Occident (movement)
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Occident, like many similar groups, used the celtic cross as its emblem. |
Occident (
1964-
1968) was a
French far-right violent political group, often described as
fascist-leaning. A number of members of
Occident later were prominent members of mainstream right-wing parties, and even obtained
ministerial positions.
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 (French citizens living in the Algerian French Department, before the
Algerian War of Independence) who accused de Gaulle of having sold them out.
Following violent confrontations during the period of turmoil of
May 1968,
Occident was 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.
Occident and the groups that succeeded it have a
Celtic cross emblem.
Occident was a sometimes violent group. As an example, the following incident was recalled in a recent book (Charpier): 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). This case fed the natural tendency of
paranoia of the group, with suspicions that someone had tipped off the police. Patrick Devedjian, summoned for an alleged meeting, was brutally interrogated by fellow members, including using a bathtub. Devedjian escaped in the nude.
Former members include:
*
Alain Madelin (French political leader),
*
Gérard Longuet (French politician),
*
Patrick Devedjian, (French politician)
*
Guillaume Raoux (French politician),
*
Claude Goasguen (French politician),
*
William Abitbol (French politician).
Its
slogans included:
* Mort aux Bolches !
Death to the Bolshes (slang for bolsheviks)
* Écrasons les valets du Viêt-Cong !
Let us stomp the Viet Cong's valets!
* Gauchistes, ne vous cassez pas la tête, Occident le fera pour vous.
Leftists, don't break your head [worry], Occident will do it for you.
* Sortez les manches !
Get the handles out !
* Sous-développés = Sous-capables
Under-developed = Under-capable*
Organisation de l'Armée Secrète (OAS, the French terrorist group against the independence of Algeria)
*
Politics of France* Frédéric Charpier,
Génération Occident, éd. du Seuil.
*
site of a former Occident member* 2005
article from
Libération
