Generation Identity

Introduction

Generation Identity (GI) is a pan-European youth movement that originated in France in 2012 as the youth wing of France's Les Identitaires movement.* GI has since spread to five other regions in Europe. Its newest branch claims to span the United Kingdom and Ireland, which the group claims are “inflicted by extreme multiculturalism.”* GI believes that white Europeans are falling victim to “the Great Replacement”—“the process by which the indigenous European population is replaced by non-European migrants.”* GI seeks to stop what it views as the Islamization of Europe, stop globalization, and reverse the “Great Replacement.”*

To realize these goals, the network has issued five demands: preserve European ethno-cultural identity, defend freedom of speech and opinion against far-left attacks, repatriate illegal immigrants to their countries of origin, promote regional development in African countries to stem emigration, and secure national borders.* GI claims it does not “provide a platform for any kind of national-socialist or fascist groups or views.”* Nonetheless, GI's German chapter, Identitäre Bewegung, has reportedly marched alongside neo-Nazi skinheads, and the German neo-Nazi political party NPD has held up GI's tactics as a model.* Austrian GI leader Martin Sellner has also professed the group's dedication to non-violence,* but GI has created militaristic training camps across Europe that feature combat training as well as anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant speakers.*

GI has staged numerous public protests, beginning with occupying the site of a future mosque in Poitiers, France, in October 2012.* Several of the perpetrators were sentenced to a year in prison in December 2017 on charges of incitement to discrimination and property destruction related to this incident.* In March 2016, police arrested 14 GI members after they lit tires on fire during a protest near refugee camps in Calais, France. The GI protesters claimed that they were defending Europe from a “migrant invasion.”* In October 2017, GI's British chapter unrolled a giant banner over London's Westminster Bridge reading “Defend London: Stop Islamisation.”*

GI accuses humanitarian NGOs of smuggling millions of people to Europe from Africa. It created a spinoff group, Defend Europe, in order to stop what it believes to be illegal human trafficking by refugee aid organizations.* In August 2017, Defend Europe members chartered a ship in order to block the transport of immigrants from Libya. They draped it with a giant banner declaring “No Way—You Will Not Make Europe Home.”* GI claimed that it received $100,000 in donations to pay for the charter.* However, the ship experienced mechanical issues and the GI crew had to be rescued by a ship belonging to the German refugee aid organization Sea Eye.* Human rights advocates accuse GI activists of delaying necessary humanitarian rescues with such tactics.*

In March 2018, British authorities banned Sellner from entering the country ahead of a speaking engagement. The British Home Office declared that his entry would not be “conducive to the public good.”* The following month, British authorities again denied Sellner entry into the country to attend a GI “European Reunion” conference.* Twitter suspended multiple GI accounts in July 2020, including Sellner’s.*

Though GI does not specifically promote violence, French authorities have prosecuted individual GI members for violent rhetoric and investigated the group for promoting hatred. In December 2020, French authorities convicted three GI members of incitement to terrorism, incitement to religious hatred, and assault after they were filmed discussing their wishes to attack Arabs and then assaulting a 13-year-old Muslim girl.* Soon after, French authorities began investigating GI on suspicion of incitement of racial hatred. On February 11, 2021, the French Interior Ministry sent a letter to GI accusing it of “openly hateful rhetoric.”* French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin followed up on the letter with plans to ban GI within the coming weeks. French law allows the Council of Ministers to ban organizations by decree if they incite discrimination, hatred, or violence against a person or a group of people because of ethnicity, nationality, or religion, or if they justify or encourage such discrimination, hatred, or violence. The Interior Ministry cited France’s security code forbidding “combat or private militia groups” and groups that “provoke discrimination, hate or (racial) violence.”* Approximately 200 people rallied in Paris on February 20 to protest the ban.*The ban went into effect on March 3, 2021, after approval from France’s Council of Ministers. GI’s leaders intend to launch a legal fight against the dissolution.* . In April 2021, U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin called on the U.S. government to designate more than a dozen foreign white supremacist groups as terrorist organizations, including GI.*

Leadership

Clément Gandelin is president of GI’s chapter in France.* Martin Sellner and Martin Lichtsmesz lead GI's Austrian chapter. Sellner is also the main leader of Defend Europe.* Lorenzo Fiato leads GI's Italian chapter.*

