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Terre et Peuple (English: "Land and People"; abbreviated T&P or TP) is a
far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of bein ...
and
neo-pagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...
cultural association in France founded by
Pierre Vial Pierre Vial (born 25 December 1942) is an academic medievalist tied to the Jean Moulin University Lyon 3. A Nouvelle Droite leader, he is the founder of the Identitarian association Terre et Peuple. Biography Pierre Vial was born on 25 Decembe ...
and launched in 1995. Its positions are close to the Identitarian movement, although it precedes that movement and its terminology.


History


Background

Pierre Vial Pierre Vial (born 25 December 1942) is an academic medievalist tied to the Jean Moulin University Lyon 3. A Nouvelle Droite leader, he is the founder of the Identitarian association Terre et Peuple. Biography Pierre Vial was born on 25 Decembe ...
(born 1942) is an academic
medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vo ...
tied to the Jean Moulin University Lyon 3. He had been involved in far-right political activism since the 1960s: Vial co-founded the
Nouvelle Droite The Nouvelle Droite (; en, "New Right"), sometimes shortened to the initialism ND, is a far-right political movement which emerged in France during the late 1960s. The Nouvelle Droite is at the origin of the wider European New Right (ENR). Vario ...
organization
Groupement de recherche et d'études pour la civilisation européenne The Groupement de Recherche et d'Études pour la Civilisation Européenne ("Research and Study Group for European Civilization"), better known as GRECE, is a French ethnonationalist think tank founded in 1968 to promote the ideas of the Nouvelle ...
(GRECE) in 1968, and served as the secretary general from 1978 to 1984. He represents a
neopagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...
outlook in the vein of Marc "Saint-Loup" Augier. In 1988 Vial became a member of the
Front National The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a Far-right politics, far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as fa ...
(FN) where he joined the leadership ranks.


Creation

Vial had been complaining about the lack of focus on the ethnic dimension of identity in both GRECE and the FN, and eventually decided to establish his own movement. Helped by former GRECE members Jean Mabire and Jean Haudry, he founded the cultural association Terre et Peuple (T&P) in 1994 and launched it publicly in 1995. According to the
political scientists This is a list of notable political scientists. See the list of political theorists for those who study political theory. See also political science. A * Robert Abelson - Yale University psychologist and political scientist with special int ...
Jean-Yves Camus Jean-Yves Camus (born 1958) is a French political scientist who specializes on nationalist movements in Europe. Life and career Born in 1958 to a Catholic and Gaullist family, Camus is an observant Jew and describes himself as part of "the ...
and
Nicolas Lebourg Nicolas Lebourg (born 1974) is a French historian who specializes on far-right movements in Europe. Biography Born in 1974, Lebourg studied sociology at Aix-Marseille University and history at the University of Perpignan, from which he graduated ...
, T&P could originally be understood as an externalization of the racialist faction of GRECE, which thereby could make more extravagant claims about ethnic civil war in Europe. Camus and Lebourg also tie the roots of T&P to the neopagan tendency within the FN, and trace this tendency to the days of the FN co-founder François Duprat (1940–1978). Although he was an atheist with no sympathy for pagan revivalism, Duprat had clashed with the party's
Traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions, and presentations of Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church before the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council ( ...
faction due to his conception of the nation, which was understood by the Catholics to be pagan. When Vial joined the FN, he became responsible for organizing the faction of the party that held views similar to those of Duprat.


Recent developments

The ties between T&P and the FN were weakened in 1998 when Vial's faction sided with
Bruno Mégret Bruno Mégret (; born 4 April 1949) is a French former nationalist politician. He was the leader of the Mouvement National Républicain political party, but retired in 2008 from all political action. Youth and studies Born in Paris, Bruno Mégr ...
and his failed attempt to take over the party. After this T&P became linked with Mégret's new party, the National Republican Movement. This connection was in turn broken after the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
in 2001, when Mégret began to portray himself as a defender of the Jews against Muslims. T&P have since established international branches in Belgium, Spain (Tierra y Pueblo), Portugal (Terra et Povo) and Italy (Terra Insubre). Since 2013 it has participated in the Switzerland-based network Action Européenne, labeled by Camus and Lebourg as a
neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack r ...
network.


Activity and membership

T&P organize annual roundtables, participate at conferences and publish an eponymous quarterly magazine, subtitled ''résistance identitaire européenne'' (''European identitarian resistance''). Unlike
Alain de Benoist Alain de Benoist (; ; born 11 December 1943) – also known as Fabrice Laroche, Robert de Herte, David Barney, and other pen names – is a French journalist and political philosopher, a founding member of the Nouvelle Droite ("New Right"), and ...
and Charles Champetier of GRECE, T&P have been receptive to Guillaume Faye's adaptation of the Clash of Civilizations hypothesis and its focus on physical conflict. Vial announced in an editorial that the group's core principle is the "Identitarian cultural combat". To him, the cohabitation of two communities in one area could only lead to violence. "Ethnic conflicts, which have existed, will always exist", he said, the Identitarian goal then becomes to culturally arm the people "for the resistance, and then for the war of liberation which will allow it to survive and take command of its destiny." He has associated his group with the historical German ''völkisch'' movement, writing in the magazine that "the German word völkisch describes perfectly the doctrine of Terre et Peuple". Vial rejects the term "neopaganism", as he does not perceive T&P's religious practices as new. This has been disputed by Stéphane François, a historian of ideas, who views the paganism of the organization as "a reinvention of a religion that never existed in this way". François describes T&P's paganism as something that has grown out of intellectual considerations rather than an immediate religiosity. It belongs to a current that began in the 20th century, which approaches paganism on a
nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
or regionalist basis. François does however set T&P apart from neo-Nazis and other far-right neopagan currents that can be prone to violence. In 2014, '' Le Monde des Religions'' reported that the organization had more than 700 members.


References


Notes


Sources

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External links


Official website
{{authority control Identitarian movement in France Far-right politics in France Organizations established in 1994 Modern pagan organizations based in France New Right (Europe) Cultural organizations based in France Modern pagan organizations established in 1994