A fierce battle, featuring numerous symbolic clashes, has been raging across France in recent days, coinciding with a weekend packed with commemorative ceremonies. The spring mayoral elections, and the arrival in office of numerous mayors representing the Rassemblement National (RN), have led to ideological and symbolic showdowns in many towns and villages. For the Left, the use of history and symbols provides a ready-made weapon to discredit the opponent—in the hope of halting their inevitable rise at the national level.
The days around May 8th are traditionally packed with official ceremonies in France. May 8th commemorates Germany’s surrender and the end of the Second World War, and May 9th has been designated Europe Day—even if this date generates little popular enthusiasm.
Added to this is May 10th, the official national public day honouring Joan of Arc, accompanied by a military ceremony. Beyond this day, France’s secondary patron saint is traditionally celebrated throughout the month of May. The national right-wing gathers in her honour every May 1st—once in Paris under the banner of Jean-Marie Le Pen, now led by his granddaughter, Marion Maréchal in Domrémy, Joan of Arc’s birthplace in Lorraine. Joan’s victory over the English during the siege of Orléans on May 8th is celebrated there with particular splendour during the three days of the Fêtes Johanniques, culminating in the country’s largest military parade after Bastille Day. Other ceremonies mark key moments in her life and martyrdom, including the commemoration of her death in Rouen on May 30th—now observed as her religious feast day.
Since 2006, under a decree by President Jacques Chirac, Joan of Arc’s national day on May 10th has coincided with the ‘National Day of Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Slavery and their Abolition.’
The diversity of these celebrations gives local elected representatives ample opportunity to take a stand and publicly display their sympathies—and gives their opponents equal occasion to express their acrimony.
In Carcassonne, the famous mediaeval city in the south of France which just elected an RN-affiliated mayor, Christophe Barthès, the celebration in honour of Joan of Arc was disrupted by the intrusion of Femen activists using their usual methods: topless protests and provocative slogans. They interrupted the mayor’s speech by displaying banners reading “Femen not RN” or “Feminists not fascists.” The ceremony marked the relocation of a statue of Joan of Arc to the forecourt of Saint-Michel Cathedral in order to make it more visible, in line with a campaign promise made by the mayor. The national press was quick to point out that the celebration in honour of Joan of Arc had been organised “by the new RN mayor,” as if it were an identity-based event rather than a national commemoration officially recognised by the ministry of the armed forces.
In Nîmes, also in the south, a different scenario unfolded. In this town in the Gard department, a Communist mayor was elected in March by a minority of voters, due to the centre-right’s refusal to form an alliance with the RN candidate, Julien Sanchez, despite him having come out on top in the first round. For the first time since the Occupation, the Communist mayor refused to organise the traditional ceremony honouring Joan of Arc—forcing Sanchez and his team to organise a parallel ceremony. This time, the press focused on the RN’s challenge but was careful not to see the Communist mayor’s decision as a political statement—which it undoubtedly was.
In Vierzon, where an RN-affiliated mayor was also just elected in a town that has been left-wing since the end of the Second World War and Communist since 2008, the opposite play was performed. The new mayor, Yannick Le Roux, announced that he was cancelling the organisation of a public commemoration of the abolition of slavery, which, like Joan of Arc, is on the agenda for May 10th. Official guidelines stipulate that a commemoration should be organised in each department “at the prefect’s initiative,” but this is not mandatory: unlike the Joan of Arc festival, it is not one of the twelve national commemorative days. The deputy mayor decided that “nobody ever attended this commemoration” and that, for financial reasons (the town is in debt to the tune of €32 million), it would therefore be cancelled. The former Communist mayor protested and went so far as to organise—ultimately, like Sanchez in Nîmes—an alternative commemoration, arguing that the town hall’s cancellation was “neither an oversight nor a desire to save money, but rather a desire to pander to the most racist fringes of the far-right electorate.”
It is interesting to note the media coverage of these two local affairs. In the case of Nîmes, Sanchez is seen as the troublemaker with his parallel commemoration of Joan of Arc, whilst in Vierzon, it is the right-wing mayor who, unsurprisingly, is portrayed as the culprit, whilst the communist dissident ‘saves the day’ with his parallel commemoration.
