Definition Identitarianism can be defined by its opposition to
globalisation,
multiculturalism,
Islam and
extra-European immigration; and by its defence of
traditions,
pan-European nationalism and
cultural homogeneity within the nations of Europe. The concept of "identity" is central to the Identitarian movement, which sees, in the words of
Guillaume Faye, "every form of [humanity's] homogenisation [as] synonymous with death, as well as sclerosis and entropy". Scholar
Stéphane François has described the essence of Identitarian ideology as "mixophobic", that is the fear of
ethnic mixing. Building on this perspective, Tamir Bar-On defines the Identitarian worldview through several key elements. These include anti-universalism (rejecting liberal and left-wing perceived efforts to homogenise different peoples under a universal framework), the centrality of identity (viewing ethnic, cultural, and racial identities, particularly those of white Europeans, as fundamental and under threat), and demographic fears (centred on concerns over declining white birth rates, immigration, Islam, and multicultural policies, which are framed as leading to the so-called "
Great Replacement"). Additionally, Identitarianism emphasises
metapolitics and activism (combining ideological dissemination with direct action, including propaganda campaigns and political agitation), a call for radical solutions to alleged threats of
white extinction (such as
remigration, national preference in employment and welfare, and the "reconquest" of immigrant-dominated areas), and a civilisational struggle against non-Europeans (portraying white European identity as existentially threatened and drawing on historical narratives of Christian and Western achievements). Philosopher
Pierre-André Taguieff argues that the Identitarian 'party-movements' generally share the following traits: a call to an 'authentic' and 'sane' people, which a leader is claiming to embody, against illegitimate or unworthy elites; and a call for a purifying break with the supposedly 'corrupt' current system, in part achieved by 'cleaning up' the territory from elements perceived as 'non-
assimilable' for cultural reasons, Muslims in particular. Bar-On notes that while Identitarian thinkers and the Nouvelle Droite criticise the liberal-left legacy of the
May 1968 events, the Nouvelle Droite views the 1968 generation as a model to follow, precisely because they successfully "conquered" the media, academia, and other centres of intellectual influence.
Metapolitics Inspired by the
metapolitics of Marxist philosopher
Antonio Gramsci via the , Identitarians do not seek direct electoral results but rather to influence the wider political debate in society. Through education and counter-hegemonic narratives to challenge liberal multiculturalism and globalism, they seek to win the "
war of ideas" by shifting public discourse on ethnic identity, immigration, and Islam, believing that a "silent majority" of white Europeans will eventually embrace their solutions. Identitarian theorist
Guillaume Faye defines metapolitics as the "social diffusion of ideas and cultural values for the sake of provoking profound, long-term, political transformation". In 2006, Swedish Identitarians launched
Metapedia as an alternative encyclopedia to advance their New Right and Identitarian ideas and gain wider support. In 2009,
Daniel Friberg established the publishing house
Arktos Media, which has grown since that date as the "uncontested global leader in the publication of English-language literature." Some Identitarian parties have nonetheless contested elections, as in France or in Croatia, but so far with no success.
Éric Zemmour, who has been described as belonging to the Identitarian movement by some scholars, won 7.1% of the votes during the
2022 French presidential election. A key strategy of the Identitarian movement is to generate large media attention by symbolically occupying popular public spaces, often with only a handful of militants. The largest action as of 2019, labelled "Defend Europe", occurred in 2017. After
crowdsourcing more than $178,000, Identitarian militants chartered a ship in the Mediterranean Sea to ferry rescued migrants back to Africa, observe any incursions by other
NGO ships into Libyan waters, and report them to the
Libyan coastguard. In the event, the ship suffered an engine failure and had to be rescued by another ship from one of the NGOs rescuing migrants.
