The appeals of former generals have profound successes in French society

When he first appeared in the dark military blog last month, he called for the withdrawal of the weapons of retired French generals who were close to calling for a coup d’état as if France were on the brink of civil war.

“France is in danger,” read the statement signed by hundreds of army pensioners and at least 18 active military personnel. He condemned the “laxity”, Islamism and “hordes” of the nation’s peoples who understand that all French readers understand them as immigrants.

Re-published in the right-wing magazine Valeurs Actuelles on the 60th anniversary of the generals ’defeat against President Charles de Gaulle in 1961, the army commander initially dismissed the statement as a nostalgic discourse of older reactionaries.

But the public acceptance of far-right leader Marine Le Pen – saying it was the duty of French nationalists to “lift up” to save the country – condemnations from politicians and the defense ministry and a promise to punish the servant soldiers who signed the declaration.

Three weeks later, the Paris consensus is that anger says more about the state of French politics and society than about the state of the army, which is professionally neutral, politically neutral, and very difficult to stage a coup. état – something not seen in western Europe since the frustrated putch in Spain in 1981.

“There is no coup in Europe,” said Jean-Yves Camus, an expert on extreme politics.

Dominique Trinquand, a former general and now a commentator leading the French military mission to the UN, agreed. “This is not serious for the army, because those who signed it are not in the army today or are very few,” he said, noting that the prosecutor decided not to pursue the matter in the absence of a criminal offense.

He also dismissed the importance of Le Pen’s call on former generals to join his far-right Rassemblement National party, as polls showed he was the main national opposition to President Emmanuel Macron. “The comic is that three-quarters of the signatories are already closer to the RN,” he said.

He was the man behind the idea Jean-Pierre Fabre-Bernadac, a former infantry and gendarmerie officer, led the security of Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie when the party was called the National Front. And among the signatories was Christian Piquemal, a former leader of the French Foreign Legion who was forced to withdraw completely from the army reserve five years ago for taking part in an illegal demonstration against Calais immigrants.

Former officials, opinion leaders said, had little chance of causing an army coup that is apolitical and increasingly reflected in French ethnic diversity, but their statements and echoes in politics suggested that their concerns were widely shared in public.

“Despite the highly controversial words,” Trinquand said, “it is a feeling shared by a good portion of French concerns about law and order and radical Islamists.”

According to one opinion poll When the debate erupted, 58% of French voters — including many on the left — helped the military sign the declaration. 74 per cent believed that French society was falling apart and less than 45 per cent admitted that France would “soon have a civil war”.

Jean-Daniel Lévy, general manager of Harris Interactive, which conducted the survey, said: “In general, the French have the same opinions expressed by the generals.”

This is the hot political situation in which Macron’s two main contenders for next year’s presidential election are headed – he took office four years ago saying he would be “neither right nor left”, but has since constantly turned right on his Islamism and immigration and Le Pen.

For Camus, the organization with the most pressure is not the army waging war against the jihadists in the Sahel, but the national police persecuted at home, who tried to suppress national anti-government demonstrations. yellow vests the protesters have been in power for more than a year since 2018 and are still on the verge of a fight against crime, drugs and terrorism.

“I think the real issue in the coming months will be the police,” Camus said. He was outraged by low wages and poor equipment, all at the risk of killing small drug dealers in broad daylight. “

Two weeks ago, a Tunisian Muslim man who cut his throat at the entrance to the Rambouillet police station was killed by a police officer, the latest in a series of knife killings at the Paris police headquarters in 2019 and the last of the attacks. teacher an Islamist Chechen refugee outside his school last year.

In April, police in 2016 found that the courts of five youths arrested in Viry-Châtillon for assaulting and burning two police officers in Viry-Châtillon in the south of Paris were found to have been treated with palliative treatment.

And last Wednesday, it was the turn of a policeman in the southern city of Avignon, who was shot dead in the street in a bust of drugs and the attacker fled, the police themselves calling for a protest march over the weekend.

Researchers say Le Pen has had just over 40 per cent support in the army, which is not far off in the broad population, given the support provided by relatives of far-right youth and young active-duty soldiers. In the police, the aid is more than 50 percent.

Gerald Darmanin, The Interior Minister appointed by Macron last year to fight crime and terrorism certainly seemed to be the police that should have calmed down after the Avignon shooting.

Considering the great reputation of the French armed forces and the poor public image of the police, he paid tribute to the deceased by beating the police compared to military heroes.

He said the war on drugs was being waged “thanks to these soldiers,” and that these soldiers are French police and gendarmes. Today, one of these soldiers has killed a hero. ”