The Initiative and Liberty Movement (, MIL) is a French
Gaullist political
association.
History
First called GIL (Initiative and Liberty Groups), it was established in March 1981 and became the Initiative and Liberty Movement on November 17, 1981. It was chaired by Jacques Rougeot, who was close to the
Rally for the Republic (RPR) and president of the
National Inter-University Union (UNI). General
Alain de Boissieu,
Pierre Messmer and
Jacques Foccart also participated in its establishment.
The MIL was born before the victory of the left in 1981. It tried "to prevent that, after having seized political power, the socialist-communists definitely put their hands on and minds on the structures of France", according to its terms.
As Pierre Debizet said on TF1 on July 25, 1985, the MIL does not consider itself officially as a "resurgence" of the ''
Service d'Action Civique'' (SAC).
From 1986 on, its new cause was to liberate France from the "socialist stagnation". Pierre Debizet compared, in 1985, socialism to
AIDS.
However, the MIL struggled to take off, though it had several thousand members, including
Alain Peyrefitte and the former Chief of Staff of the Army, General
Jean Delaunay. Yet one thing was certain: despite low name recognition, everybody on the right knew the MIL.
About the ideas of MIL in the 1980s, the historian François Audigier said: "The MIL is a kind of ideological laboratory, which crossed the diverse influences of the
liberal right, a reactionary Catholicism and a rigid
Gaullism. It used an
anti-immigration,
pro-life, defense of
private schools
A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their financial endowme ...
and the rejection of left-wing values, a package that had nothing to envy to the
National Front's program".
[''Histoire du S.A.C. La part d'ombre du gaullisme'', éd. Stock, 2003, p. 488]
Today
The MIL, now chaired by Christian Labrousse, who claims to be on the "civic right" a Gaullist and a patriot. Its emblem is the
Cross of Lorraine. This movement is associated to the
Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). It is part of the UMP's right-wing and is a "Gaullist loyalist" organization as opposed to neo-Gaullism, which integrates
neoliberalism and moderate centre-right ideas.
The MIL is a "movement of thought" out of defending the common civic values (primacy of individual freedom, responsibility, duty and cohesion of society). Gaullism is for the MIL an inspiration.
He considers that
communitarianism,
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...
and
Islamism
Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...
threaten the national identity of France, and that resistance is a civic duty.
Pierre Clostermann, a
Companion of the Liberation;
Jacques Foccart, former head of
Free France network and former General Secretary of the Presidency of the Republic between 1959 and 1974;
Michel Habib-Deloncle, former minister of General de Gaulle;
Pierre Messmer, a
Companion of the Liberation and former
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
and
Maurice Schumann
Maurice Schumann (; 10 April 1911 – 9 February 1998) was a French politician, journalist, writer, and hero of the Second World War who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (France), Minister of Foreign Affairs under Georges Pompidou from 22 J ...
, a former minister and a
Companion of the Liberation, now dead, were members of its honorary committee.
Are also members of the honorary committee of the MIL
*
Jacques Boyon, Chairman of the Board of Directors of IRIS
*
Bernard Debré, UMP deputy
*
Xavier Deniau, former minister
*
Robert Galley, Companion of the Liberation
*
Philippe de Gaulle, son of General de Gaulle
*
Jacques Godfrain, former member UMP
*
Yves Guéna, honorary president of the New Century Club,
*
Hugues Martin, former UMP deputy (replaced
Alain Juppé in Parliament)
*
Robert Pandraud, former RPR-UMP member
*
Charles Pasqua, UMP senator
*
Armel Pécheul, close to the
Movement for France
*
Eric Raoult, UMP deputy
*
Jean Tiberi, UMP deputy
In the
1995 French presidential election it supported
Jacques Chirac to "escape from socialism" and repeated its support for Chirac in the
2002 election ("Chirac, the true Gaullist") and it supported
Nicolas Sarkozy in the
2007 election. It opposed the
Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe in 2005.
References
{{reflist
External links
Official website of the MIL
Gaullist parties
Conservatism in France
Political organizations based in France
Political party factions in France
Factions and associate parties of the Union for a Popular Movement
Anti-communist parties