors. Tensions will be higher than usual between police and these invaders, so hopefully they will not be handed any propaganda victories over the next few years. A video like the one that sparked the LA Race Riots of the early ’90s would do serious damage to the FN.

Cities with FN Mayors can expect to see an end to Halal options in public cafeterias, an end to imposition of gender segregation in hospitals and swimming pools, stronger policing, public events that celebrate the heritage and accomplishments of our race and nation, no new mosques, and some clever rerouting of public buses to preserve our public spaces when school is out of session.

As mentioned in the last article, the FN’s last chance to prove itself in City Hall was totally blown by corruption. The ability of these mayors to deliver on their promises will translate directly into the chance of electing Marine Le Pen President. Only a President can organize Swiss-style referenda. Then we will see the beginning of re-migration of the invaders and de-Islamization of our working-class neighborhoods, both policies with majority support in polls, as well as the voluntary departure of those paranoid people who shall always dwell alone.

Note

1. These numbers include the Choisir Béziers ticket of Robert Ménard.