The Afterlives of Quentin Deranque

Summary

Podcast Summary: It Could Happen Here – "The Afterlives of Quentin Deranque" (Part 1)

Episode Date: May 4, 2026
Panel: Mick (Host), James Stout, Molly Conger
Theme/Purpose:
This episode explores the death and legacy of Quentin Deranque, a young French neo-Nazi whose killing during a street altercation has become a flashpoint for far-right organizing and myth-making throughout Europe. The episode delves deeply into Deranque’s background, ideology, and the use of his death as a propaganda tool, connecting the incident to broader trends in European far-right activism, language, and “femationalist” (feminist-nationalist) organizing.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction & Context: France, Far Right, and Identity

• Light banter opens the episode, with personal anecdotes about France, language, and the experience of interacting with identitarian movements.
  • James: “I particularly love French identitarianism. So I’m excited.” [00:32]
• Raises the topic: What makes the French far right distinctive?
• Jake shares a low-key story about French attitudes towards Québecois.

2. Quentin Deranque: From Obscure Student to Neo-Nazi Martyr

• Who was Quentin Deranque?
  • 23-year-old student at Lyon University, with a focus on mathematics/data science.
  • Devout Catholic convert, interested in philosophy and ethics (esp. Aquinas & Augustine).
  • Friends and family describe him as “a normal young man who reconnected with his roots, who loved his country, his people, his civilization, his religion...a hero and a martyr.”
    – Quoted friend of Quentin [10:40]
• Panel Critique on Sanitizing Bad Politics:
  • Molly: “Just because someone said he was a nice boy...you hear that about mass shooters.” [10:52]
  • Mick: Expresses the importance of acknowledging tragedy without whitewashing ideology: “As much as his worldview was vile...he was still a son, a friend...That's not coming home.” [08:00]

The Internet Evidence

• Quentin’s tweets showed frequent antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, and fascism.
  • Openly advocated repeal of French laws banning Holocaust denial.
  • Used explicit racist slurs and calls for racist violence (“TND” – “Total N-word Death”) [15:19]
  • Mick: “This is not a guy who was just reading Thomas Aquinas.” [15:52]
• His ideology was “more constructed and theoretical” than typical street-fighting fascists; cited obscure, scientific-racist anthropology. [16:29]

3. Far Right Networking: The Trans-European Reaction

• Deranque's death in France triggered a call to action among Dutch far-right circles (Defend Netherlands), despite minimal connection.
  • Noted that Dutch far-right groups use English—likely for American audience/influence. [05:23]

The Symbolism

• Imagery of a Celtic cross (white supremacist/fascist use), Italian slogans (“Pertuti camerati caduti presente”—‘For all fallen comrades, present’).
• These groups leverage international symbols to signal pan-European white nationalism.

The Propaganda Cycle

• Deranque’s death instantly became a rallying tool, with competing narratives (innocent bystander vs. violent martyr).
  • Mick: “His death has become something that isn’t really about him…it’s about using his death as a political tool.” [09:01]
• His racial background (half Peruvian) also noted, raising questions about inclusion/exclusion in far-right myth-making. [09:19]

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4. Quentin’s Radicalization: Groups & Events

• Involved with Active Club France (Nazi fighting group), regular combat training, connections to major European neo-Nazi networks (e.g., L’Oeuvre Française, Academie Christiana).
  • Active in organizing, not just passive.
  • Participated in neo-Nazi marches and commemorations [21:53]
  • Mick: “He was not just going to Catholic church. He was going to a very extreme right-wing, antisemitic identitarian traditionalist subgroup.” [23:43]

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5. The Fatal Altercation: What Happened

• February 12: Incident occurred in Lyon around a speech by Palestinian activist Rima Hassan at a political institute.
  • Far-right feminist group Nemesis organized a counterprotest, provided "security" by fascist groups (Quentin included).
• Aftermath: Deranque was beaten during post-protest tensions. Despite non-activist bystanders urging him to get medical help, he refused, walking ~1.5 km before collapsing. Died in hospital two days later (Feb 14). [31:13]
  • Molly: “If he had not been hit in the head, he would not have died.” [32:18]
• Panel dismisses claims of "defensive" far-right violence—notes the presence of iron bars, organized violence.
  • C: “The self defense motive is very indefensible...you see the fascists with iron bars.” [34:10]

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6. Media Savvy Far-Right: Nemesis and Femationalism

• Nemesis—an all-female far-right “feminist” group deploys anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim propaganda in feminist spaces.
  • Led by Alice Cordier, known for both media stunts (embedding at protests, unveiling racist banners) and overt Nazi signaling (SS hand sign, association with Azov).
  • Panel describes as “incredibly media savvy and cunning.” [29:02]
• Their method: infiltrate large progressive/feminist rallies, provoke, get filmed, then gain exposure via far-right media.
• Mick: “Clever strategy, but the media keeps falling for it. Just because they put on a nice outfit.” [37:42]
• Feminationalism: Described as an “arranged marriage of feminism and ethnic nationalism,” focusing only on violence by immigrants and silent about pay, equality, or abortion rights.
  • Term originated by sociologist Sara Farris (2017) [41:20]
• Molly: “It’s no feminism at all. It’s just a lie.” [40:55]
• Noted: Their narrative exploits women’s issues to recruit and radicalize. They weaponize real pain/events but direct hatred against marginalized groups.
  • Mick: “This is 90% of right-wing politics at the moment.” [38:38]

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7. Reflections on Violence & Responsibility

