By Ghazaleh Vaziri, Brussels
The so-called “No Hijab Day” campaign by Collectif Némésis suddenly brought the movement to public attention in France when a group of young women appeared at the Trocadéro Square in Paris in 2021. Around thirty members of Collectif Némésis dressed entirely in black niqabs. In front of the Eiffel Tower, they unfurled a banner with the words: “French women in 50 years?” In interviews, they explained that they were responding to “World Hijab Day,” a campaign initiated by an American Muslim woman to promote tolerance toward women who wear the hijab. Women worldwide are encouraged to try wearing the hijab for a day. Critics see this as a propaganda effort by Islamist circles.
Two years later, the activists repeated their “No Hijab Day,” this time at the foot of the Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre. Half-dressed in black niqabs and half in white garments, they stood on the steps in front of the basilica, holding a banner that read: “Which civilization do you want?”
Collectif Némésis—named after the Greek goddess of wrath and retributive justice—was founded in October 2019. According to its leadership, the group wanted to introduce new feminist activism focusing on immigration, Islam, and their impact on women’s security. They deliberately excluded other feminist topics such as equal pay or political parity.
Left-wing feminist groups like “Nous Toutes” reject the idea that Collectif Némésis is feminist at all. They criticize the group for reducing gender-based violence to migrants and Muslims. The left-liberal newspaper Le Monde recently described the activists as racists and “identitarians disguised as feminists.”
The activists reject this accusation. They argue that many feminists ignore sexual violence perpetrated by certain groups. “We are actually very feminist because we address the violence women suffer simply for being women,” they claim. They argue that street harassment and violent attacks have significantly increased, disproportionately involving men from Islamic backgrounds: “We believe it is a bad idea to allow mass immigration of men who hold reactionary views on women.” To support their argument, the activists cite a 2020 study by the French Interior Ministry. According to the study, 63% of all sexual assaults on public transport in the Paris metropolitan area were committed by non-French nationals, despite foreign residents making up only 14% of the region’s population. Suspects from North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa were particularly overrepresented. Naturalized citizens were not included in the statistics.
The activists primarily target the political left, “mainstream media,” and the judiciary, which they accuse of being too lenient. They argue that average prison sentences of ten years for rapists are not deterrent enough and that there are too many repeat offenders.
The leader of the right-wing feminists supports the Rassemblement National (RN), Marine Le Pen’s far-right party. In her youth, the 27-year-old was even more extreme. At 15, she joined Action Française in her hometown of Orléans, a far-right group that advocates for the restoration of the monarchy. Alongside her studies in law and social sciences, she trained at the Institute for Political Education, a Catholic-conservative think tank, where she learned communication strategies and tactics, including how to engage with political opponents.
In November 2021, she and other members of Collectif Némésis joined a feminist demonstration against sexual violence. During the protest, they suddenly unfurled a banner with a disturbing message: “99% of Afghans support Sharia, and 85% support the stoning of adulterous women. Misogyny is not cultural enrichment!” These figures were taken from a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, but no one questioned their source at the time. Members of the far-left Black Bloc responded with violence, throwing bottles, forcing the activists to flee into a café.
Today, Collectif Némésis, funded by donations, has five full-time employees and 250 activists. The group has connections to other women’s organizations across Europe, including in the UK, where they have ties to the controversial anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson, as well as in French-speaking Switzerland, where they have many sympathizers. Political scientist Della Sudda sees Collectif Némésis as a prime example of how identitarian groups appropriate feminist rhetoric and activism for xenophobic purposes. She believes the activists are products of a cultural battle aimed at challenging the intellectual dominance of the left.
However, the group has become increasingly mainstream. This was evident at a recent press conference on internal security in Paris, where they asked the Interior Minister whether the government planned to ban the far-left group La Jeune Garde. His response was surprising: “Bravo for your fight. You know that I am very close to you.” Only later, after a wave of public outrage, did a spokesperson clarify that the minister had been unaware of the group’s “radical positions.”