Ethnopluralism According to
ethnographer Benjamin R. Teitelbaum, Identitarians advocate "an ostensibly non-hierarchical global separatism to create a 'pluriversum', where differences among peoples are preserved and celebrated." Political scientist
Jean-Yves Camus agrees and defines the movement as being centred around the concept of
ethnopluralism (or 'ethno-differentialism'): "each people and culture can only flourish on its territory of origin; ethnic and cultural mixing (
métissage) is seen as a factor of decadence;
multiculturalism as a pathogenic project, producing crime, loss of bearings and, ultimately, the possibility of an 'ethnic war' on European lands, between 'ethnic Europeans' and non-native Maghrebi Arabs, in any case Muslims." The European Identitarian movements often use a yellow
lambda symbol on a black background, commemorating the ancient
Battle of Thermopylae between Greeks and Persian. It symbolises a modern pan-European struggle against foreigners and Muslims, and non-Europeans in general. The pairing of Muslim immigration and Islam with the concept of ethnopluralism is indeed one of the main bases of Identitarianism, and the prediction of a future
ethnic war between whites and immigrants is central for Identitarian theorists. In their worldview, "ethno-masochism" (the hatred of one's own ethnicity) and
xenophilia (the love of foreigners) contribute to a perceived "
Great Replacement" of white Europeans, leading an eventual risk of extinction. They claim that this alleged replacement can only be halted, and a potential civil war avoided, by ending pro-multicultural, pro-immigration, and pro-anti-racism policies. However, they doubt such steps will be taken because elites and the general public do not recognise the threat they warn about. In 2016
Guillaume Faye claimed that "the ethnic civil war, like a snake's baby that breaks the shell of its egg, [was] only in its very modest beginnings". He had earlier preached "total ethnic war" between "original" Europeans and Muslims in
The Colonization of Europe in 2000, which earned him a criminal conviction for incitement to racial hatred. These calls to ethnic conflictual violence, also exemplified by
Pierre Vial's incitement of a "war of liberation" against "ethnic colonisation", is however opposed by other Identitarian thinkers and groups.
Alain de Benoist disavowed Faye's "strongly racist" ideas regarding Muslims after the publication of his 2000 book.
Pan-European nationalism According to Identitarian thought, identity should be defended on three levels, local/regional, national, and civilisational, with the nation-state acting as an intermediate bridge between regional roots (in the sense of the German
Heimat) and membership in European civilisation. Rejecting traditional far-right notions of Europe as merely a collection of
nation-states, they imagine a "
Europe of 100 Flags" as a mosaic of diverse regional communities united by the same civilisational heritage. They also reframe the concept "
biodiversity" as the plurality of European
cultures, arguing that in the face of the homogenising effects of global capitalism and unchecked immigration, protecting biodiversity means safeguarding the unique cultural identities of Europe's peoples through a commitment to
localism.
Views on Islam and liberalism The movement is strongly opposed to the politics and philosophy of
Islam, which some critics describe as disguised
Islamophobia. Followers often protest what they see as the
Islamisation of Europe through mass immigration, claiming it to be a threat to European culture and society. As summarised by Markus Willinger, a key activist of the movement, "We don't want Mehmed and Mustapha to become Europeans." This position is connected to the ideas of the
Great Replacement, a conspiracy theory which claims that a global elite is colluding against the
white population of Europe to replace them with non-European peoples. As a proposed solution to this debunked
global conspiracy, the identitarians present mass
remigration, a project of reversing growing multiculturalism through a
forced mass deportation of non-European immigrants (often including their descendants) back to their supposed place of racial origin, regardless of their citizenship status. has made frequent use of the term
Reconquista, in reference to expulsion of Muslims and Jewish people from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492. Identitarians do not share, however, a common vision on
liberalism. Some regard it as a part of European identity "threatened by Muslims who do not respect women or gay people", whereas others like
Daniel Friberg describe it as the "disease" that contributed to Muslim immigration in the first place. According to Tamir Bar-On, Identitarianism sets itself apart from
fascism,
Nazism,
traditional racism,
white supremacism, and
imperialism, yet remains outside the mainstream conservative spectrum. He describes it as a "fourth way" that rejects the Old Right's embrace of violence, the
Nouvelle Droite's purely intellectual approach, and the conventional radical right's focus on immediate parliamentary power. At the same time, Bar-On notes that some Identitarian leaders, including Fabrice Robert, the founder of Bloc Identitaire, and Martin Sellner, had a past linked to neo-fascist or neo-Nazi activity. In 2019, political scientist
Cas Mudde wrote that although Identitarians claim to share the slogan "0%
racism, 100% identity" and officially subscribe to
ethnopluralism, "the boundaries between biological and cultural arguments in the movement have become increasingly porous". Scholar A. James McAdams has described the Identitarian movement as a "second generation" in the evolution of European far-right foundational critique of liberal democracy during the
post-war era: "the first of these generations, congregated around the members of the French (New Right), defined difference as a right ('a right to difference') to which all persons were entitled by virtue of their shared humanity. A second generation, epitomized by the pan-European Identitarian movement of the early 2000s, replaced the language of rights with the less exacting claim to respect the differences of others, especially those based on ethnicity. Finally, in response to the degeneration of Identitarian thinking into outright xenophobia and racism, a third generation of theorists emerged in the 2010s with the expressed aim of restoring the respectability of far-right thought." == Connection to other far-right groups ==