• Panel demystifies far-right myth-making about “martyr” status and victimhood.
• Acknowledgment of tragedy, but clear that violence stemming from fascist organizing is both cyclical and intentional.
• Critiques both police/medical response and ways French/American laws would treat culpability.
• Side notes on American health care (“I personally have not gotten an ambulance when I should have...”) [33:35]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“His death has become something that isn’t really about him…it’s not about the tragic death of a young man...”
— Mick [09:01]

“Just because someone said he was a nice boy...you hear that about mass shooters.”
— Molly [10:52]

“This is not a guy who was just reading Thomas Aquinas.”
— Mick [15:52]

“He was not just going to Catholic church. He was going to a very extreme right-wing, antisemitic identitarian traditionalist subgroup.”
— Mick [23:43]

“You won’t be surprised they’re awfully silent about equal pay or abortion rights.”
— Mick [41:04]

“If you were trying to invent feminism, but the only text you had is the 14 words, this is what you would get.”
— Mick [42:54]

“This group...ties feminism (air quotes) to their nationalism, but they focus solely on sexual violence—and only if it’s migrants.”
— C [40:46]

“I guarantee you that Alice Cordier has said the 14 words on probably multiple occasions. It’s a garbage group of people, and I hope they have the hiccups the rest of their life.”
— C [43:01]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [04:44] — Introduction of Quentin Deranque, context of his death in far-left vs. far-right street conflicts
• [08:00–10:35] — Complicated feelings about political violence and martyrdom
• [11:06–16:00] — Discussion of Quentin’s Catholic conversion, ideological radicalization, and revealing Twitter history
• [20:41–23:43] — Deep dive into group affiliations; from Active Club France to Academia Christiana
• [24:09–28:12] — The circumstances of the fatal altercation and the roles of various right-wing actors
• [29:02–37:16] — The tactics and symbolism of Nemesis, the far-right “feminist” group; their stunts and media strategy
• [41:20–43:13] — Unpacking femationalism and the exploitation of women’s issues in nationalist politics

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Overall Tone

• The tone is sharp, irreverent, and deeply informed, with a balance of dark humor and serious moral analysis.
• The panelists repeatedly underline the importance of honestly facing the consequences of organized hate and the dangers of sanitized mythologies around far-right “victims.”
• There is a critical (sometimes mocking) stance toward both the subjects (far-right actors) and the media’s complicity.

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To Be Continued: This episode is part one of a two-parter. The panel will return with further discussions about Quentin Deranque and the evolution of French fascism.

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Recommended for listeners interested in:

• Contemporary far-right networks and tactics
• How martyrs are manufactured and mythologized
• The ways feminism is co-opted by nationalist agendas
• The entwinement of political violence, media spectacle, and extremist mobilization in modern Europe

Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[B]

Hey everyone, it's me, James. I just wanted to do a very quick introduction to the episode. We have split it into two parts because it went longer than we expected. So you'll hear the first part today and you will hear the second part tomorrow.

[C]

Welcome everyone to It Could Happen Here. My name is Mick and I'm here with the lovely James Stout and the lovely Molly Conger. How are you guys doing?

[B]

I'm great. I'm so excited. I just love. I love France. I love all things French. I've had such great times in France. I particularly love like French identitarianism. So I'm excited.

[A]

You love French identitarians?

[B]

No, I just love it when like France. Huge fan. I just love like, like the, the idea like of the Hmong nations, like France is the chosen one. It's just like I'm not particularly anti French, but it is quite funny to me.

[A]

James travels to France every year to go to. Do they still have generation identity?

[B]

Yeah. And every year they say, oh well, your accent is not correct. You've not used vous in the requisite time, therefore you are no longer welcome here. I went to France once with some Quebecois friends. This is a funny low key identity story. I've already derailed this fucking.

[C]

Don't worry, don't worry.

[B]

I went with two Quebecois friends and we doing something official and I did it, conducted my thing in French. It was fine. I speak French so this wasn't an issue for me. And then they went up and this woman just went, you don't speak French, sir? And then began addressing them in English because she was unwilling to accept the Quebecois in France.

[A]

That's so mean. Yeah, well, I for one am excited to hear about. I don't know a lot about this guy.

[C]

No, he's a weird little guy.

[A]

My favourite kind of guy.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

Notably.

[C]

Which is why I asked you. I'm also just recovering from like an English person here saying that they love France. That must be like historically a first time that that happened.

[B]

It's a good place to race bikes. It's a good place to, if you like to hang out in the mountains and race bikes. Pretty much. France, Spain, maybe Italy is where it's at.

[A]

I visited once and I didn't. I don't know. People are always saying that they're so cruel to Americans. That wasn't my experience, but most French

[B]

people are really lovely.

[A]

Long enough.

[B]

Yeah, it's.

[A]

And you know, I'll always treasure the week that I spent in Paris because it is the only reason I didn't get deported from Germany for visa violations.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

That is a story I actually want to hear after we're done recording, so. But yeah, we're talking about French identitarianism. French Nazis. But before you start, James, I wanted to ask you a very important question first. You have a podcasting honorary degree, a PhD, I've heard.

[B]

That's right. Yeah. Me and Joe Rogan both.

[C]

Yeah, exactly. And I just must ask, how do you deal with the recurring trauma of having to hear your own voice on recording?

[B]

I play it at 1.5 times speed, so it doesn't sound like me.

[C]

I was very curious about that. I've also a fair share of having to hear my own voice, and it just doesn't get any easier.

[A]

No, I thought I would struggle with it because I hate the sound of my own voice in casual context. But, like, listening to my own podcast, I guess, because I talk like this on my podcast and it sounds a little different. Right.

