une déclaration de guerre: la Génération Identitaire

I only recently learned about a French youth movement called the Identity Generation. The movement's site is here; go visit it, scroll down, and watch the video (many thanks to Malcolm for having pointed this group out).

Here's the video's full text (their "declaration of war") in French:

Nous sommes la génération de ceux qui meurent pour un regard de travers, une cigarette refusée ou un style qui dérange.

Nous sommes la génération de la fracture ethnique, de la faillite totale du vivre-ensemble, du métissage imposé.

Nous sommes la génération de la double-peine : condamnés à renflouer un système social trop généreux avec les autres pour continuer à l’être avec les nôtres.

Nous sommes la génération victime de celle de Mai 68. De celle qui prétendait vouloir nous émanciper du poids des traditions, du savoir, et de l’autorité à l’école mais qui s’est d’abord émancipée de ses propres responsabilités.

Nous avons fermé vos livres d’histoire pour retrouver notre mémoire.
Nous avons cessé de croire que Kader pouvait être notre frère, la planète notre village et l’humanité notre famille. Nous avons découvert que nous avions des racines, des ancêtres, et donc un avenir.

Notre seul héritage c’est notre terre, notre sang, notre identité. Nous sommes les héritiers de notre destin.

Nous avons éteint la télévision pour descendre à nouveau dans la rue. Nous avons peint nos slogans sur les murs, scandé « la Jeunesse au pouvoir » dans nos mégaphones, brandi bien haut nos drapeaux frappés du lambda. Ce lambda qui ornait le bouclier des glorieux Spartiates est notre symbole. Vous ne comprenez pas ce qu’il représente ? Il signifie que nous ne reculerons pas, que nous ne renoncerons pas. Lassés de toutes vos lâchetés, nous ne refuserons aucune bataille, aucun défi.

Vous êtes les Trente Glorieuses, les retraites par répartition, SOS Racisme, la « diversité », le regroupement familial, la liberté sexuelle et les sacs de riz de Bernard Kouchner. Nous sommes 25% de chômage, la dette sociale, l’explosion de la société multiculturelle, le racisme anti-blanc, les familles éclatées, et un jeune soldat français qui meurt en Afghanistan.

Vous ne nous aurez pas avec un regard condescendant, des emplois-jeunes et une tape sur l’épaule : pour nous, la vie est un combat.

Nous n’avons pas besoin de votre politique de la jeunesse. La jeunesse est notre politique.

Ne vous méprenez pas : ce texte n’est pas un simple manifeste, c’est une déclaration de guerre.

Nous sommes demain, vous êtes hier. Nous sommes la Génération Identitaire.

I wrote my buddy Dominique about this video. My email (in part):

Qu'en penses-tu? (Vidéo trouvée par un de mes «amis en ligne».)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Lb8SLNMIBlM

C'est une pub qui a beaucoup de circulation en France actuellement ou non? Avec 60 et quelques mille vues (et non pas quelques millions), je me demande...

Dominique wrote back:

pour le clip, je ne l'avais jamais vu, ni jamais entendu parler, je pensais être plutôt bien informé! à moins que les média n'en parlent pas volontairement pour ne pas faire de publicité, ça peut faire peur, c'est bien fait, bien formater (les paroles et les idées sont simplistes, on finit avec une jolie blonde, "un visage d'ange" ) sans avoir de recul je pense certains pourraient adhérer très facilement à ces idées et d'autres pourraient entrer en lutte contre, ce clip n' a pour but que de faire du buzz et de générer une certaine violence, leur volonté c'est une pensée unique, privation de toutes les libertés (liberté de penser, liberté de se déplacer, liberté d'aimer qui on veut...) je pense qu'on peut dire vive la Chine, vive la Corée du nord, l'ex RDA aussi, sans oublier l'Allemagne nazie, quelle vie agréable on aurait avec de telles idées! c'est pas sérieux... mais ça existe, il vaut mieux le savoir,

[This post is to be continued! I plan to translate all the above for you once I'm home, and to offer some thoughts on the subject. If you read French, then you're welcome to peruse the verbiage now, of course.]

TRANSLATIONS!

First, a translation of the "declaration of war":

We are the generation of those who die because of a dirty look, a cigarette refused, or a bothersome style.

We're the generation of ethnic fracture, of the total failure of "living together," of imposed social integration.

We're the generation of twin hurts: condemned to contribute to a social system that is too generous with others to continue to take care its own.

Our generation is the victim of the May '68ers,* the ones who claimed to want to emancipate us from the weight of traditions, knowledge, and school authority, but who first freed themselves of their own responsibilities.

We've closed our history books to find our memory. We've stopped believing that Khader** could be our brother, that the planet is our village, and that humanity is our family. We've discovered that we had roots-- ancestors-- and thus a future.

Our only heritage is our land, our blood,*** our identity. We are the inheritors of our destiny.

We've turned off the television to take once again to the streets. We've painted our slogans on the walls, chanted "Youth to power!" in our bullhorns, waved high our "Lambda" flags. This "Lambda," which adorned the shields of the glorious Spartans, is our symbol. You don't understand what it represents? It means that we won't back down, and we won't give up. Tired of your cowardice, we will refuse no battle, no challenge.

You are the Thirty Glorious Ones,**** national retirement benefits, SOS Racism, "diversity," family regrouping,***** sexual liberty, and Bernard Kouchner's sacks of rice.****** We are 25% unemployment, social debt, the explosion of multicultural society, anti-white racism, shattered families, and a young French soldier dying in Afghanistan.

You won't take us in with a condescending look, youth employment,******* and a pat on the shoulder: for us, life is combat.

We have no need of your politics of youth. Youth is our politics.

