Groupe Union Défense

Ideology

Formed as far-right, anti-communist youth organization, in the mid-1980s, the GUD turned toward support of the Third Position movements and "national revolutionary" theories, as well as embracing anti-Zionism, anti-Americanism and support for Hafez al-Assad.

Culture

GUD took as symbol the Celtic cross and the comic black rats (rats noirs).

Some music groups of Rock identitaire français had connections with GUD.

History

thumb|right|Members of the GUD during demonstration in [[Paris]] in 2012

GUD was founded in December 1968 under the name Union Droit at Panthéon-Assas University by , Gérard Longuet, Gérard Ecorcheville and some members of the political movement Occident. In its early period, it was a reactionary bourgeois student movement, and some of its early members went on to become mainstream conservative politicians, including Gérard Longuet, Hervé Novelli and Alain Madelin.

Members of the GUD participated in the 1969 founding of Ordre Nouveau.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, linked to the Parti des forces nouvelles (PFN), the GUD published the satiric monthly Alternative. Members in this period included Alain Orsoni, a Corsican nationalist linked to organised crime and suspected of the murder of Marie-Jeanne Bozzi.

On 9 May 1994 GUD member died after clashes between nationalists and riot police. Following these event, some French nationalist groups formed an umbrella organization Comité du 9-Mai (C9M) and holds yearly a commemorative marches in Paris on May 9.

In 1998, the Group united itself with Jeune Résistance and the Union des cercles résistance, offshoots of Nouvelle Résistance group, under the name Unité Radicale, but it was dissolved after Maxime Brunerie's failed assassination attempt on president Jacques Chirac.

In 2004, the GUD reformed under the name . Its publication was Le Dissident.

In 2017 members of the GUD squatted a building in Lyon and founded political movement Social Bastion.

In late 2022, graffiti appeared in educational institutions in Paris (including the École Normale Supérieure) saying "GUD is back"; a video was released on , a Telegram channel used by the far right, commemorating some Greek neo-Nazis; and the GUD slogan “Europe, Youth, Revolution” appeared on stickers in Paris and chants at a right-wing demonstration in Lyon. Its activists were reported to be drawn from far-right trade union La Cocarde Étudiante, the ultra-right group the Zouaves, traditionalist Catholics from Versailles, and football hooligans.

Members

Successive leaders of the GUD were: Alain Robert, Jack Marchal, Jean-François Santacroce, Serge Rep, Philippe Cuignache, Charles-Henri Varaut, Frédéric Chatillon, William Bonnefoy, Benoît Fleury.

Military volunteers

Some GUD members have fought in Lebanese Civil War with the Kataeb Party in 1976, Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s and in Burma during Karen conflict. In 1985 member of the GUD Jean-Philippe Courrèges was killed in action fighting for the Karen National Liberation Army.

GUD members have had links with the Department for Protection and Security, which is the security organization of the far-right political party National Front.

Former member of the GUD Alain Orsoni was member of the FLNC.

References

Bibliography

• Frédéric Chatillon, Thomas Lagane et Jack Marchal (dir.), Les Rats maudits. Histoire des étudiants nationalistes 1965-1995, Éditions des Monts d'Arrée, 1995, .
• Roger Griffin, Net gains and GUD reactions: patterns of prejudice in a Neo-fascist groupuscule, Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 33, n°2, 1999, p. 31-50.
• Collectif, Bêtes et méchants. – Petite histoire des jeunes fascistes français, Paris, Éditions Reflex, 2002, .

References

1. "Le GUD est officiellement dissous, annonce le gouvernement". Le Monde.fr.
2. (7 November 2022). "Des militants d'extrême droite réactivent le GUD à Paris".
3. B.Corson, Equipe. (16 November 2022). "GUD, le retour d'une légende brune".
4. (25 March 2022). "Brève histoire du GUD, ce groupuscule fascisant dont a fait partie Loïk Le Priol".
5. ROCHETTE, Philippe. "L'université en Ile-de-France (4) Paris-II Assas, la longue marche vers le centre droit".
6. (June 8, 2015). "Avec "Assas Patriote", l'extrême droite tente de reprendre pied à Paris-II Panthéon-Assas".
7. (March 28, 2012). "Élections à Assas: le GUD tente de reprendre pied".
8. (February 6, 2010). "L’Odyssée des Rats noirs : voyage au coeur du GUD".
9. Thunder», Pete «Black. (May 16, 2018). "El otro Mayo del 68: la contrarrevolución de la rata negra".
10. (May 19, 2018). "LA RATA NEGRA, LA MASCOTA DEL NEOFASCISMO EUROPEO QUE SURGIÓ DE MAYO DE 1968".
11. Mathieu, Lilian. (May 14, 2006). "Art et contestation". Presses universitaires de Rennes.
12. "GUD, Génération identitaire, Action française... leurs racines, leurs méthodes".
13. "REFLEXes | Le Rock Identitaire Français (5) Chapitre III : Les acteurs du RIF : les groupes".
14. Nicolas Lebourg, « Une ligne vraiment très droite », Politis, no 1143, semaine du 10 au 16 mars 2011, p. 8-9.
15. Henley, Jon. (20 July 2002). "France's neo-Nazi breeding ground".
16. "Groupe Union Défense (GUD)".
17. (April 13, 2010). "L'extrême droite radicale tente une sortie sur le social, le 9 mai".
18. Jacques Leclercq, « Comité du 9-Mai », Droites conservatrices, nationales et ultras : Dictionnaire 2005-2010, L'Harmattan, p. 124.
19. (April 10, 2009). "Commémoration Sébastien Deyzieu ( C9M )".
20. (May 9, 2025). "C'était un 9 mai : mort de Sébastien Deyzieu".
21. Christophe Bourseiller, "Les risques de la spirale", in: Maxime Brunerie/Christian Rol, Une vie ordinaire, Paris: Denoël, 2011, 224 p., p. 8-15.
22. Henley, Jon. (July 16, 2002). "Would-be assassin rooted in hard right".
23. [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2127946.stm Chirac escapes lone gunman's bullet], BBC
24. "Du côté obscur de la droite".
25. Mag, Lyon. (May 29, 2017). "Lyon Mag".
26. Gastaldi, Daphné. "A Lyon, le GUD expulsé de son squat".
27. Coutand, Malia. (May 30, 2017). "À Lyon, le GUD réquisitionne un bâtiment pour aider les ''Français''".
28. Blast le souffle de l’info. (16 November 2022). "Extrême droite : les rats noirs de retour - Site d'information français d'actualités et d'investigation indépendant".
29. Not Only Syria? The Phenomenon of Foreign Fighters in a Comparative Perspective, p. 94
30. James Ciment ''World Terrorism: An Encyclopedia of Political Violence from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 Era'', p. 234.
31. "La Souris rattrapée par le Chat…tillon: quand LSD choisit finalement son camp".
32. (October 4, 2024). "C'était un 4 octobre...".
33. [[Abel Mestre]] et [[Caroline Monnot]], « Les réseaux du Front national », Sylvain Crépon, Alexandre Dézé, [[Nonna Mayer]], Les Faux-semblants du Front national : sociologie d'un parti politique, Presses de Sciences PoP
34. (November 24, 2012). "Alain Orsoni: seul face à sa peur".