I have devoted far too many years to the study of the ND. I hope that with my second book on the ND I have finally got it right! Every society is a site of contestation in respect of the question, ‘Who are we?’ In the interwar years, Europeans on the right, left, and beyond bitterly clashed about who they were. Now it is the turn of new generations, including ND intellectuals, to define who they are. We often define ‘who we are’ against ‘who we are not’. In times of crisis, these discourses can become toolkits for political exclusion and violence. If my migrations through different lands have taught me anything, it is that the answers to questions about identity are as numerous as the human race. To ridicule some answers by suggesting that they are ‘irrational’, ‘reactionary’, or ‘anti-modern’ is to fail to see the rational kernel of most identities. It is my hope that Rethinking the French New Right contributes to an understanding of a rational and coherent ideology created in 1968 and its attempts to forge an ‘alternative future’ rooted in a pan-national European identity.
Tamir Bar-On
Querétaro, Mexico
30 July 2012