But the ideological battle reached its peak in a highly symbolic town: Carpentras. This name is well known in France because, for decades, it has crystallised the tensions surrounding the national Right and its place in French politics. In 1990, a scandal rocked Jean-Marie Le Pen’s Front National following the desecration of the town’s Jewish cemetery, which was wrongly attributed to his political party. It took years for the truth to emerge and for Le Pen’s party to be exonerated of any responsibility in this tragic affair. It was in memory of this that Marion Maréchal entered politics in 2012, as MP for the Carpentras constituency, becoming the youngest MP of the Fifth Republic: this shows just how emotionally charged the place is for the Right.
An RN mayor, Hervé de Lépinau, a former deputy for Marion Maréchal, was elected mayor there in the spring. On May 8th, during the ceremonies marking the end of the Second World War, a sound system blared “Maréchal, nous voilà” through the town’s streets—the official anthem of the Vichy regime in honour of Marshal Pétain. This was a mistake on the part of the company responsible for the musical entertainment at the festivities, which had downloaded without checking an online playlist about the Second World War, entitled “39-45 en chansons”, which included the anthem in its selection. The incident, relatively minor in itself, was immediately blown out of proportion to justify the “RN’s troubled past” and the alleged guilty nostalgia of Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen’s party for Nazism and Vichy. The community radio station and the sound engineer responsible for the error have taken full responsibility for their mistake and cleared the town hall of any blame, but the ‘good guys’ won’t let it go. Even Édouard Philippe, a putative presidential candidate, has seized on this episode to attack his number one rival, Jordan Bardella, arguing that the RN “hasn’t changed.” An investigation into “incitement to hatred” has been opened, with the public prosecutor’s office taking up the case “on its own initiative,” demonstrating the judicial system’s knee-jerk reaction when it comes to tracking down the supposed fascism of the RN.
RN leader Jordan Bardella lamented that the former prime minister “is kicking off his lacklustre presidential campaign by spreading fake news, which has since been thoroughly debunked and documented by the press.”
If the hysteria and bad faith are already at this level, even before the presidential campaign has begun, there is reason to fear that the coming months will be particularly trying.
The ‘Lovely Month of May’: France’s Ceremonies Become Political Battlegrounds
Lille’s supporters display a tifo depicting Joan of Arc reading “French never die” before the start of the UEFA Europa League football match between Lille (LOSC) and Aston Villa at the Pierre-Mauroy Stadium in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, northern France, on March 12, 2026.
SAMEER AL-DOUMY / AFP
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A fierce battle, featuring numerous symbolic clashes, has been raging across France in recent days, coinciding with a weekend packed with commemorative ceremonies. The spring mayoral elections, and the arrival in office of numerous mayors representing the Rassemblement National (RN), have led to ideological and symbolic showdowns in many towns and villages. For the Left, the use of history and symbols provides a ready-made weapon to discredit the opponent—in the hope of halting their inevitable rise at the national level.
The days around May 8th are traditionally packed with official ceremonies in France. May 8th commemorates Germany’s surrender and the end of the Second World War, and May 9th has been designated Europe Day—even if this date generates little popular enthusiasm.
Added to this is May 10th, the official national public day honouring Joan of Arc, accompanied by a military ceremony. Beyond this day, France’s secondary patron saint is traditionally celebrated throughout the month of May. The national right-wing gathers in her honour every May 1st—once in Paris under the banner of Jean-Marie Le Pen, now led by his granddaughter, Marion Maréchal in Domrémy, Joan of Arc’s birthplace in Lorraine. Joan’s victory over the English during the siege of Orléans on May 8th is celebrated there with particular splendour during the three days of the Fêtes Johanniques, culminating in the country’s largest military parade after Bastille Day. Other ceremonies mark key moments in her life and martyrdom, including the commemoration of her death in Rouen on May 30th—now observed as her religious feast day.
Since 2006, under a decree by President Jacques Chirac, Joan of Arc’s national day on May 10th has coincided with the ‘National Day of Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Slavery and their Abolition.’
The diversity of these celebrations gives local elected representatives ample opportunity to take a stand and publicly display their sympathies—and gives their opponents equal occasion to express their acrimony.
