In recent months, an identitarian movement has been making its way into the political life of Nice. Nissa Rebela aims to be the ultimate bastion of a Niçois identity that, in their view, is too greatly disavowed by too many.
The first act, inevitably noticed by regional and national media, was the controversial distribution of pork soup to the local homeless. Banned by the Prefecture, the pork soup is now served alongside vegetable soup, thumbing its nose anew at an institution which often finds itself powerless against the publicity stunts or flashes of the Niçois identitarians.
Accusing the Public Prosecutor, Eric de Montgolfier, of “nonsense that sometimes works with certain gullible or accommodating journalists”, Philippe Vardon, the leader of the Niçois group, immediately responded to his latest fine of €10,000 resulting from the distribution of a flyer in the town of St Martin du Var.
Far from stopping on this “wrong path”, Nissa Rebela today claims the cancellation of the “Nice Rap Contest” concert that was supposed to take place Saturday night at the Palais Nikaïa. The cancellation was ultimately confirmed by the organizers who justified their decision by “a climate of tension and threats made against them”. Tactically, the good old methods still work: distribution of thousands of flyers, publishing the phone numbers of the organizers, emails asking to “make their voices heard politely but firmly.”
A canceled concert. You might say it’s not a big deal, but is the question really about the cancellation of an event or rather about the influence this extreme-right group had on the decision not to produce a show in Nice?
But other questions simmer…
When will the cancellation of extreme-right music groups at universities happen?
Why is the wild posting of Nissa Rebela tolerated on the walls of the city of Nice?
What do Catherine Ségurane, Giuseppe Garibaldi, or OGC Nice have to do in the media arsenal of the Niçois identitarians?
In short, it would almost make you lose your Niçois in one of its legendary salads. The identitarian cause is not yet recognized in Nice, but it is listened to—therein lies the real danger of a false identity.
