The book is about a small extremist world where everyone knows each other. The members are all young – none are over forty – share the same cultural references, drink together in chic bistros in central Paris, and have the same goal: to gain power. They all have another common point: the rejection of Islam and immigration. However, not everyone contributes to the same place. Some, like Jordan Bardella, have chosen to stay in the “old house” of the French far right, the National Rally (RN), born in 1972 under the name of the National Front. Others, such as Sarah Knafo and Stanislas Rigault, have chosen to follow Eric Zemmour for the 2022 presidential election.
Two experts on the far right, Marylou Magal, a journalist at L’Express, and Nicolas Massol, who writes for Libération, offer an intriguing look into this microcosm. The choice of the two authors is to tell the story of the extreme right through the lens of its youth, which presents well despite a radical, xenophobic, and Islamophobic discourse. This youth is beloved by continuous news channels, especially the right-wing team at Figarovox, former journalists from Valeurs actuelles now leading the Journal du dimanche, the identitarians, the reactionaries, Zemmour’s supporters…
The book leaves out violent activists and older ideologists (encountered incidentally throughout the investigation). The two journalists are more comfortable telling the story of those their own age. They have learned from their elders the lesson of Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist philosopher, who posited that every political victory required, first and foremost, a cultural victory. In other words, winning elections first requires winning over minds by imposing one’s themes.
The authors trace the ideological and political path of this generation that gained experience about ten years ago, during the opposition to same-sex marriage. These demonstrations led to the breaking of barriers between parts of the right and the far right and the birth of a dialogue outside of traditional party apparatus. But the true nerve center of this small circle was an apartment in the Latin Quarter, a kind of “brown salon” where the extremist youth plotted their strategy. The mistress of the place was Sarah Knafo, in third position on Marion Maréchal’s list in the June European elections and the central figure of the book.
