Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France's National Front, known for his inflammatory rhetoric against immigration and multiculturalism, has died at 96. Le Pen, a polarizing figure in French politics, was convicted multiple times for antisemitism, discrimination, and inciting racial violence. Despite his convictions and political estrangement, his nativist ideas remain influential in France and beyond. He was known for shocking statements, including Holocaust denial and calls for the isolation of people with AIDS. Le Pen's daughter, Marine Le Pen, transformed the party into the National Rally, distancing herself from his extremist image.
Jean-Marie Le Pen , the founder of France 's far-right National Front who was known for fiery rhetoric against immigration and multiculturalism that earned him both staunch supporters and widespread condemnation, died on Tuesday. He was 96.
Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally as the party is now known, confirmed Le Pen's death in a post on social media platform X. Bardella's unusually warm tribute described Le Pen as a "tribune of the people" who "always served France" and expressing condolences to his family. The post appeared to blur the distance the rebranded party had sought to establish between its firebrand founder and its more polished, modern direction under Marine Le Pen.
A former paratrooper and Foreign Legionnaire who fought in Indochina and Algeria, the fiery Jean-Marie Le Pen was a wily political strategist and gifted orator who used his charisma to captivate crowds with his anti-immigration message. Today, the National Rally, the successor to the party he founded, has not only solidified its presence in French politics but also pushed Macron to the right on security and immigration, reflecting a broader shift in the political landscape.
Le Pen had recently been exempted from prosecution on health grounds from a high-profile trial over his party's suspected embezzlement of European Parliament funds that opened in September. French judicial authorities placed Le Pen under legal guardianship in February at the request of his family as his health declined, French media reported. He had been in frail health for some time.
A year later, the party won 11 per cent in European parliamentary elections and seated 10 deputies. The message was clear: France could no longer ignore Le Pen. The party's entry as a force in national politics came two years later in legislative elections that gave Le Pen's party 35 seats in France's National Assembly. By then, Le Pen had replaced the black eyepatch and begun polishing his scrappy image.
"Me? Racist? It's a gag, a gag," Le Pen once told The Associated Press. "But I'm not for the melting pot. I'm for the defense of one's culture. I'd despair if I found the culture of Brooklyn in France."
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