[B]

So it's like, oh, you go into podcast mode. Yeah, yeah, I have.

[A]

I have sort of a Terry Gross thing cooking.

[B]

Okay, yeah, that's. I'll try that.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, I'll do my Molly voice next time.

[C]

Well, see, this is the kind of information that I need to. To cope with now.

[A]

You have to form an alter ego,

[C]

like a.

[B]

Enter your podcast self.

[C]

A podcast to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Yeah. Podcasting is just the ID of every man, every. Every white guy in the world has a podcasting id. This is.

[C]

Freud would have loved this era.

[B]

He wouldn't. You don't have to psychoanalyze anyone anymore because they just say shit.

[A]

Just say it. They'll just say it, but they put

[B]

it on true social. Like, it's not fun anymore. He'd be bored.

[C]

Well, that would be counteracted by, like, the higher quality cocaine that we have right now compared to his era. He would also be prosecuted for feeding his children cocaine. So, you know, you win some, you lose some.

[B]

You never know. Jeffrey Epstein got away with a lot of shit. Maybe Freud could have joined the club.

[C]

That's a horrifying mix of worlds that

[A]

tell us about this French Nazi getting beat to death.

[C]

Okay, okay, I'm starting with a bit of an introduction because this story actually happened in my home hometown of Utrecht.

[A]

Oh, no shit.

[C]

Yeah. Somewhere midway through February, a message started to circulate in far right circles in the Netherlands. It originated from a group called Defend Netherlands who made a public call to visit the AKU on the night of Thursday 26th to remember Quinton killed in a cowardly manner by Antifa in Lyon earlier that month. Small side note, all these groups are so proud of the Netherlands, but never use Dutch language. And it's.

[B]

Huh? My.

[C]

It's my personal pet peeve.

[B]

They're doing it in English.

[C]

Yeah. They call them so like Defend Netherlands.

[B]

Oh, it's called defend. It's not translated as defenders.

[C]

It's not translated.

[A]

That's so interesting. I find when European Nazi groups use primarily English, it is because it is for an American audience.

[B]

Yeah, they're trying to communicate something because

[A]

Americans only speak English.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But anyway, that was the message that was circulated on Instagram and Telegram. The top of the image that was shared showed a Celtic cross, a symbol with Christian and pagan origins, but politically often used by white supremacist and neo fascist groups. At the bottom is an Italian slogan in orange letters, the national color of the Netherlands, reading pertuti camerati kaluti presente. The slogan originates from the Italian fascist movements and means for our fallen comrades present, signaling that the fallen comrades are present in spirit. I can hear you all thinking, what the fuck has the death in France to do with the political community center in the Netherlands? Because that is what ACCU is. It's a community center. There's concerts, there's a bar, sometimes there's fundraisers. There's nothing openness going on there. But lots of more left leaning people visit there, which is, I think, why it was the original target.

[A]

No.

[C]

So. But to understand how it came to be that the death of a French Nazi caused threats to a Dutch bar, we'll have to explore the circumstances of the death of Quentin Derank. Deranc.

[A]

You're asking the wrong crowd.

[C]

James speaks French.

[B]

Yeah, he speaks French. I guess it's Dirank. Like what's D E R A N

[C]

K e u e?

[B]

Oh, derunk Q U E. Yeah, okay, I will.

[C]

I will butcher this pronunciation.

[B]

It's okay if it's a Nazi.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

It's okay if it's French.

[B]

Molly's now going to get kicked out of Paris. Never again can you invade German visa law, Molly.

[C]

Okay, I'll help you circumvent Dutch visa law. Don't worry. But Quentin Dirhan Diran was a far right activist who died on February 14 after a violent altercation between the far right and the far left. I also want to make like a broad disclaimer. Regardless of where anyone listening to this stands politically, I'm still going to say this was tragic. Quinton was only 23, barely an adult, and as much as his worldview and politics were vile, cruel, and pretty much everything I'm personally opposed to, it was still a son, a friend and a family member that's not coming home.

[A]

I mean, I think it's always a tragic thing for someone to get beaten to death in the street. Or at least almost always.

[C]

Almost almost always.

[A]

But, you know, I'm not saying it's wrong to punch a Nazi in the face, but I think beating a young man to death is probably not necessary in this case.

[C]

Definitely. And I don't want to make it come off like this. It's a celebration of some sorts, because it's not. It's a tragedy. And as much as the world would be a better place without his politics, I still think it's within my own moral lines to say, like, fuck, this shouldn't have happened.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I think that's important to acknowledge up front because I think, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't know exactly where the conversation is going, but from what I have seen in, you know, following a bunch of telegram chats from Nazis all over the world, and I haven't engaged really with this story, I don't know a lot about it, but I see his name a lot. So his death has become something that isn't really about him. It's not about the tragic death of a young man, even to the people who are celebrating his life and using his death as. As a political tool. Right. It's like. It's not about the tragedy of his death for the people who would have been his friends.

[C]

No. And I think we could add some asterisks later on with friends, because he

[A]

wasn't white, was he?

[C]

He was half. I think his mother was Peruvian. Half Peruvian, exactly. Yeah.

[A]

Anyway, sorry. Sorry to derail us.

[C]

No, that's. That's fine.

[A]

His death is tragic, and I think that is a much more generous read of the situation than many of his comrades would actually have.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And also, it's like, if I'm going to celebrate it, then I'm no better than they would be, other than being on another different political aisle.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But those two things can exist at the same time. But to get back, who was Quinton? He was a student at Lyon University. I've read contradictory reports on what it exactly was that he studied, but it was in the general area of mathematics and data science. Around his late teens, he converted to Catholicism, and outside of his studies, he Was passionate about philosophy and ethics, specifically St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. Those close to him who have spoken with the media describe him as more of a bookworm than violent activist. Few quotes here to underline that he was a normal young man who had reconnected with his roots, who loved his country, his people, his civilization, his religion. Quinton belongs to legend. He is already a hero and a martyr.

