The news came as a shock to the French Right. Victor Aubert, the president and founder of the Catholic youth movement Academia Christiana, which was set up in 2013, announced that proceedings are underway to dissolve his association, on the initiative of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. For all those who know this remarkable organisation from near or far, incredulousness reigns supreme, as does the powerful feeling that we have definitely tipped over into a totalitarian era.
Victor Aubert learned the news at the beginning of December, on Monday, December 5th. The police raided his home and, in front of his traumatised children, handed him a letter from the Ministry of the Interior, informing him that the association of which he is president would be dissolved by the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks.
As Victor Aubert points out in an interview with Valeurs actuelles, “our activities include universities, training sessions, conferences, traditional festivals and folk dances.” This is the object of the government’s vindictiveness—at which it points a finger—on vague grounds: “incitement to hatred and discrimination,” incitement to violence.
Aubert is alarmed: in a video, he calls for an “army of builders” to rise up. A metaphorical and spiritual army, which is transformed by the political police into a belligerent threat. One of the authorities’ fantasies also sees fascism in the sports played by the association’s members at its summer universities—in an atmosphere that has more in common with a traditional village festival than with paramilitary training.
Questioned by journalist Sonia Mabrouk on CNews about the reasons for the dissolution, Gérald Darmanin displayed a worrying degree of amateurism and clearly confused Academia Christiana and Civitas, referring to antisemitic remarks made at one of Civitas’ summer universities—which has no relation to Academia Christiana, and which is precisely what justified the dissolution of Civitas a few weeks ago.
Since the news became public, expressions of support have been pouring in from a wide range of groups on the committed French Right, including the Iliade Institute, the magazine Éléments and Renaissance catholique to name a few.
Right-wing MPs and political figures have also lent their support to Academia Christiana.
Academia Christiana is a youth movement loyal to Rome, supervised by the Fraternity of St. Peter. In the galaxy of national and traditional right-wing movements, where some turbulent and outrageous elements can sometimes evolve, the movement founded by Victor Aubert is more like a good pupil or top of the class. Academia Christiana is a well-known movement, characterised by its strong spiritual dimension and its focus on restoring intellectual standards to a youth thirsting for ideals but lost and without reference points. They have never been provocative or outrageous.
The European Conservative has been associated on several occasions with conferences organised by Academia Christiana. At the beginning of November, we took part in a fascinating study day on conservative ecology. And it is this work of intellectual and moral rearmament that is now the subject of public condemnation, as if it had become impossible “to think, to make people think, and to invite them to commit themselves to the common good,” in the words of Victor Aubert in the Facebook post in which he announced the news. The association’s tone and discourse are simply the antithesis of the dominant model of society, and that, from now on, is enough to make it vulnerable to a ban. Other leaders of friendly organisations are worried: who will be next?
Julien Langella, vice president of the organisation, is worried:
If we dissolve a training institute, the next on the list will be priests whose homilies are deemed ‘contrary to republican values’, independent schools, traditional scouting … An unprecedented step has just been taken.
The result of the events at Crépol will therefore have been the banning of a movement of Catholics attached to the Tridentine liturgy, which aims to educate young people through its conferences and to awaken them to the beauty and traditional cultures of France. The idea that they pose any danger to French society is preposterous. How many deaths has traditional Catholicism been responsible for in France to date? On the other hand, the violence of which Antifa movements can be capable is palpable in the news of the last few days, yet they are not bothered by the authorities.
This is a very serious matter. It would seem that today, it is no longer possible to shape people’s consciences towards an alternative to the model of society proposed by a corrupt and over-powerful state. Its main concern has become to destroy what has made France what it is for centuries, and to prevent young French people from taking hold of this legacy in order to cherish it, bring it back to life, and pass it on.
Legal action will be launched to thwart this iniquitous decision. Victor Aubert has announced he will go all the way to the highest jurisdiction of the Council of State if necessary. There is hope, because the case against Academia Christiana is very weak. The nagging question on everyone’s mind today is simple: who will be next? On whom will the arbitrary axe of a power gone mad fall?