Clément Gandelin

Lorenzo Fiato

Martin Sellner

Base of Operations

Founded in France; maintains chapters in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Germany, Austria, and Flanders, Belgium*

Website

https://www.generation-identity.co/ (site discontinued), Generation Identity UK & Ireland (site discontinued), Génération Identitaire (France), Identitäre Bewegung (Germany), Identitäre Bewegung Österreich (Austria) (site discontinued), Generatie Identiteit (Flanders) (site discontinued)

Membership Size and Relevance

The network includes six regional chapters across Europe and smaller subchapters within those countries. GI's original French chapter allegedly had some 2,000 members as of 2016.* GI allegedly had approximately 800 adherents in France as of February 2021.*

Martin Sellner maintained more than 39,000 Twitter followers and 144,000 YouTube subscribers as of June 29, 2020.* Both platforms subsequently suspended Sellner. The Italian GI chapter maintained 3,172 Twitter followers and 1,290 YouTube subscribers as of June 29, 2020.* Twitter suspended the account, but the YouTube account remained active and had approximately the same number of subscribers as of April 13, 2021, though it had only nine videos and had not been updated in a year.* As of August 14, 2023, the YouTube account had been discontinued.* The Flanders chapter had 246 Twitter followers as of June 29, 2020.* The Saxony chapter had 1,541 Twitter followers as of June 29, 2020.* Both accounts were subsequently suspended. The Defend Europe YouTube page had 5,227 subscribers as of June 29, 2020,* and decreased slightly to 5,110 as of April 13, 2021.* As of August 14, 2023, the Defend Europe YouTube page had 4,810 subscribers and 26 videos. It had not uploaded a video since 2018.*

Recruitment and Propaganda

GI primarily targets European men and women in their 20s and 30s. The movement has a subgroup called Generation Identity Support Group (GISG), targeted to people over 40 to “help us protect our valuable heritage. A heritage that you have handed down.”* GI hosts online stores that sell T-shirts and stickers with slogans such as “Stop the Great Replacement,” “Chassons les Islamistes!” (“Hunt the Islamists”), “On est chez nous” (“We are home”), and “Defend Europe,” and the Identitaires magazine, which reports on the activities of GI and Les Identitaires.*

On April 14, 2018, GI hosted its “European Reunion” conference in England, which reportedly drew attendees from across Europe.* GI livestreamed the conference on Facebook, drawing more than 2,000 views.* The group claimed that the event was a success, but Hope Not Hate and anti-fascist Twitter account Anti-Fascist Intel alleged that organizers were forced to relocate the conference from London to Kent the day before and that prominent speakers, including Sellner, were unable to attend.*

GI relies on its social media presence to recruit and fundraise. The Defend Europe YouTube channel includes financial appeals for future protests.* YouTube hosts multiple versions of GI's 2012 “Declaration of War” video, in which French youth declare their disenchantment with values of their parents' generation—such as diversity, sexual liberation, and social security—and declare “war” against “anti-white racism.”*

Sellner also created a mobile app called Patriot Peer to connect GI members and sympathizers. After the crowdfunding website Kickstarter banned the app, Sellner turned to YouTube to raise support.* Sellner's YouTube page had 25,311 subscribers and hosted more than 140 videos as of July 3, 2018.* Both Sellner’s Twitter and YouTube accounts were suspended in July 2020.*

In June 2018, Facebook finally took action to permanently ban GI from its platforms, citing violations of Facebook's policies on extremism and hate speech.* With the exception of the Flanders chapter's page, all of GI's Facebook and Instagram accounts appeared to have been removed as of July 3, 2018. The Defend Europe website had also been removed as of the same date. GI UK & Ireland’s website was offline as of April 2020 and the group had migrated to a BitChute account.* Twitter also suspended Sellner’s account and multiple other GI accounts as part of a purge of more than 50 white nationalist accounts in July 2020.*

Violent Activities

GI is not known to have directly instigated any violent attacks. However, the group has engaged in military-style combat training in preparation for violent confrontation.* Some of GI's protests have also directly threatened others. For example, in October 2016, GI members in Montpellier, France, built a fake wall over which they draped a banner declaring “Refugee-free Montpellier.” GI's Facebook page declared that the group would not let immigrants “walk around Montpellier in peace.”*

Rhetoric

Daily Dose

Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.

Fact:

On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers. 

View Archive