Don't misunderstand: this text isn't a simple manifesto-- it's a declaration of war.

We are tomorrow; you are yesterday. We are the Identity Generation.

Next, a translation of my email to Dominique:

What do you think of this? (Video found by one of my "online friends.")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Lb8SLNMIBlM

Is this an ad getting a lot of circulation in France or not? With 60-some thousand views (and not several million), I wonder...

And now, a translation of Dominique's reply:

As for the video clip, I've never seen it or heard about it, and I thought I was rather well-informed! Unless the media are deliberately not talking about it in order not to give it air time... It could scare people; it's well-made, well formatted (the words and ideas are simplistic; we end with a pretty blonde, "an angelic face"). Without taking a step back [for a fuller perspective], I think that some people could attach themselves easily to these ideas and others could enter into a struggle against them; the clip's only goal is to create buzz and generate a certain violence. Their will is [defined by] a single thought-- deprivation of all freedoms (of thought, of movement, of loving whom one chooses...) I think one could say "Long live China! Long live North Korea, and the ex-East Germany, too," without forgetting Nazi Germany. What a pleasant life one would have with such ideas! This can't be serious... but it exists, and it's better to know this...

My thoughts on this movement:

Like my French buddy, I found myself creeped out by the video's message, which was by turns incoherent and sinister. I have some vague notion of what these kids are against, but almost no idea of what they're for. If anything, the video comes across as propaganda for Le Front National, the anti-immigrant party that used to be led by the pugnacious Jean-Marie Le Pen ("Khader is not my brother"). Monsieur Le Pen is too old to be active in politics now, so his battle standard has been taken up by his handsome but odious daughter, Marine Le Pen.

There's a definite sense of "Ausländer raus!" in the video (see the link in the third footnote, below). These kids no longer see themselves as part of a village-monde or any other sort of extended, harmonious community. If anything, I get the sense that la Génération Identitaire sees itself as tilting toward a Swiss lifestyle-- one that is primarily white-dominated, not merely culturally but also racially-- an orderly, socially homogeneous existence: La France pour les Français ("France for the French," a slogan of the National Front). All I can say to that is that it's far, far too late for France as a whole to tilt that radically rightward. France is awash in leftism, and has been for a long, long time. (My tweet on that here.)

Let's talk about the vid's cosmetic aspects for a moment. The clip's background music and editing style are super-manipulative of emotions, which automatically sets alarm bells off in my head. The stark black-and-white style also implies a black-and-white mentality, both in the logical sense and, quite possibly, in the racial sense. The militancy of the kids in the clip is pretty off-putting as well.

I think, when my friend Malcolm first linked to this video, he wasn't so much supporting the ideology of the Identity Generation as he was simply making the point that, even in leftist France, leftism isn't working-- people are pushing back. My feeling, though, is that the video hasn't gotten nearly enough circulation to count as a true movement. It represents, at most, an angry flash mob. The video may be enjoying a spot of international popularity, but what counts is whether ça fait éclat en France. If the vid, and the movement it portrays, isn't that widely known, there's little chance it can effect political and social change on a grand scale.

Which may be a good thing. Those kids are scary.

---

*May 1968 was famous as a time of social, political, and cultural upheaval upheaval in France. From May to June of that year, spontaneous demonstrations erupted, most of them with the theme of anti-traditionalism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Gaullism (i.e., Charles de Gaulle)-- essentially a gigantic wave of leftism. May 68 began as a student revolt, but as the movement gained momentum, its ranks were joined by the working class. (Source)

**I asked my buddy Dominique whether "Khader" was a generic term/epithet for a Middle Easterner, like "Achmed" in the US. He said yes. So, to say that "Khader is not my brother" is to say "I don't relate to the Middle Eastern/Muslim population in our midst."

***The phrase "our land, our blood" calls to mind the German "Blut und Boden," or "blood and soil," a slogan popular among the Nazis. (See my post here.)

****Les Trente Glorieuses (the Thirty Glorious Ones) refers to a nearly 30-year period (1945-1973) of strong economic gain and the crystallization of France's leftist social policy. (Source)

*****Le regroupement familial (family regrouping) is a government-sponsored policy that allows families scattered in many different countries to reunite in France. This has obvious implications for immigration. (Source)

******I asked Dominique about Bernard Kouchner. His reply:

Bernard Kouchner est un médecin (il a crée MSF = Médecin Sans Frontière ) qui a fait de la politique et qui a été ministre (des affaires étrangères, de la santé, actions humanitaires) dans des gouvernements de droite et de gauche, c'est lui qui a développé le droit "d'ingérence", en gros, c'est intervenir dans un pays étranger pour apporter de l'aide aux populations civiles, soit en faisant la guerre comme au kosovo (il a été Haut Commissaire de l'ONU au Kosovo) ou en apportant de la nourriture, dans ce lien tu comprendras mieux la référence au sac de riz http://www.coup-de-vieux.fr/du-riz-pour-la-somalie/

Translation:

Bernard Kouchner is a doctor (he created MSF = Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders) involved in politics, and who was a minister (of foreign affairs, health, humanitarian action) in both rightist and leftist governments. He's the one who developed "the right of interference"-- basically, this means intervening in a foreign country to bring aid to its civilian population, either by waging war as in Kosovo (he was High Commissioner of the UN in Kosovo) or by bringing food aid. In this link, you'll better understand the reference to the "sack of rice." (LINK)

*******The phrase emplois-jeunes (youth employment, youth jobs) refers to a government-sponsored program through which young adults can engage in a 5-year work contract (the duration is actually more flexible than that). The program was created in 1997 under the auspices of Lionel Jospin, then-Prime Minister under President Jacques Chirac. (Source)

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