Occident : The fascist past of the "Sarko Connection"

[Theobald]

First, some informations about the French former nationalist movement "Occident" :

Occident (1964-1968) was a French far-right, fascist-leaning violent political group. (...)

Founded by Pierre Sidos in 1964, it mostly recruited university students. Occident was intensely anti-communist, but also denounced the administration of president Charles de Gaulle, making common cause with the pied-noirs who accused de Gaulle of having sold them out.

Occident's ideology was anti-democratic and anti-liberal, anti-communist, against Freemasonry, and openly racist.

Occident was a very violent group. In Paris' student quarter (the "Quartier Latin") they regularly attacked leftist groups. As an example, the following incident was recalled in a recent book : On January 12, 1967, a group of Occident members attacked the Vietnam committees on the campus of the university of Rouen; about 20 members of Occident were arrested, including Gérard Longuet, Alain Madelin and Patrick Devedjian (all future right-wing ministers).

It is even said by some historians that Occident attacks against communist students contributed to the explosion of May 68. During May 68 some members joined rioters against the Gaullist regime, though most of them fought leftists as unofficial auxiliaries of police.

On October 27, 1968, Occident launched an unprecedented wave of anti-communist attacks : they bombed and destroyed offices of the SNESUP (communist trade union) and Action (anarchist newspaper), burned with Molotov cocktails the café Relais-Odéon (where anarchist militants used to meet) and finally bombed and damaged a maoist bookshop.

Occident was then termed an illegal violent group and dissolved by the administration. Many of its former members joined newer far-right groups such as the Groupe Union Droit (the famous GUD).

Famous Occident's mottos were :

- "Tuez les communistes partout où ils se trouvent!" - "Kill communists everywhere they are!"

- "Gauchistes, ne vous cassez pas la tête, Occident le fera pour vous." - "Leftists, don't break your head (which means "don't worry" in French - play on word), Occident will do it for you"


Then, let's look at former Occident activists who later became more "respectable"... Were members of Occident :

- Patrick Devedjian : UMP's general secretary (probably UMP's next president), former Minister, a close adviser to Sarkozy and his best friend

- Hervé Novelli : UMP deputy and leader of the liberal wing of UMP (strongest Sarkozy's supporters)

- Gérard Longuet : co-leader of the liberal wing of UMP, former Minister, a close political adviser to Sarkozy (political and electoral strategy)

- Alain Madelin : UMP deputy and member, former president of the liberal party Démocratie Libérale (that created UMP with the "gaullist" RPR)

- Jean-Jacques Guillet : UMP deputy, close friend of Nicolas Sarkozy (they are from the same department)

- Claude Goasguen : spokesman for Sarkozy's presidential campaign, UMP deputy of Paris, probably next Paris' mayor

- Eric Raoult : UMP deputy and vice-president of the French National Assembly, close friend of Sarkozy

[Theobald]

And now the funniest part, their comments :

- Patrick Devedjian

1965 : "What we refuse, what we oppose because it is simply unreal, is the egalitarian vision that claims that humanity is made up of small, equal cubes. Obviously, men are unequal, there are inferior and superior people."

"The myth of election shall be replaced by the selection of the best elements of the national communauty, so as to create a new elite, based on merit and talents."

2005 : "I have never denied my past. I was Armenian, and to me it was somehow a way to feel French. I was anti-communist and, anyway, I have never changed. (...) I wanted to fight for French Algeria. (...) I left Occident in 1966, but this movement had nothing to do with current Le Pen's far-right. Those were other times, one cannot compare..."




- Gérard Longuet :

1967, after the coup d'etat of the Colonels in Greece :
"Since the only known way to put an end to marxist agitation is physical elimination, we suggest to the Greek government that it does not fall into the trap of so-called 'humanitarism'."

"Perverse and harmful in any way, liberalism is the most dangerous enemy of nationalism."

2005 :"For personal motives I supported French Algeria and I was anti-communist. I was member of FEN (nationalist students), then I joined Occident. We were a bunch of friends, we had good laughs, nothing violent or nasty... (...) I have never accepted that someone tells me how to think... (...) When Occident started violent actions against leftist groups, I left and joined the "Républicains indépendants" (centre-right)."




- Alain Madelin :

1965-66 : "Blood will always obsess the human spirit, Christ's mystical blood, the common blood of all peoples of Europe."

"In all democracies youth is bored, and in all democracies there are "blousons noirs" ("scum"), while in fascist countries there are none of them. Why ? Because every fascism is the expression of a nationalism, the only thing that can crystallize the will of youth in an immense revolutionary wave... Nationalism, it's youth at the power."


2002 : "During all my student life I was an anti-communist, militant, extreme and impassioned. And as in the 60's the France of anti-communism was marginalized, we were considered as a far-right group... Which was not true. Our enemies, they were for Mao and Pol Pot, for the Red Guards and the Red Khmers. I don't regret having chosen this side."



- Hervé Novelli :

2005 :"I was younger than other members, but I spontaneously chose the order, against the communist agitation. In the 60's there was nothing between far-right and far-left. I don't regret anything, Occident was an anti-communist engagement in which I still recognize myself. Let's not fall into the trap of seeing communists as angels and nationalists as evil..."