[A]

Well, yeah. These are the things said by the people who loved him.

[C]

This was a friend. A friend of his who spoke to the media.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, you always hear this about. I mean, I don't know anything about Quentin specifically, but just because someone close to him said he was. He was a nice boy. He was never violent. You heard that about mass shooters?

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Grain of salt.

[C]

Exactly. And apparently he was so devout in his Catholicism that he managed to convince several family members to convert, which led to him becoming his own father's godfather.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[A]

If you're an adult convert, anyone can be your sponsor. Any other baptized Catholic adult. Everybody can. Confirmed Catholic adult. Yeah.

[C]

But it still feels weird to me. It's like, who's going to give who presents in that dynamic or.

[B]

Yeah. What's the Christmas dynamic now? Do you get two?

[C]

Exactly.

[B]

Otherwise they've just shorted you. Right. Like someone else could. Any adult Catholic could have done that. And his dad would be cashing in now at Christmas.

[C]

Exactly. And now it's just an equal trait, sort of, because they have to give each other presents.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

The image painted of Quinton in the early days of the coverage after his death overwhelmingly attempted to paint him as, like, this devout person, as a curious bystander who was either at the wrong place at the wrong time or ominously targeted by left wing militants. This narrative seemed to dominate until his Twitter accounts were found. So you already know where this is going.

[B]

Great.

[C]

One of the first posts he made was about his support for the repeal of the Pleven and Guisot laws, which are French laws that prohibit Holocaust denial, among other things. Subsequent posts throughout the following years were frequently anti Semitic, racist, Islamophobic, fascist, and homophobic. There will be some quotes later on. What stood out to me most is that he seemed to have, like, a very theoretical underpinning for his beliefs. This is also a recurring theme. That he seemed much more ideologically constructed in his beliefs rather than your run of the mill, you know, proud boy who are just like street thugs, essentially.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, the French really do excel at sort of academic anti Semitism. So he's really. I mean, that's he's getting back to his French identity. Right?

[C]

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And like most French academics, half of the things are completely impossible to understand. So another quote from Quinton here. A fascist is someone who supports fascism, someone who affirms supremacy of the state over the individual. He wants the state to be a regenerative force of a moral order and to unite the nation. He opposes liberalism and Marxism.

[B]

So if he hadn't added that last caveat, he could be describing like a Stalinist. Right.

[C]

Like, yeah, I think that's why it was added. It just copy pasted.

[A]

And also, by the way, fuck those commies.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

All right, Glenton.

[C]

Yes, the anti tanki brigade has arrived. So sometimes he would also correct others or less informed right wing activists. And he said fascists and anti fascists literally have two opposing visions of society. Political violence is not unique to fascists. It is intrinsic to politics. When you have a bit of character,

[A]

a bit of character, that's.

[B]

Oh, well, well, yeah, that's.

[A]

I mean, ironic, I suppose.

[B]

Yeah, that's one.

[A]

Or act rather, I guess. It's not ironic.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

There is a broken clock moment in there in that like political violence is not unique to fascists. But then.

[A]

But they tend to use it more. I would like, you know, I was, I was racking my brain thinking about, you know, sort of street deaths of this nature that I'm familiar with in my work about, you know, white supremacist violence. They're usually the ones doing the killing. Sure, there's political violence. It's not unique to fascism, but they sure do love it.

[B]

They have embraced it.

[C]

Yeah. But when thinking about the state and how the state itself is like a violence machine.

[A]

Oh, absolutely.

[C]

Sort of supports the status quo. That's where I'm seeing the broken clock moment. And. Yeah, good that you noted, Bolly, that bit about you need to have a bit of character because that also comes back later on the Twitters. He also commented about voting for Fortress Europe, a fringe French political party led by Pierre Marie Bono that made its campaign revolve around the repeal of same sex marriage, reproductive rights and the creation of a nationality code and a new form of the country's population census with additional religious and ethnic related criteria. So, like already you know exactly what type of conservative this guy was.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

There were also a lot of instances of very racist terms against black and Muslim people involving hard R N words, including explicit calls for murder. He used the acronym tnd, which stands for total N word death.

[A]

Oh, yeah. So I can kind of Guess where he was hanging out online.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Wow, he's really in deep.

[C]

Well, Twitter should have been enough of a red flag for that, to be honest.

[B]

Yeah, it's true. It's probably. You could get that whole worldview just from X.com, the everything.

[A]

But if he's reposting, like, T and D type content like, this is. This is not a guy who was just reading Thomas Aquinas.

[C]

No, no, no.

[A]

You get what I'm saying.

[C]

But no one should read Thomas Aquinas, to be honest. Neither St. Augustine. I've read both some and did not stick. What I do find very interesting was a particular tweet in which he compared African migration to German occupation, where he expressed his preference for dolicho salethic blondes over blacks with large nostrils and disproportionate lips.

[B]

Oh, that's gross.

[C]

And that's a very nice Scrabble word for those of you that play. It's a fascinating choice of words. It comes from 19th century anthropology, back when anthropology was more problematic than it is now. Yeah, it's like scientific racism pretty much. It comes from cephalometry, the measuring of skulls and crania. Yes.

[B]

I love a good caliper guy.

[A]

Ophrenology.

