Social Bastion ( French: ''Bastion Social'') was a French

neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration sent ...

political movement founded in 2017 by former members of the far-right student association

Groupe Union Défense Groupe Union Défense (originally named ''Groupe Union Droit''), better known as GUD, is a French far-right students' union formed in the 1960s. After a period of inactivity it relaunched in 2022. The GUD was based in Panthéon-Assas University ...

(GUD) and dissolved by official decree in 2019 after several racially motivated attacks committed by its members. The movement advocated nativism and

remigration Remigration, or re-immigration, sometimes euphemized as "repatriation", is a far-right political concept referring to the forced or promoted return of non-ethnically European immigrants, often including their descendants, back to their place of ra ...

. Inspired by the Italian movement

CasaPound CasaPound Italia (abbr. CPI; "House of Ezra Pound") is an Italian neo-fascist movement and formerly a political party born as a network of far-right social centres arising from the occupation of a state-owned building by squatters in the neighbo ...

, with which they maintained ties, Social Bastion used similar political actions such as

squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

, demonstrations, and

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and ...

restricted to white homeless people. The group was also close to the Belgian Nation Movement and the Swiss Résistance Helvétique.

History

Social Bastion was founded in 2017 by Steven Bissuel, a former president of the GUD in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, and later spread to other French cities such as

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chambér ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...

and

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. Valentin Linder became its new leader in 2018. Social Bastion was banned by the French government on 24 April 2019, along with six other far-right groups, due to the involvement of several of its members in acts of violence. Despite this, the movement has survived under different structures, growing from 6 to 15 local branches. As of November 2020, legal proceedings are under way for "reconstitution of a disbanded group".

Convictions

On 12 December 2017, a leader of the Strasburg branch of Bastion Social was convicted to 8 months in prison for the assault of a young man of Algerian origin. On 27 June 2018, two founding members of the Marseille branch were convicted to 6 months in prison for the aggression of an off-duty

gendarme Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "Man-at-arms, men-at-arms" ...

and a Black

Guadeloupean Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the tw ...

man. In October 2018, a member of the Clermont-Ferrand branch was convicted to 1 year in prison for two racially motivated attacks.

References

Social centres Far-right politics in France Nationalist parties in France Eurosceptic parties in France Squatting in France Neo-fascist organizations Banned far-right parties {{France-poli-stub

History

Convictions

See also

References