(Probably the only sincere comment)

[Lucas Corso]

I think this is a case of "The name is the substance"
They chose "Occident" as a name, this remeber to me the so called "Occidental Civilization" that is nothing more then the "Anglosphere", the geopolitical space where the anglosaxon are the masters and the continental europeans their lackeys...
Because obviously the "Occidental Civilization" not only excludes Russia but it is aimed against Russia, the nation that was more helpful in dark ages of the mongolian invasions of the eurasian space, without Russia now we'll be really nothing more then an appendix of Asia...
This connects with the Foreign Minister appointed by Sarkozy: the russophobe-atlantist Kouchner...

[Theobald]

Originally Posted by Lucas Corso

I think this is a case of "The name is the substance"
They chose "Occident" as a name, this remeber to me the so called "Occidental Civilization" that is nothing more then the "Anglosphere", the geopolitical space where the anglosaxon are the masters and the continental europeans their lackeys...
Because obviously the "Occidental Civilization" not only excludes Russia but it is aimed against Russia, the nation that was more helpful in dark ages of the mongolian invasions of the eurasian space, without Russia now we'll be really nothing more then an appendix of Asia...

I think you misunderstood the name. Back then "Occident" was a term frequently used by nationalists, and did not have the same meaning as today. It was synonymous of "Christian Europe", or just "Europe", as opposed to Orient.
Occident (and its successor the GUD) was a fascist, third positionnist movement, both anti-communist and anti-capitalist/American.

[Errigal]

I could see Sarkozy presenting himself in those days as the son of an exiled Hungarian aristocrat wanting to regain the family's lands by fighting communism wherever it raised its head. I cannot believe the CIA did not take a serious interest in such an organization and was not giving assistance to such groups in the May '68 period and after; that was literally the job of the CIA at the time. I would not be surprised if Sarko made friendships back then which have served him well over his political life. This is not to say Sarkozy was made President by the CIA, but politics is all about friendships and alliances.

[Lucas Corso]

Originally Posted by Theobald

I think you misunderstood the name. Back then "Occident" was a term frequently used by nationalists, and did not have the same meaning as today. It was synonymous of "Christian Europe", or just "Europe", as opposed to Orient.
Occident (and its successor the GUD) was a fascist, third positionnist movement, both anti-communist and anti-capitalist/American.

Thanks for your explaination, i think it was quite similar to the "Terza Posizione" group in Italy

[Lucas Corso]

Originally Posted by Errigal

I could see Sarkozy presenting himself in those days as the son of an exiled Hungarian aristocrat wanting to regain the family's lands by fighting communism wherever it raised its head. I cannot believe the CIA did not take a serious interest in such an organization and was not giving assistance to such groups in the May '68 period and after; that was literally the job of the CIA at the time. I would not be surprised if Sarko made friendships back then which have served him well over his political life. This is not to say Sarkozy was made President by the CIA, but politics is all about friendships and alliances.

I agree, also in Italy the far-right, third position movements in '70s were heavly infiltrated by CIA agents...

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by Theobald

Occident (and its successor the GUD) was a fascist, third positionnist movement, both anti-communist and anti-capitalist/American.

Are you sure of that ? I've read that some members of Occident were pro-American during the Vietnam war (and even pro-Israeli during the Six-day war). But it was probably a bone of contention between them.

[Lucas Corso]

Originally Posted by Salaün

Are you sure of that ? I've read that some members of Occident were pro-American during the Vietnam war (and even pro-Israeli during the Six-day war). But it was probably a bone of contention between them.

Something similar was inside the Movimento Sociale Italiano, much part of the party was pro arabs following the heritage of Mussolini but a minority part was strongly pro-sionist...
Nearly whole party was atlantist due to his anti-comunisim however.

[Errigal]

Originally Posted by Lucas Corso

Something similar was inside the Movimento Sociale Italiano, much part of the party was pro arabs following the heritage of Mussolini but a minority part was strongly pro-sionist...
Nearly whole party was atlantist due to his anti-comunisim however.

There is a neocon connection through Daniel Pipes and Michael Ledeen to this Italian bunch too. In turn Daniel Pipes has links to the Danish genius who published the Mohammed cartoons.

I find a lot can be learned by looking into the background of politicians and journalists and discovering who is friends with who.

Here is a link to some gossip on Sarko's father:

Taki\'s Top Drawer: Slumming with Sarko Senior

[Menydh]

It was similar in Italy, France and Spain. With the difference that in the 60s Spain was still under the regime of General Franco.

Nationalist groups were heavily infiltrated by CIA as a means to have an element of contention against the growth of the Red front.

They even financed the failed coup d'état of Prince Valerio Borghese in Italy. Some say that the coup was planned with the intention of failure, and only to use it as a warning against the possibility of a growth and take over of the Socio-Communists in Italy.

This was not necessary in Northern Europe, as their governments were under a more direct influence of the US.

In modern days, this infiltration is of a different nature and it's done through the WN groups both in America and in Britain (the BNP). A reason more than good enough to establish a cordon sanitaire (a quarantine line) around them.

[Errigal]

Another area of covert American influence has been the world of book and newspaper publishing. Influential newspapers like Le Figaro in France or political magazines like Encounter in Britain have been subsidized by the CIA at different times. As well, authors and journalists who write popular history and political analysis friendly to America have been rewarded financially in order that they keep up their "good work" for the US. One example is John Keegan, an English historian who started his professional life working in the American Embassy in London and has gone on to write a shelf full of Atlanticist military histories. He was a faithful civilian employee at the American Embassy during the Suez Crisis when the US left France and Britain twisting in the wind.