[C]

No, this was like a. Branching off ophrenology.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

I dove into this because it was like the. Is he saying. Yeah, but, yeah, essentially it was used to make different races. And of course, the Aryan race was the best one. Doliq refers specifically to the Aryan white race. What he essentially said is, I prefer to be occupied by white people. So. Great guy. And then this is also how I come back to, like, how well read he was in this garbage, because those are not terms that you typically find when you're. You're researching Nazis or like, the. The Nazi discourse. It almost has like an. An academic level of.

[A]

I mean, that's very French. It's very French.

[B]

Well, it.

[C]

It. It reminded me of, like, acquaintance of yours, Molly, Richard Spencer, who I think once. I'm not sure if I can.

[A]

Oh, he does. He does love to let you know that he's read philosophy.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

He's not a common gutter racist. He's read papers.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

He's read anthropology.

[C]

Okay. We can bleep the following word out, because I'm not too into, like, American discourse to know if I can say this, but I think at some point he referred to, like, people of African ancestry as octoroons.

[B]

Oh, yeah, that's an.

[A]

It's a very obscure, like, old racial slur. Like it's something like my great, great grandparents would have said.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

Yeah, that's a fascinating. Yeah, they, they love to flag. So they have read a book.

[A]

But the NW is for common racists. I know. Old fashioned racial slurs.

[B]

They genuinely do see themselves above in the hierarchy of people who say that though. Like with.

[A]

Well, James, he has half a PhD, right?

[B]

Ph.

[A]

He had. He had to drop out of his PhD program to pursue a career in professional racism.

[B]

To be fair, many people in the, in the PhD academia world could have done that.

[A]

Pursued a career in professional racism.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Yes. Yeah. This is a thing I have observed in the academy.

[C]

I, I believe that instantly. Yeah.

[B]

You could argue, in fact, that in some disciplines having a PhD is pursuing a career in professional racism.

[C]

Now I'm very curious as to what

[B]

those disciplines are like in anthropology more than 50 years ago.

[C]

Oh, yes.

[B]

Oh, definitely would be the obvious one.

[C]

Yeah, it's as an anthropologist. Very much, Very much true. I can say it's less bad nowadays than it was 50 years ago. But still there.

[B]

Yeah, definitely.

[C]

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[A]

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Oh, and for the pool. Cause pools are cool.

[C]

I feel the love book of Verbo that's loved by guests. If you know you've Erbo. And we're back. So we left off with Quinton being on the twitters and saying Twitter things there. And what you all gathered from this right now is that despite what his friends and family and fellow fascists said, he was definitely not as peaceful or as harmless as they tried to portray him. In the wake of his death, he was also getting increasingly involved with far right self defense groups, among possible others. Active Club France.

[A]

Oh, that's a Nazi group.

[B]

Oh yeah.

[C]

You don't say. My poor philosophy students with those people. He had regular interactions with them, also with Odaz Leon, who provided combat trainings in a local park. Their slogans are nothing new or interesting. White people need to defend themselves against migration and the left. What was interesting was one of these training sessions was with toy knives where they had to practice like dueling against each other. And to everyone's surprise, Quinton managed to defeat several people because he was very.

[A]

He's kind of a scrawny little guy.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

He studied the way of the blade the toy blade. Yeah.

[C]

Specifically, I have not found a Ben Shapiro ninja photo of him, but it would have been appropriate at this point. I'm now quoting a little bit from media part. That's also the ones who unearthed a lot of his tweets. In the spring of 2025, Quentin launched a small group in Bourgeois Jaliu, the Ada alle Brouge Bourgeois, Sorry to the French speakers.

[A]

Sounded good to me.

[C]

Yeah. On May 10th in Paris, he was photographed wearing a partially covered by a neck warmer and participated with a small group into a Neo Nazi march that was organized annually in homage to a member of the group Louvre Francois, who died in 1994. Hello, Brigades. Bourgeois also paid tribute to Jean Marie Le Pen one year after the death of the founder of the National Front. They now go by Resublement national rn. Yeah, I suppose it's a rebranding exercise. So at this point, I think amongst ourselves we can agree that he was not a particularly innocent philosopher or good hearted, saintly person. It feels much more like he was someone who acted on his beliefs.

[A]

A Neo Nazi. Someone who is a member of several violent Neo Nazi organizations.

[C]

Yeah. That tends to be like a very strict causation between hanging out with those groups and being one.

[A]

And I would be very curious to know sort of what order these things happened in. Was his conversion to Catholicism part of his descent into these neo Nazi groups? Because the sort of traditionalist Catholicism he was involved in? Because it looks like he was involved in Academia Christiana, which is.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Not. That's not normal, that's not church. That's a Nazi group.

[C]

Definitely. Insofar as I can tell. I think his conversion happened earlier.

[A]

So it was maybe a sincere conversion to Catholicism, but then he got involved in traditionalism, maybe as part of his entry into far right politics. I know these things are very intertwined given the. Like this, this Academia Christiana group was founded by one of the founders of Generation Identity. These things are overlapped completely.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

He wasn't just going to Catholic Church. He was going to a very extreme right wing, anti Semitic identitarian traditionalist subgroup.

[C]

Yeah. The Westboro Baptist Church, pretty much French Catholicism. Of French Catholicism. I don't know how many groups we've insulted with that comparison.

[A]

It's fine, we'll.

[C]

We'll have to have a tally.

[A]

It's legal.

