Groupe Union Défense (originally named Groupe Union Droit), better known as GUD, is a French
far-rightstudents' union formed in the 1960s. After a period of inactivity it relaunched in 2022.[1][2][3]
Members of the GUD participated in the 1969 founding of
Ordre Nouveau.[16]
During the 1970s and early 1980s, linked to the
Parti des forces nouvelles (PFN),the GUD published the
satiric monthly Alternative.[17] Members in this period included
Alain Orsoni [
fr], a Corsican nationalist linked to organised crime and suspected of the murder of
Marie-Jeanne Bozzi.[8]
On 9 May 1994 GUD member
Sébastien Deyzieu [
fr] died after clashes between nationalists and
riot police.[18][19] Following these event, some French nationalist groups formed an umbrella organization Comité du 9-Mai (C9M) and holds[clarification needed] yearly a commemorative marches in Paris on May 9.[20][21]
In late 2022,
graffiti appeared in educational institutions in Paris (including the
École Normale Supérieure) saying "GUD is back"; a video was released on
Ouest Casual [
fr], a
Telegram channel used by the far right, commemorating some Greek neo-Nazis; and the GUD slogan “Europe, Youth, Revolution” appeared on stickers in Paris and chants at a right-wing demonstration in
Lyon. Its activists were reported to be drawn from far-right trade union
La Cocarde Étudiante [
fr], the ultra-right group the
Zouaves,
traditionalist Catholics from Versailles, and
football hooligans.[8]
Members
Successive leaders of the GUD were: Alain Robert,
Jack Marchal, Jean-François Santacroce, Serge Rep, Philippe Cuignache, Charles-Henri Varaut,
Frédéric Chatillon, William Bonnefoy, Benoît Fleury.
^Abel Mestre et Caroline Monnot, « Les réseaux du Front national », Sylvain Crépon, Alexandre Dézé,
Nonna Mayer, Les Faux-semblants du Front national : sociologie d'un parti politique, Presses de Sciences PoP
Frédéric Chatillon, Thomas Lagane et Jack Marchal (dir.), Les Rats maudits. Histoire des étudiants nationalistes 1965-1995, Éditions des Monts d'Arrée, 1995,
ISBN2-911387-00-7.
Roger Griffin, Net gains and GUD reactions: patterns of prejudice in a Neo-fascist groupuscule,
Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 33, n°2, 1999, p. 31-50.
Collectif, Bêtes et méchants. – Petite histoire des jeunes fascistes français, Paris, Éditions Reflex, 2002,
ISBN2-914519-01-X.