Former paratrooper led National Front party for decades and courted controversy, being repeatedly fined for contesting crimes against humanity

Summary

Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France’s far-right National Rally (formerly National Front), has died.

A former paratrooper, he led the party from 1972 to 2011 and was known for inflammatory rhetoric, including Holocaust denial and praise for the Nazi-collaborating Vichy regime, which led to multiple convictions.

He ran for president five times, shocking France in 2002 by advancing to the runoff against Jacques Chirac.

A divisive figure, he was expelled from the party by his daughter, Marine Le Pen, in 2015 as she sought to moderate its image.

  • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    84·
    3 months ago

    He ran for president five times, shocking France in 2002 by advancing to the runoff against Jacques Chirac.

    Yeah we were all shocked to find out the huge percentage of overt racists among these colonizers. \s

      • MonkRome@lemmy.worldEnglish
        31·
        3 months ago

        Your mom, sister, and daughter most likely… /s

        Also, these places:

        • Îles des Saintes
        • Marie-Galante
        • La Désirade
        • Guadeloupe
        • Martinique
        • French Guiana
        • Saint Pierre and Miquelon
        • Collectivity of Saint Martin
        • Saint Barthélemy
        • Clipperton Island
        • Mayotte
        • Réunion
        • Wallis and Futuna
        • mel@jlai.luEnglish
          2·
          3 months ago

          You forgot Kanaky which is maybe the most awful right now (speaking of colonialism). A surprising thing is that some of those overseas are part of France for longer than Nice and Savoy