[C]

Ah, okay then that's good. But with that bit of context about like Quinton's background behind him, we're going to go to the faithful day of February 12th when he was beaten. He was not fatally beaten, I have to say. But more on that a tiny bit later. On the day of February 12, a French EU pol mortarian, a Palestinian woman named Rima Hassan was giving a speech at the Lyon Institute of Political Studies. Hassan is a member of the French far left party La France Sumise, French unbowed. A counter protest was announced by the far right feminist group Nemesis, for which some fascist groups volunteered to do security at the protest.

[A]

Yeah, James, I see the look on your face. Girls can do fascism too.

[B]

Okay, I'm sorry I doubted you all.

[C]

Get. Get on the train, James.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, okay. Women's rights and women's wrongs.

[C]

This is the only women's wrongs I will ever support.

[A]

I am curious what neo Nazi feminism looks like, because they're not just like a women's fascist group, they're a fascist feminist group. What do you think those words mean, babe? Yeah, I'm going to find out more about that on my own time.

[B]

Yeah. Yes. This is going to be Molly's evening is locked in now.

[C]

Yeah, I can give you some pointers.

[A]

I'm familiar with women doing fascist organizing, but it's usually in sort of very confined to a traditional female role. So what are fascist feminists?

[B]

There was like the session Feminina of Francoist if that's any indication. But maybe.

[A]

So, yeah, he was just being a gentleman. Providing security for these girl boss Nazis.

[C]

Pretty much. There is a very girl boss photo I found. I'll pull it up in a bit. But yeah, they are identitarian air quotes. Feminists who blame all sexual violence on people of color and Muslims.

[B]

There it is.

[A]

Okay, great.

[C]

Yeah, we knew this was coming.

[A]

I bet their white boyfriends never, never mistreated.

[B]

Never. No. They respect a woman.

[A]

No.

[C]

Depending on her race and her politics, of course.

[A]

And the beauty of the white Harry and woman. James, please.

[C]

Founder and frequent guest on various French right wing platforms, Alice Cordier was the one who founded this collective. You seem to have like a few hundred people in the collective, but like a very small inner circle of like 12 people. And Alice Cordier was already at the center of a controversy. On March 10 this year, journalist Ricardo Pereira posted a photo on Twitter of Alice mimicking an SS symbol with her hands. And in this photo, she's together with former Lyon popular member who is allegedly now fighting with the Azov battalion in Ukraine.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Right?

[A]

It's all coming together.

[C]

Yeah, exactly. So this is Alice doing an assass symbol with her hands.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Look at her.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah. Wow.

[A]

And that looks very Intentional.

[C]

This doesn't seem like a gesture you would make by accident.

[B]

Alice Cordier based question mark title of this post. What does this sign mean exactly?

[C]

And just because we were talking about the. The girl boss. Can you see it?

[A]

Oh, wow. Yeah.

[B]

Oh, wow. Okay. Oh, wow. Yeah. Wow. What a vibe. Yeah.

[C]

Definite girl bosses.

[B]

Yeah. Pantsuit fascism.

[A]

Business casual fascism for the woman in the workplace.

[B]

Yeah. It's the other pantsuit nation.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

An all white pantsuit nation.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Although two of those women don't actually look Anglo Saxon. It's. It's so interesting to me.

[C]

That's something for the French to figure out.

[B]

French identity and national identity is different.

[C]

It's pants.

[A]

More immigrants. Your grandparents were fine.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Ladder up.

[C]

Exactly. Now, now it's time to punch down on the. On other people who've had, who don't have the opportunities my. My parents had.

[B]

Yeah. Not a phenomenon that's unique to France.

[A]

Oh, no, not at all.

[B]

I mean, settler colonial country of the United States.

[C]

French and colonialism. James. Really?

[A]

No, they never would do that.

[C]

Not the French.

[B]

No. All those places were parts of France.

[A]

They're not still doing that.

[B]

No.

[C]

I think Algiers would like to have a word with you, Molly. That was Alice from like the Nemesis Collective.

[A]

Yeah. That's a collection of my nemeses now.

[C]

Yeah. Like that is the name I used when I was 14 and I had to make up a character name when I was playing video games or something. It's like, it's not original.

[B]

Yeah. It is extremely teenage.

[C]

Like angel of Darkness. Levels of cringe. Something like that. Um, yeah. But what I find most frightening about these people though is they seem to be incredibly media savvy and cunning as a group. And to give you an example, In June of 2024, several members of this group infiltrated an anti far right protest in Paris. They had brought slogans highlighting legal convictions or trials from several high profile far left French politicians. This includes Jean Luc Melachon, who was convicted of inciting rebellion or revolution in 2019. That's for the CV right there.

[B]

What a thing for the French to make illegal.

[A]

That one cool thing we did. We'll never do it again. Never again.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. The best thing about France pulling the old ladder up behind them again.

[C]

Exactly. Like there's no return to tradition if that's the thing you're going to make illegal.

[A]

And I thought these guys were traditionalists.

[C]

Exactly. Like same with the Dutch. We can't do it anymore. But I think back in the 1700s, we literally clubbed some High functionary to death and ate him and his brother.

[B]

We can't do it anymore, but we

[C]

can't do it anyway.

[B]

Because of woke.

[C]

Because of woke. Exactly. This is the one Dutch tradition I full heartedly support. If you're upset with your elected official now elected air quotes because I don't think they were elected, then, you know, some casual cannibalism might just do the trick.

[A]

Yeah, well, if you guys bring back clubbing out of control elected officials, we could look the other way on some of your more questionable Christmas traditions.

[B]

Oh, I don't know if we could.

[C]

That's not a Christmas tradition, but I know what you mean.

[B]

I don't think I'm going to look the other way on that one.

[C]

No. Okay.