In Carcassonne, the famous mediaeval city in the south of France which just elected an RN-affiliated mayor, Christophe Barthès, the celebration in honour of Joan of Arc was disrupted by the intrusion of Femen activists using their usual methods: topless protests and provocative slogans. They interrupted the mayor’s speech by displaying banners reading “Femen not RN” or “Feminists not fascists.” The ceremony marked the relocation of a statue of Joan of Arc to the forecourt of Saint-Michel Cathedral in order to make it more visible, in line with a campaign promise made by the mayor. The national press was quick to point out that the celebration in honour of Joan of Arc had been organised “by the new RN mayor,” as if it were an identity-based event rather than a national commemoration officially recognised by the ministry of the armed forces.
In Nîmes, also in the south, a different scenario unfolded. In this town in the Gard department, a Communist mayor was elected in March by a minority of voters, due to the centre-right’s refusal to form an alliance with the RN candidate, Julien Sanchez, despite him having come out on top in the first round. For the first time since the Occupation, the Communist mayor refused to organise the traditional ceremony honouring Joan of Arc—forcing Sanchez and his team to organise a parallel ceremony. This time, the press focused on the RN’s challenge but was careful not to see the Communist mayor’s decision as a political statement—which it undoubtedly was.
In Vierzon, where an RN-affiliated mayor was also just elected in a town that has been left-wing since the end of the Second World War and Communist since 2008, the opposite play was performed. The new mayor, Yannick Le Roux, announced that he was cancelling the organisation of a public commemoration of the abolition of slavery, which, like Joan of Arc, is on the agenda for May 10th. Official guidelines stipulate that a commemoration should be organised in each department “at the prefect’s initiative,” but this is not mandatory: unlike the Joan of Arc festival, it is not one of the twelve national commemorative days. The deputy mayor decided that “nobody ever attended this commemoration” and that, for financial reasons (the town is in debt to the tune of €32 million), it would therefore be cancelled. The former Communist mayor protested and went so far as to organise—ultimately, like Sanchez in Nîmes—an alternative commemoration, arguing that the town hall’s cancellation was “neither an oversight nor a desire to save money, but rather a desire to pander to the most racist fringes of the far-right electorate.”
It is interesting to note the media coverage of these two local affairs. In the case of Nîmes, Sanchez is seen as the troublemaker with his parallel commemoration of Joan of Arc, whilst in Vierzon, it is the right-wing mayor who, unsurprisingly, is portrayed as the culprit, whilst the communist dissident ‘saves the day’ with his parallel commemoration.
But the ideological battle reached its peak in a highly symbolic town: Carpentras. This name is well known in France because, for decades, it has crystallised the tensions surrounding the national Right and its place in French politics. In 1990, a scandal rocked Jean-Marie Le Pen’s Front National following the desecration of the town’s Jewish cemetery, which was wrongly attributed to his political party. It took years for the truth to emerge and for Le Pen’s party to be exonerated of any responsibility in this tragic affair. It was in memory of this that Marion Maréchal entered politics in 2012, as MP for the Carpentras constituency, becoming the youngest MP of the Fifth Republic: this shows just how emotionally charged the place is for the Right.
An RN mayor, Hervé de Lépinau, a former deputy for Marion Maréchal, was elected mayor there in the spring. On May 8th, during the ceremonies marking the end of the Second World War, a sound system blared “Maréchal, nous voilà” through the town’s streets—the official anthem of the Vichy regime in honour of Marshal Pétain. This was a mistake on the part of the company responsible for the musical entertainment at the festivities, which had downloaded without checking an online playlist about the Second World War, entitled “39-45 en chansons”, which included the anthem in its selection. The incident, relatively minor in itself, was immediately blown out of proportion to justify the “RN’s troubled past” and the alleged guilty nostalgia of Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen’s party for Nazism and Vichy. The community radio station and the sound engineer responsible for the error have taken full responsibility for their mistake and cleared the town hall of any blame, but the ‘good guys’ won’t let it go. Even Édouard Philippe, a putative presidential candidate, has seized on this episode to attack his number one rival, Jordan Bardella, arguing that the RN “hasn’t changed.” An investigation into “incitement to hatred” has been opened, with the public prosecutor’s office taking up the case “on its own initiative,” demonstrating the judicial system’s knee-jerk reaction when it comes to tracking down the supposed fascism of the RN.
RN leader Jordan Bardella lamented that the former prime minister “is kicking off his lacklustre presidential campaign by spreading fake news, which has since been thoroughly debunked and documented by the press.”
If the hysteria and bad faith are already at this level, even before the presidential campaign has begun, there is reason to fear that the coming months will be particularly trying.
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