Social Bastion (

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

: ''Bastion Social'') was a French 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, was 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 Universi ...

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

nativism Nativism may refer to: * Nativism (politics), ethnocentric beliefs relating to immigration and nationalism * Nativism (psychology), a concept in psychology and philosophy which asserts certain concepts are "native" or in the brain at birth * Lingu ...

and

remigration Remigration is a far-right European concept of ethnic cleansing via the mass deportation or promoted voluntary return of non-white immigrants and their descendants, usually including those born in Europe, to their place of racial ancestry, often ...

. Inspired by the Italian movement

CasaPound CasaPound Italia (abbr. CPI; "House of zraPound") is an Italian neo-fascist movement. It was 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 th ...

, 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 wer ...

, demonstrations, and

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and Humanitarian Logistics, logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homelessness, homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. Th ...

restricted to white homeless people. The group was also close to the Belgian

Nation Movement The NATION Movement (or NATION), is a Belgian far-right political party founded on 9 August 1999, by nationalist politician Hervé Van Laethem in Belgium. The party is part of the larger far-right and right-wing populist movement in Belgium an ...

and the Swiss Résistance Helvétique.

History

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

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, and later spread to other French cities such as

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the southeastern ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

and

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. 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 A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "men-at-arms" (). In France and som ...

and a Black

Guadeloupean Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

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

References

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

History

Convictions

See also

References