• Founded last September by two former Generation Z activists, the Bastide Bordelaise now brings together between 40 and 45 far-right activists.
  • The two founding members met on the sidelines of militant operations during the campaign for the last presidential elections.
  • They deny being "in the continuity of Bordeaux Nationaliste" although they have recovered the same premises and that at least one member was part of the group dissolved last February.

On a sunny Wednesday afternoon in Bordeaux, Yanis opens the large gate overhung by barbed wire that delimits the entrance to a building near the Barrière de Bègles. It hosted Le Menhir and Bordeaux Nationaliste until its dissolution. "It's a pure coincidence, tempers this executive of the Bastide Bordelaise. I didn't even know it was BN's old premises. I knew the owner, so I approached him to find a local. At first, we were supposed to have one in Saint-Michel, but we thought it would be complicated. »

Clément*, the other founder of La Bastide, lived in Paris to study. Both were present in the dock for causing havoc with banners and megaphone chants during the last pride march in Bordeaux. It was after this action that the idea of creating this "section" came. The goal? "To be between people who have the same ideas," says Clément on the screen, from his sofa in the capital. And Yanis adds: "It is also to raise awareness among the Bordeaux population who are known to be quite bourgeois, and who could not necessarily see the danger coming".

The fault of "insecurity and immigration"

What danger are they talking about? Clément warns that "it will not take long to go live". The fault is "insecurity and immigration", according to these two former activists of Generation Z. "I always told myself that a city like Bordeaux could not fall as low as it is now," adds the younger of the two. Yanis adds: "Today, even if the media do not talk about it, conflicts are already civilizational. There is one civilization that is replacing another." They deny resorting to violence and demand only "peaceful actions". Their latest appearance in court demonstrates the opposite. But they retaliate by railing: "Violence has always come first from the other side."

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If at the beginning they were eight to think about the future of the group, they are now "40 or 45 activists" and the founders claim to receive requests "every day, even if the goal is not to be as much as possible". "And we don't want to have guys who don't think and put us in the sauce," explains Clément who admits to still having "work to do": "we have to be able to hold our activists. " And for good reason, Yanis was tried for "violence with a weapon" for throwing gravel at participants in the pride march and several months of reprieve were requested against the two founders.

If Clément, 23, grew up in Bordeaux, Yanis is from Chambéry (Savoie) and only joined the Gironde capital in 2018. At 26, he defines himself as an "Italian fascist": "I am not ashamed to say it, fascism is a beautiful thing. He did not advocate any hateful ideology. It is from his father that his convictions come to him. "I was a scum, then I had my first child very young and my father came back to live in France. The planets have aligned," Yanis said. According to him, racism is "an invention of the left that it uses to justify its ignorance of history. I am mixed-race and that is what annoys leftists. »

Moreover, Yanis claims "never to have known as much racism" as in his neighborhood of Chambéry and, today, he has found his place among the militants of the "section": "I am a bit like their big brother."

"We are not in the continuity of Bordeaux Nationaliste"

For his part, Clément is younger and went through various groups of activists before joining Generation Z during the last elections. Optimistic, he is pleased that "more and more people are becoming aware of the problems of France". "Moreover, we see it in the elections, I think that one day we will win," continues the one who defends himself from having "something to do with Bordeaux Nationalist".



Still, one of the men who accompanied Clément and Yanis to court on April 7 was identified as an activist of the recently dissolved group. "We are not in the continuity of BN, explains Clément. We are not nationalists, we are identitarians. It is a much broader plan in which the triple identity is defended: local, national and European. We have comrades in Portugal, England, Spain, etc. Everywhere. If tomorrow there is a serious armed or economic conflict that will push people out into the streets, which we hope not, then we will have to find allies. When we see what is happening in Ukraine, we say to ourselves that it is not impossible. »

In the meantime, the members of the Bastide Bordelaise are preparing by meeting nearly once a week for a combat sports workshop, in addition to sticking sessions. The group does not intend to stop there: "We will soon resume more beautifully, rejoices Clément. As soon as the work of the premises is completed, we will be able to organize conferences and evenings to meet. »

  • Bordeaux
  • Far right
  • Politics
  • Gironde
  • New Aquitaine
  • Aquitaine