[B]

It's a chimney sweep, guys. It's just a chimney sweep. It's fine. Yeah, that's why it's called an Easter egg for listeners. You can Google that in your own time.

[C]

Don't Google it.

[B]

Yeah, you're going to see some racist shit.

[A]

Back to this guy getting beaten to death.

[C]

Yeah, well, not to death just being beaten.

[A]

But he did die.

[C]

He did die. But apparently when everyone had fled, he refused to go to the hospital despite several non activist bystanders emphasizing like, hey, you should go to the hospital. And he did not. He walked for at least 1 1/2 kilometers, like a little more than a mile for, for the Americans.

[A]

Thank you.

[C]

And he then, he then collapsed and he was in a coma for two days in the hospital. And then on Valentine's Day, he died.

[A]

Oh, that's a real bummer.

[B]

So.

[C]

Yeah, and that's also why I'm going to say like, that he wasn't fatally beaten because I don't know if.

[A]

Well, so, I mean, at least in American law, he did die of injuries inflicted from that beating. So you would say the people who inflicted that beating on him did cause his death.

[B]

Yeah, but.

[A]

So I mean, under American law, like if you get shot today and you die from a disability from that shooting, 10 years from now, you were murdered.

[C]

Yeah, I hated that. I'm surprised by this because you would

[A]

not be dead but for those injuries. If he had not been hit in the head.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

He would not have died.

[B]

Indeed, you can in fact not be the person doing the shooting and still be charged for murder. In the US as someone, that's a different problem.

[A]

The felony, the felony murder problem is, is very serious here. But, but no, I mean, he would not have died had he not been beaten. So he was beaten to death. It was just that it would, it's perhaps possible that he could have survived.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Had he, had he attempted to survive.

[C]

I don't know if he, he would have survived if he had gotten, if he had called an ambulance straight after.

[A]

That's the other thing. That's the other thing is if he had that, if he had that much probably intracranial bleeding, that he collapsed pretty soon afterwards, he may have died regardless.

[C]

We'll never know. Probably.

[A]

Right. But I would say he was fatally beaten because he would not have died if not for the beating.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

At least under American, under American law that would be the case. I don't know about in France.

[B]

It's probably worth noting that like the American phenomenon of not wanting to go in an ambulance to hospital because you know that you will have life altering medical bills like this is. Believe me, as someone who did not grow up in the United States and now lives here is a unique and quite disturbing character trait of people living in the United States. Like, because people are thinking, oh, but like I personally have gotten an ambulance. Yeah. Like I personally have not gotten an ambulance when I should have done in the United States because I knew that I wouldn't be able to pay the bills.

[A]

Oh, if I'm conscious and able to walk on my own two feet, I'm not getting any ambulance.

[B]

Yeah. This is just, just so people understand like that this is not a thing that people tend to do as much, at least not for that reason in Europe.

[A]

He just didn't want to be a pussy, I guess.

[C]

I don't know. I can also imagine that maybe like after authorities were alerted that maybe he would have been visited by police in the hospital due to the fight.

[A]

Right. Because he was involved in a conflict.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

And yeah, I have some photos later on of like images taken by I think a journalist where you just see the black clad like fascists with like iron bars in their hands and everything.

[B]

Oh, shit.

[C]

So I would say that the self defense motive is very indefensible. You know what, let's take an ad. An ad break. You know who, who won't beat you

[A]

to death with a bar?

[C]

Who won't beat you to death with a bar? Allegedly.

[A]

I, I'm pretty sure none of their advertisers have ever beaten someone to death with a pipe. Oh, no, I can't guarantee that.

[B]

I can't be a mining company who

[A]

can say they will not beat you. The listener to death.

[C]

Okay. Probably I was about to pluck the Washington Highway, State patrol, but I'm not sure if I can do that. They can get to me in the Netherlands. I'm safe.

[A]

Yeah, that's.

[C]

And we're back unbeaten with iron bars. So when we left off, we were supposed to talk about more about nemesis. So we'll continue there. Yeah. They were carrying slogans with like accusations and trials of like left. Prominent left wing politicians, but they had them covered up with like regular slogans. So at some point they unveiled their actual slogans and they repeatedly chanted to the crowd of anti far right protesters, you're not feminists. This action only took about two minutes. A combination of chants being spat on and the general hostility that I imagine followed very quickly.

[A]

I'm feeling general hostility and I'm not even there.

[C]

No. Now what? You've seen the girl boss photo now, so you know why. Yeah, that's why you feel hostile. Maybe it's just the pantsuits. Those two minutes were enough though, because they had the content and the images that they were after. They also brought bodyguard to protect them, which again, it's the savviness and this cunningness that I said earlier. Like they know they're going to be provoked and possibly attacked, so they're already preemptively bringing bodyguards.

[A]

Well, they're not going to be provoked. They were going there due to provoking.

[B]

Yeah, they went.

[A]

They went to someone else's rally to do a provocative stunt.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And so they. I mean, it makes sense you'd bring. And if I was going to, if I was going to cause problems on purpose, I would bring a bodyguard.

[C]

Okay, okay, I'll. I'll make sure to watch out for you if you ever bring a bodyguard and I see you. Yeah, but yeah, those two minutes, they proved enough. They had the content and the images they were after, which were quickly published by far right magazines, social media accounts. Four members of the collective were later interviewed by Sea News and Cordier herself was hosted on Europe 1. Both of these stations are owned by Vincent Bellore, who is sort of Rupert Murdoch in portions of the French media ecosystem. Yeah. So again, not surprising to anyone, I suppose. And insofar as I can tell, this is also nemesis preferred method of getting attention. They're a modus operandi. They pick high visibility locations or events where they provoke their opponents through their messaging. And when confronted by people opposing their racism and their views, they'll play the victim cards.

