Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.
EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Briefed” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.
You can find the transcript here if you prefer reading:
“Far-left kills.” That’s how extreme-right protesters have described the death of Quentin Deranque. A formula also used by various political figures in France and abroad to blame far-left and antifascist movements in a broader sense.
Can this dramatic event weaken antifascist movements across Europe?
Quentin Deranque died on 14 February, two days after being beaten by far-left activists in the streets of Lyon.
Quentin Deranque was a young nationalist activist. And on Thursday 12 February, he took part in clashes between far-left and far-right groups, that end up dramatically.
While the investigation is still going on, 11 antifascist activists were arrested, including a parliamentary aide from La France Insoumise. Seven people were charged with involuntary manslaughter and complicity. Some of them are close to a movement called ‘Jeune garde’ [Young guard], created in 2018 by a member of ‘La France insoumise’. This movement was dissolved by the French government in June of last year due to its violent actions.
In that context, many political parties, from the far-right to the socialist, are holding La France insoumise responsible for the violence of the activists, and therefore the death of Quentin Deranque. The government spokesperson even called for a ban from the National assembly, the MP from la France insoumise who funded the movement Jeune garde in 2018.
In that very same Assembly, MP observed a minute of silence in memory of Quentin Deranque last week.
The online media El Salto, which is a member of the Sphera network alongside Europod, notes that such a tribute was never paid to the victims of the far-right in France.
In the past four years, at least seven people are believed to have been killed by radical right activists, according to several media reports.
Are we observing double standards when it comes to condemning violence?
For the Spanish outlet El Salto, the intention is clear: demonise anti-fascism.
And according to the Hungarian outlet 444, also a member of the Sphera network, this dramatic event could even “sink the most successful left-wing populist experiment in Europe so far.”
Because the event is resonating beyond France’s borders. At the European Parliament, two far-right groups, the Patriots for Europe and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), asked to observe a minute of silence this week in memory of Quentin Deranque. Their request was turned down as the agenda of the plenary session was solely focused on the war in Ukraine on that day.
But the two groups intend to renew their request for a minute of silence in the second week of March. The ECR will also seek a plenary debate on political violence linked to far-left extremism. The debate could happen thanks to the support of the mainstream right-wing party EPP, which is the largest group in the European Parliament.
Because the topic has also been picked up by some EPP members. The French MEP Céline Imart has submitted a text co-signed by 16 colleagues calling for "the creation of a European blacklist of ultra-violent extremist organisations". She explained on social media X, that the aim was to “prevent political violence from shattering lives”.
The coming months could see a series of dissolutions of anti-fascist collectives, according to sociologist Ugo Palheta, who talked to El Salto.
In September last year, Hungarian minister of foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó urged the European Union to designate the international movement Antifa as a terrorist organisation, just like Donald Trump did after the murder of Charly Kirk, and the German radical-right party AfD before him.
However, these requests never succeeded, mainly because Antifa is not a concrete entity; it is rather an umbrella term for many anti-fascist movements across the globe.
It is hard to tell if the death of Quentin Deranque will lead to the criminalisation of different anti-fascist movements across the continent, as requested by more and more politicians.
But this tragic event certainly reinforces the position of ultra conservative parties in Europe, and brings light on the way politics, either react to such events, or don’t react.