Who Is Next? French Government Dissolves Catholic Movement Academia Christiana
The news came as a shock to the French Right. Victor Aubert, the president and founder of the Catholic youth movement Academia Christiana, which was set up in 2013, announced that proceedings are underway to dissolve his association, on the initiative of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. For all those who know this remarkable organisation from near or far, incredulousness reigns supreme, as does the powerful feeling that we have definitely tipped over into a totalitarian era.
Victor Aubert learned the news at the beginning of December, on Monday, December 5th. The police raided his home and, in front of his traumatised children, handed him a letter from the Ministry of the Interior, informing him that the association of which he is president would be dissolved by the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks.
As Victor Aubert points out in an interview with Valeurs actuelles, “our activities include universities, training sessions, conferences, traditional festivals and folk dances.” This is the object of the government’s vindictiveness—at which it points a finger—on vague grounds: “incitement to hatred and discrimination,” incitement to violence.
Aubert is alarmed: in a video, he calls for an “army of builders” to rise up. A metaphorical and spiritual army, which is transformed by the political police into a belligerent threat. One of the authorities’ fantasies also sees fascism in the sports played by the association’s members at its summer universities—in an atmosphere that has more in common with a traditional village festival than with paramilitary training.
Questioned by journalist Sonia Mabrouk on CNews about the reasons for the dissolution, Gérald Darmanin displayed a worrying degree of amateurism and clearly confused Academia Christiana and Civitas, referring to antisemitic remarks made at one of Civitas’ summer universities—which has no relation to Academia Christiana, and which is precisely what justified the dissolution of Civitas a few weeks ago.
Since the news became public, expressions of support have been pouring in from a wide range of groups on the committed French Right, including the Iliade Institute, the magazine Éléments and Renaissance catholique to name a few.
Right-wing MPs and political figures have also lent their support to Academia Christiana.
Academia Christiana is a youth movement loyal to Rome, supervised by the Fraternity of St. Peter. In the galaxy of national and traditional right-wing movements, where some turbulent and outrageous elements can sometimes evolve, the movement founded by Victor Aubert is more like a good pupil or top of the class. Academia Christiana is a well-known movement, characterised by its strong spiritual dimension and its focus on restoring intellectual standards to a youth thirsting for ideals but lost and without reference points. They have never been provocative or outrageous.
The European Conservative has been associated on several occasions with conferences organised by Academia Christiana. At the beginning of November, we took part in a fascinating study day on conservative ecology. And it is this work of intellectual and moral rearmament that is now the subject of public condemnation, as if it had become impossible “to think, to make people think, and to invite them to commit themselves to the common good,” in the words of Victor Aubert in the Facebook post in which he announced the news. The association’s tone and discourse are simply the antithesis of the dominant model of society, and that, from now on, is enough to make it vulnerable to a ban. Other leaders of friendly organisations are worried: who will be next?
Julien Langella, vice president of the organisation, is worried:
The result of the events at Crépol will therefore have been the banning of a movement of Catholics attached to the Tridentine liturgy, which aims to educate young people through its conferences and to awaken them to the beauty and traditional cultures of France. The idea that they pose any danger to French society is preposterous. How many deaths has traditional Catholicism been responsible for in France to date? On the other hand, the violence of which Antifa movements can be capable is palpable in the news of the last few days, yet they are not bothered by the authorities.
This is a very serious matter. It would seem that today, it is no longer possible to shape people’s consciences towards an alternative to the model of society proposed by a corrupt and over-powerful state. Its main concern has become to destroy what has made France what it is for centuries, and to prevent young French people from taking hold of this legacy in order to cherish it, bring it back to life, and pass it on.
Legal action will be launched to thwart this iniquitous decision. Victor Aubert has announced he will go all the way to the highest jurisdiction of the Council of State if necessary. There is hope, because the case against Academia Christiana is very weak. The nagging question on everyone’s mind today is simple: who will be next? On whom will the arbitrary axe of a power gone mad fall?
READ NEXT
Mazan Affair: A Trial of Moral Misery
Milei Disrupts the Cosy Consensus at the G20
The Albanian Conservative Institute: An Intellectual Beacon for Albania’s Center-Right