[A]

Classic maneuver.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it's the best way to get positive attention while not actually having enough numbers to hold your own rally that anyone would notice.

[C]

Exactly. But, and again, we're coming back to this. This feels much more savvy and thought out than.

[A]

Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's a clever strategy, but it's like the media keeps falling for it. Like, you don't have to interview the head of this little Nazi group just because they put on a nice outfit. It's the Richard Spencer problem all over again.

[C]

Yeah, just because they dress nice doesn't

[A]

mean just because he owns a little suit jacket.

[C]

No, this is why I don't own any suits. Like, just to avoid being associated. In November 2019, they infiltrated a Paris march against sexual and gender based violence. And then they brandished signs referring to foreign rapists.

[A]

I hate these women. Yeah, you'd have to have a woman on so that we could. So someone can say.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

Are dumb bitches. It's legal for me to say yes.

[C]

In hindsight, I'm very glad that you're here to say those things, Molly, because I won't talk about women's wrongs. But you can.

[A]

I mean, it's just, it's so cynical and so nasty to show up to an anti rape march to displace the blame for sexual violence onto immigrants, to just like, yeah, ooh, gross, gross.

[C]

Yeah, that, that's, that's like 90% of right wing politics at the moment.

[A]

Right. But for the women themselves to be doing because you see men do it all the time. But these women know better because I guarantee you, in at least half of those women have been sexually assaulted and it probably wasn't by an immigrant. Like, you know better. You know better.

[C]

Alice Cordier says she has. She suffered from sexual assault by immigrants, but there's no way to prove it because it was allegedly when she was 13 or 14. So it's just this after the fact justification that you can't prove or disprove either way. And even, even if we were going to say, okay, you know what, we'll take that argument at face value.

[A]

I won't.

[B]

That.

[C]

That is your prerogative.

[A]

No, I just. You see, I know it reminds me so much of this. This funny little, you know, Nazi con artist that was. She testified in the Oklahoma City trials. She had this like, her origin story was like, oh, like I became a racist because I was listening to racist radio shows while I was recovering because I was attacked by a gang of black teenagers and I broke my legs. She broke her legs because she got drunk at the park and she jumped off a giant crucifix set up for a passion play.

[C]

Okay, okay.

[A]

So this whole like, oh, my origin Story is like, I was assaulted by a gang of like, of people of color. Like, I don't believe you.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Anyway, completely valid. But what I meant to say is like, even if that were true, that is no argument to like generalize it to an entire population.

[A]

No. Or just show up to the anti rape march to cause a scene. Girl, go home.

[B]

Yeah. You'd think, yeah, if you've been subject to sexual assault, you would want to be in solidarity with other people, maybe make sexual assault stop happening. Like period. Not focus on a subset of human beings.

[C]

But James, what you're forgetting there is that sexual violence is okay if it's done by white people.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

According to nemesis in a biblical way.

[A]

You know, within the bounds of marriage.

[C]

Yeah. In the holy bounds of matrimony. So.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

What this group essentially does is they tie feminism or their brand of it.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Thank you for the air quotes. Yeah, they tie it to their nationalism, but they focus solely on sexual violence and even then only the violence that is connected to like migrants.

[A]

So it's no feminism at all. It's just. It's a lie.

[C]

You won't, you won't be surprised that they're awfully silent about equal pay or abortion rights.

[A]

Yeah, well, I imagine they're probably anti abortion.

[C]

How did you guess that?

[B]

Well, it depends who's getting the abortion. I would assume.

[C]

I will send them like an email to ask for a verification to specify

[B]

I need more coverage. That's the way we should respond to this.

[C]

Exactly. And I want to know which abortions are okay and which are not. So I can accurately make, you know, a harrowing story of it. Anyway, this exploitation of women's issues by far right groups to proliferate their bullshit worldview and pull people in is called femationalism. It was coined by the British sociologist Sarah r. Ferriss in 2017, which might be a broader topic worth exploring in the future.

[A]

Yeah, I'm very interested.

[B]

Me too.

[A]

People have been complaining that I never talk about weird little girls.

[B]

Well, now you can.

[C]

Here you go. For now. It is love to see this, what they're doing as some sort of fucked up arranged marriage of feminism and ethnic nationalism that views gender issues explicitly through the lens of ethnicity. Yeah. And as I said before, they're notably very quiet on bodily autonomy, workplace equality, equal opportunity abortion and maternity care.

[A]

So like actual sort of safety and well being and equality for women. The things that I think of as feminism.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Like the maternity care was like the sprung out to be because like in

[A]

my feminism, I don't die in childbirth because it's woke.

[B]

They want to return to tradition and have 30% of childbirth result in one one or other party dying.

[C]

Ah, great. Great stuff.

[A]

It's beautiful. Yeah, I guess if you were trying to invent feminism, but the only text you had is the 14 words, this is what you would get.

[B]

You had a dictionary with the word feminism and the 14 words and that was all you had to go.

[A]

David Lane, famous feminist.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I guarantee you that Alice Cordier has said the 14 words on probably multiple occasions. It's a garbage group of people, and I hope they have the hiccups the rest of their life.

[A]

Oh, that's hurtful. I like that.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, that's a pretty good one. And with that, that is the end of part one. If you'd like to find out more about Quentin and various other French fascists, please join us again tomorrow.

[A]

It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, Visit our website, coolzone media.com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts, you can now find sources for It Could Happen here, listed directly in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.