Until now, the words had only resonated in the CE2 classroom at Saint-Vincent Providence school. Located in one of the most chic neighborhoods of Rennes, the establishment was the scene of a strange dictation given on September 19, as revealed it The chained Duck in its September 27 edition. According to the satirical newspaper, students in a primary school class were ordered to copy the phrase “France to the French” during a dictation given by their teacher.
Often used by the far right to defend national preference, this slogan was that of L’oeuvre française, an ultranationalist political movement whose dissolution was declared in 2013. The National Anti-Jewish Federation had also used this phrase as a slogan at the beginning of the 20th century, which subsequently gave rise to the word “faf” (for France to the French) describing far-right activists.
In a letter addressed to parents, the principal of the elementary school tried to play down the situation, explaining that the teacher had not realized the significance of this sentence, used to work on “the lesson on the c cedilla”. “She and I assure you that there is no sneaky desire to propagate a nauseating ideological current,” wrote the head of the establishment. When contacted, the school, the rectorate and the diocesan education department have, for the time being, not responded to our requests.