It's hard to listen to far-right candidate Éric Zemmour without hearing about the "great replacement."

In his first campaign speech in Villepinte, at the beginning of December, the former journalist once again said he was "ready to take control" of the country to respond to two "fears" which "haunt the French": "that of the great downgrading with the impoverishment of the French, the decline of our power and the collapse of our school" and "that of the great replacement with the Islamization of France".

  • Where does this expression come from?  

The "great replacement" theory dates back to the 19th century.

We find its first traces in the writings of the nationalist politician and French author Maurice Barrès.

At that time, the concept only targeted Jews.

After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the same theory resurfaced, this time targeting Muslims.

It was Renaud Camus who popularized this notion through his booklet published in 2011. Sentenced in 2014 for "provoking hatred and violence against a group of people because of their religion", the far-right author has extensively described this process, which would replace French ancestors with a foreign population coming mainly from sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb.

The "great replacement"

is indeed based on the xenophobic idea that increased migratory flows would contribute to the demographic decline of the West: the massive arrivals of immigrants added to their higher fertility rate than that of the French would risk, in the long term, to make white populations and Christians a minority.

The latter would therefore see themselves imposing a culture that is not their own. 

>> "The great replacement": the French theory that seduces the global far right

In a more conspiratorial version, the "great replacement" attests to the idea that the elites of the whole world would knowingly favor an Arab-Muslim "colonization" of Europe.

In fact, this theory inspired the terrorist responsible for the Christchurch attack which killed 51 people in March 2019 in New Zealand. 

But this concept clashes with the demographic data of migratory flows.

According to INSEE, some 6.8 million immigrants lived in France in 2020, or 10.2% of the total population.

Of these immigrants, only 46% came from Africa, the rest being mainly of European, Asian, American and Oceanian origin.

It is above all a "fear that escapes all rational argument", according to François Héran, professor at the College de France, in an article in Le Monde of November 3.  

  • Why does Éric Zemmour use this expression?  

Faithful to his objective of expelling two million foreigners in five years, the candidate of the party Reconquête!

made the "great replacement" its major campaign theme and dreamed that this subject would become the central question of the 2022 presidential election. occasions.

In her February 13 meeting in Paris, she hammered home that she was resigned "neither to the great replacement nor to the great downgrading."

Despite her remarks aimed at discrediting the theory unsheathed by Éric Zemmour, the candidate only received a salvo of criticism from political observers. 

I have always repeated that I resign myself "neither to the great replacement nor to the great downgrading" which means that I do not resign myself to these far-right theories: that is what I have always said and everything the world makes me say the opposite.

# Pécresse2022 # NouvelleFrance pic.twitter.com/EBfJ4plQup

— Valérie Pécresse (@vpecresse) February 14, 2022

"Who expected to hear this baby Chirac take up the term 'great replacement' that even Marine Le Pen does not use because she thinks it has conspiratorial overtones?" in an editorial in Liberation published on February 14.

A decidedly explosive notion.

The other "Words of the campaign" can be found on this link. 

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