GRECE

GRECE logo

The Groupement de recherche et d'études pour la civilisation européenne ("Study and research group regarding European Culture"), also knowns as GRECE (French for "Greece") is an ethnonationalist think-tank, founded in 1968 by the journalist and writer Alain de Benoist.

GRECE distinguishes itself from other traditionalist conservative organizations in displaying specific interest for Germanic and Nordic cultures, rejection of Christianity and monotheism, and advocating a come-back of paganism.

History

Benoist intended to create an intellectual think-tank to influence French conservative politics. A number of journalists were members of sympathisers of the GRECE, writing in the reviews Éléments and Nouvelle École. Several members of the GRECE, including Benoist himself, also joined the redaction of the newspaper Le Figaro, invited by Louis Pauwels.

The GRECE and the Club de l'Horloge were targets of a hostile press campaign in 1979, denouncing "far right" elements in the cluster of the French New Right (Nouvelle Droite). Both groups, though, had very different aims, and very few members in common, though the president of the Club de l'Horloge, Yvan Blot, was a member of GRECE for some time.

In the 80s, Benoist notably displaying interests in favour of Third World countries, but he also professed anti-liberal and anti-American ideas. Several notable members quit the GRECE at this point, notably Pierre Vial, who joined the Front national, or Guillaume Faye, who pursued a career in journalism before coming back to politics in 1998, with radical ideas clashing with the more consensual theses now defended by Benoist.

In spite of these resignations, most members do not go along well with the Front National, which contains Catholic traditionalists whose views are incompatible with the pagan intellectuals of the GRECE.

Philosophical themes

The publication of GRECE feature many articles on political philosophy, taking clue from such authors as Carl Schmitt, Julien Freund, Vilfredo Pareto, Ernst Jünger, and ideologies such as communism, nationalism and liberalism. Other topics regularly discussed are on identity and culture, religion, racism and anti-racism, physics, biology, and economics.

In the last years, GRECE has developed an idea of a politically powerful Europe, without the influences of "neoliberalism" and the United States, trying to work on such ideas of localism, environmentalism and communitarianism. In 1999, GRECE published a manifest by Alain de Benoist and Charles Champetier, the Manifeste pour une nouvelle culture, that was a synthesis of some of its work.

Publications

GRECE edits two journals: Éléments and Nouvelle Ecole, published by Editions du Labyrinthe. It also publishes a report on its annual conference.

External links

• Template:Fr icon Official site