GRECE

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The Groupement de recherche et d'études pour la civilization européenne ( GRECE ) is a theoretical group of the French extreme right , which founded the Nouvelle Droite and significantly influenced the ideology of the entire Western European New Right . In France , the Nouvelle Droite is largely dominated by GRECE, so that in French journalism the terms GRECE and Nouvelle Droite (in German "New Right", according to extremism research, a current of intellectual right-wing extremism ) are also used synonymously. The French publicist Alain de Benoist is considered to be the founder and leading theorist .

Emergence

GRECE was founded in January 1968 in Nice by 40 activists from the right-wing extremist ( extrême droite ) magazines Cahiers Universitaires and Europe Action . While Cahiers universitaires was the publication organ of the neo-fascist student organization Fédération des étudiants nationalistes (FEN), Europe action acted as its theoretical organ.

In addition to de Benoist, the founders included Dominique Venner , Pierre Vial , Gilles Fournier, Roger Lemoine, Jean-Jacques Mourreau, Jean-Claude Rivière, Jacques Bruyas, Jean-Claude Valla, Jean Mabire, Michel Marmin and Dominique Gajas.

The Nouvelle Droite , later founded by GRECE, saw itself as a response to the student protests of the 1960s and the social impulses of the Parisian May 1968 . This current brought together intellectuals from almost all associations of the traditional extreme right who had separated from them for ideological or strategic reasons. They considered the old structures to be encrusted and blamed their persistent fixation on de Gaulle's Algeria dilemma for the lack of political success. As reasons for the failure of traditional right-wing extremism, Benoist named the lack of a long-term political strategy, the lack of concrete political goals, the lack of a clearly formulated and scientifically proven theory, the ignoring of the cultural environment as a political battlefield and finally the fixation on past conceptions from the time of National Socialism and Fascism , which are outdated and are not attractive. This should now be changed by a new, contemporary program.

Goals and content

The goal of the Nouvelle Droite , or the protagonists of GRECE , was a complete renewal process. In their words, they wanted to work out a new "history of ideas, metapolitical, comprehensive frame of reference" for a modern right-wing program. However, the positions developed showed no fundamental differences to previous right-wing extremism. Essentially, there were ideological and strategic differences while maintaining the extreme basic positions. The enemy of the “new right” as well as the “old right” are the “egalitarian ideologies”, which include liberalism , Marxism and Christianity .

The theoretical models can be divided into three groups. First, the representative of the German conservative revolution as Ernst Junger , Edgar Julius Jung , Arthur Moeller van den Bruck , Carl Schmitt and Oswald Spengler . Second, intellectual supporters or pioneers of Italian fascism such as Julius Evola , Robert Michels , Vilfredo Pareto or Georges Sorel, and thirdly, “hereditary researchers” such as Hans Jürgen Eysenck , Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt , Arthur Jensen and Konrad Lorenz . From their works, the protagonists of GRECE created the worldview of the Nouvelle Droite selectively and arbitrarily, and without problematizing the associated contradictions .

From Antonio Gramsci , they adopted the idea of ​​a culture war, in which the aim is to win cultural hegemony before political hegemony , i. H. to occupy the pre-political space. The Nouvelle Droite stands in opposition to egalitarianism and the ideas of 1789 . "Against freedom, equality, fraternity, the Nouvelle Droite sets the bond to the (people) community, the natural inequality of people and races as well as the idea of ​​heroic elites forming themselves." Against the alleged political, military and cultural hegemony of the USA, which is regarded as the end point of liberal capitalist individualism, the Nouvelle Droite relies on the identity of the European peoples, against the capitalist “merchant spirit” the primacy of politics in the sense of Carl Schmitt.

In French literature, GRECE is repeatedly described as a neo-pagan organization. The support of neo-pagan ideas and the reference to Celtic and Germanic mythology, which are contrasted with Christianity and monotheism , is one of the ideological peculiarities of GRECE. The French political scientist Stéphane François identified neo-paganism as an important part of the GRECE doctrine.

program

The title of a colloquium of the GRECE “For a Gramscianism from the Right” speaks for the program of this organization, which with the slogan “Cultural Revolution from the Right” attracted attention beyond France. In addition to Gramsci , Marx has also been received positively since 2005 . Heidegger's “strategically clever bow to Marx” in his letter on humanism serves as a starting point .

