In the 1980s, a French punk rock band coined a slogan against the country’s far right that has remained influential for decades. The slogan is still shouted at left-wing protests today: “Young people, get out of the National Front,” which, if translated without the profanity, means telling the far right to get lost.
That rude battle cry It reflects conventional wisdom not only in France but elsewhere that young people tend to lean to the left politically. Now that belief is being challenged as more young people join the French electorate to back the National Rally, a party once seen as too extreme to govern.
Results from Sunday’s parliamentary election, the first of a two-part election, showed young people from across the political spectrum turning out in far greater numbers than in previous years. Most of them voted for left-wing parties. But one of the biggest increases was an estimated increase in the number of 18- to 24-year-olds voting for the National Rally, an election many believe could reshape France.
Data shows that a quarter of the age group voted for the party A recent poll That’s up from 12 percent two years ago, according to pollster Ifop.
There is no single reason for such a dramatic shift. The National Rally has tried to polish its image, for example by expelling blatant anti-Semites who share the deep-seated prejudices of the movement’s founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen. The party’s anti-immigration platform has resonated with some who see uncontrolled immigration as a problem.
The party has also benefited from the passage of time; many of the young people who supported the National Rally were toddlers or even not yet born when Mr Le Pen came to power. Shocked France Entered the 2002 presidential runoff.
The National Rally has also been savvy in its selection of new faces: Jordan Bardella, a charismatic 28-year-old with an impressive TikTok following, succeeded Le Pen’s daughter Marine as head of the National Rally in 2022. He has helped clean up the party’s racist image while also pushing for more favorable treatment for French citizens than even legal immigrants.
“My generation never knew Jean-Marie Le Pen,” said Enzo Marano, 23, who heads the local National Rally youth chapter and was distributing party leaflets in a Paris suburb recently. “We are the Bardella generation.”
Analysts say Mr. Badla embodies The National Alliance’s decades-long effort to reshape its image — used social media to reach young voters and repackaged his message into a slick social media campaign centered on him.
Focusing on Mr. Badella is a key strategy for the party, whose founders included former Nazi collaborators and some of whose members are still accused of Racist or anti-Semitic remarks.
“When you talk about the party itself, you have to talk about the history and ideology of the party,” said Laurent Lardeux, a sociologist at the National Institute for Youth and Popular Education. But when the campaign is centered around one person, he added, “you can put ideology aside and talk more about personality, gestures — it’s a branding and communication.”
That strategy, combined with growing popular anger at President Emmanuel Macron, appears to be working so far. The National Rally defeated Macron’s party in the recent European Parliament elections, a poor showing that led Macron to call early French parliamentary elections.
But his gamble to return the country to the center appears to have failed as the National Alliance also dominated in that election, setting up runoffs for most seats this weekend.
The far-right’s growing popularity worries the left, which remains the choice of most young voters. On Sunday, the New Popular Front, a coalition of leftist parties, won 42% of the vote among 18- to 24-year-olds, more than any other group. According to IFP Hospital.
Left-wing activists are currently working to win votes for this Sunday’s runoff election.
“We have no choice,” said Amadou Ka, a candidate for the New Popular Front, during a recent campaign stop in Creil, a small town about 30 miles north of Paris.
In the first round of voting, turnout among 18 to 24-year-olds surged to 56%, up from 25% in 2006. 2022According to the Ifop Institute.
Analysts say young people are more likely to vote in high-stakes situations, like this election, where the National Rally could come to power for the first time. If the party wins an outright majority, Macron would be forced to appoint Bardella as prime minister, giving him control over domestic policy.
For those who support the right, this is a great opportunity for a national rally.
“We have arrived at the doorstep of power,” Marano said as he distributed campaign materials.
Some were openly hostile, crumpling up leaflets and angrily referring to the party’s history of anti-Semitism and racism. “To me, this is fascism,” one elderly man said in broken French, pointing to a leaflet featuring Mr. Bardella’s smiling face.
Olivier Galland, a sociologist at the National Center for Scientific Research, said Mr. Bardella appealed to young, working-class voters, many of whom live in rural areas and often struggle to get stable jobs.
“Bardella represents the young French people who feel forgotten by traditional politicians,” he said.
Noah Ludon, a 19-year-old history student who joined the nationwide rallies this month, said he identified with Mr. Bardella because they both grew up in middle-class families in Paris suburbs with large immigrant populations.
“I don’t feel at home anymore,” Mr Luton said of the influx of immigrants. “It’s hard to find a French butcher now.” When asked to elaborate, he said he was referring to non-halal butchers.
Mr Luden said his mother was attacked in a supermarket car park and crime was also a major concern.
Those comments echo those of Bardella, who has shared them with more than 1.8 million followers on TikTok. While other French politicians have used TikTok, Bardella has a reputation for being particularly proficient, garnering more likes and comments than any other politician — even those with far larger followings, such as Macron.
“He’s good at balancing serious content with lighthearted content, staying on top of trends and showing his personal style,” said Marie Guyomarc’h, a spokeswoman for social media analytics firm Visibrain. She added: “He’s not the only one, but he’s the only one who’s been so successful.”
Many of Badella’s videos touch on classic far-right topics like crime and immigration. But others have little to do with policy.
exist Some Mr. Badla’s Most Popular In the video, he referred to parody video clips that suggested he and Macron’s prime minister, Gabriel Attal, were secretly in love – a hint to his fans that he knew what they were posting and had a sense of humour about it. On social media, he also References Video game Call of Duty According to a report in Le Mondehe used to play football when he was a teenager.
In other words, he was one of them.
It is this closeness and his commitment to humanising the far-right agenda that frightens many young people from immigrant backgrounds or belonging to ethnic minorities.
Rania Daki, 21, a student and activist who grew up in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, said she was terrified when she was a child to talk about Le Pen — something she recalled was discussed in whispers by those who supported the far right.
“Now, it’s completely normal,” Ms. Duckie said.
She and two friends wrote An open letter in Liberation Working-class communities were urged to vote and door-to-door knocking was carried out to spread the message.
But she said advocacy work was difficult. Many young people said they were disillusioned with politics. Others said they did not follow the news.
Concerns about discrimination and police violence are particularly acute in the places she lobbies. Rallies across the country want to establish a legally mandated “presumption of self-defense” for law enforcement, which activists worry will make it harder to hold police accountable for violence against people of color.
So when the far-right vote tally appeared on the television screens in the Oval Office on Sunday, SlumsIt is an association of community organizations located in the multicultural district of Saint-Denis in Paris. There were exclamations at the meeting.
“Even before the election results were announced, people were being attacked, insulted and spit on,” said Mariam Touré, a 22-year-old law student and community activist who attended the event and whose family fled Ivory Coast’s civil war in 2009.
“They will never wipe us out of the political arena,” Ms. Touré told attendees firmly. “At the same time,” she added, her voice cracking, “I am terribly scared.”
