A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #347 - Anti-fascism, Crous Elections: The far right takes root in universities (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The far right is also present at the university through two "student 
unions": the UNI and the Student Cockade. If they did not shine with 
their electoral results, they seem to anchor themselves in the landscape 
despite their radicalism. ---- Last month, a vote took place within 
universities which mobilized most of the student unions and of course 
the far right: the Crous elections! If we are used to seeing the UNI 
present itself in almost all universities, this is less the case of the 
far-right "union" cockade founded in 2015. When it was created in 2015 
the Cockade had not presented only two lists; but this time thirteen 
lists were presented on half of the Crous!

La Cockarde is in line with the RN and Reconquête in its proposals, 
notably the demand for national priority in the allocation of Crous 
housing. Its candidates are also taking advantage of these elections to 
develop all kinds of far-right ideas, notably sexist and transphobic. 
This year was marked by a higher participation than in previous years 
(which remains very low despite everything, around 9%), with left-wing 
lists calling to block the Cockade and the UNI. La Cocarde collected 
between 4% and 9% of the votes cast according to the Crous and obtained 
no seats. The UNI goes from 13 seats to 11.

The UNI responsible for an attack in Strasbourg
Beyond the electoral results, it is also physically that the far right 
is trying to impose itself on universities. On February 5, members of 
the UNI were campaigning at the Paul Appell university restaurant in 
Strasbourg as part of the Crous elections. Student Solidarity activists 
then came to the site to raise awareness among those present about the 
racist and sexist foundations of this far-right "student union". In 
response, UNI Strasbourg physically attacked members of Student 
Solidarity, also uttering sexist insults.

On January 22, UNI Strasbourg issued a press release which qualified the 
Students Muslims of France (EMF) association as "Islamists" by inventing 
false links between this association and the Muslim Brotherhood. Several 
reports to the University of Strasbourg and the Crous were submitted to 
denounce the Islamophobic and racist propaganda of the UNI during the 
Crous elections. Despite these alerts, the Crous chose not to sanction 
the UNI list to "avoid creating a buzz".

The normalization of a fascist union
Despite the breakthrough of the Student Union, the Cocarde remains in 
progress, which is not surprising given the current general climate. The 
normalization of this "union" by the Crous authorities, however, shocked 
many students since its racist, sexist and violent reputation is well 
established! In Lyon, one of their former executives was even sentenced 
to prison in the middle of the elections for a racist attack. At the 
national level, many activists are close to small violent groups like 
the GUD or non-compliant Clermont. Despite this, the movement seems to 
succeed in maintaining itself within universities and even benefits from 
media coverage videos from the Crous and interviews on university radio 
stations.

Benjamin (UCL Orléans) and Antoine (UCL Alsace)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Elections-Crous-L-extreme-droite-s-ancre-dans-les-facs
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