One of the main focuses of GRECE was the publication of the magazines Nouvelle École (founded in 1968 by Benoist) and Eléments (from 1973). While the Nouvelle École has a more scientific-encyclopedic claim, which is supposed to cover as many areas as possible, the more literary elements are dominated by political polemics. Both publications strive for a renaissance of right-wing thinking and are primarily in the service of so-called "metapolitics", that is, "intellectual, philosophical and theoretical reflection" (Benoist) in contrast to direct political activity. Benoist ideologically represents a neo-paganism , which should be linked to an original, polytheistic Indo-European religion .

GRECE also publishes the magazine Cartouches - L'actualité des idées, under the direction of Michel Thibault . Its editors include Charles Berrias, Rodolphe Badinand, Léonard Chambolle, Eric Cotentin, Olivier Diaboc, Georges Feltin-Tracol, Arnaud Guyot-Jeannin, François Labeaume, Christophe Levalois, Pierre le Vigan, Alexandre Nicolas, Eric Robert, Christian Ville, Dominique Taccella and Janis Trisk; among their correspondents are Gerwig Helman (Germany), Jürgen Hatzenbichler (Austria), Manuel Rodrigues Péon (Spain), Guglielmo Alessio (Italy) and Bogdan G. Radulescu (Romania).

literature

  • Ines Weber: The political theory of Alain de Benoist (= series political sciences volume 42). Tectum Verlag, Marburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8288-2639-7
  • Matthias Weber, prototype of the New Right. Alain de Benoist and the Nouvelle Droite in France . In: Wolfgang Gessenharter, Thomas Pfeiffer (eds.): The new right - a threat to democracy? Wiesbaden, VS Verlag 2004, ISBN 978-3-8100-4162-3 , pp. 145-162
  • Alfred Schobert: middle and normality. On the simultaneity of modern collective symbolism and institutionalist symbolism. In: Ernst Schulte-Holtey (Ed.): Grenzmarkierungen. Normalization and discursive exclusion. Duisburg Institute for Language and Social Research (DISS), Duisburg, 1995, ISBN 978-3-927388-51-2
  • Alfred Schobert: Finding roots, renewing your empire, “Ami go home!” - Alain de Benoist's idea of ​​Europe. In: Alfred Schobert, Siegfried Jäger (Ed.): Mythos Identity. Fiction with consequences (= Duisburg Institute for Linguistic and Social Research: Edition DISS, 6). Unrast, Münster, 2004, ISBN 978-3-89771-735-0

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Uwe Backes, Eckhard Jesse: Political Extremism in the Federal Republic of Germany , Vol. 1. Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, Cologne 1989, p. 136; for a comparison of the German and French movements cf. Armin Pfahl-Traughber: The “New Right” in France and Germany ( Memento from December 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive ).
  2. ^ Matthias Weber, Prototype of the New Right. Alain de Benoist and the Nouvelle Droite in France , In: The new right - a threat to democracy? , Wolfgang Gessenharter, Thomas Pfeiffer (eds.), VS Verlag 2004, p. 145
  3. ^ Institute for Social Research (ed.) Aspects of Xenophobia, Frankfurt am Main / New York 1992, p. 109
  4. ↑ Stéphane Francois, Les paganismes de la Nouvelle Droite (1980-2004) , dissertation 2005, p. 7
  5. ^ Alfred Schobert: Discourse piracy, or How Alain de Benoist freed Marx from Marxism with Costanzo Preve ( Memento from April 22, 2005 in the Internet Archive ). A shorter version of this text appeared under the title … und fat booty in Konkret 3/2005.
  6. ↑ Martin Heidegger: About humanism . Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 1949. Re-published in the same: Wegmarken (1919–1961) , ed. by Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann (=  complete edition 9). Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 3 2004.
  7. ↑ Alfred Schobert: Middle and Normality. On the simultaneity of modern collective symbolism and traditional institutionalist symbolism. In: Ernst Schulte-Holtey (ed.): Grenzmarkierungen. Normalization and discursive exclusion . Duisburg Institute for Linguistic and Social Research, Duisburg 1995, pp. 61–65.