The French far-right leader Jordan Bardella on Friday morning cancelled a scheduled speech at the US Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) in Maryland, after Donald Trump’s former aide Steve Bannon flashed an apparent fascist-style salute there hours earlier.
Mr Bannon, who helped Mr Trump win office in 2016 and is now a popular right-wing podcast show host, finished his Cpac speech on Thursday with an outstretched arm, fingers pointed and palm down – a sign that echoed both the Nazi salute and a controversial gesture made by the tech billionaire Elon Musk at the US president’s second inauguration in January.
Mr Bardella, of the hard-right National Rally party in France, pulled out of Cpac citing Mr Bannon’s allusion to “Nazi ideology”.
The salute during Mr Bannon’s speech brought cheers from the audience at the US gathering.
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Mr Bardella, who was in Washington ahead of his appearance and had said he intended to talk about relations between the US and France, issued a statement saying: “Yesterday, while I was not present in the room, one of the speakers out of provocation allowed himself a gesture alluding to Nazi ideology. I therefore took the immediate decision to cancel my speech that had been scheduled this afternoon.”
Mr Bannon denied he had made a Nazi salute, telling a French journalist it was a “wave”. He said that if Bardella had cancelled his appearance due to the gesture, “he’s unworthy to lead France.”
The National Rally party was beaten in France’s snap election last summer by a left-wing alliance.
Mr Bannon on Thursday night fired up the Cpac crowd, where he spoke directly after Mr Musk, the man who has eclipsed him in Mr Trump’s circle and with whom Mr Bannon is not on good terms.
“The only way that they win is if we retreat, and we are not going to retreat, we’re not going to surrender, we are not going to quit, we’re going to fight, fight, fight,” Mr Bannon said of opponents, echoing Mr Trump’s exhortation to supporters following the assassination attempt on him.
Mr Bannon then flung out his right arm at an angle with his palm pointing down.
The Nazi salute is perhaps more familiar, especially from historical footage of the German leader Adolf Hitler, with the arm pointing straight forward – but the fascist overtone of Mr Bannon and Mr Musk’s signals has been unmistakable.
The New York-based Anti-Defamation League, which campaigns against anti-Semitism, defines the Nazi salute as “raising an outstretched right arm with the palm down”.
Mr Bannon’s gesture, like Mr Musk’s have been characterised by some as a “Roman salute” – though some historians argue that is a distinction without a difference. Some right-wing supporters have argued, without evidence, that the Roman salute originated in ancient Rome. Historians have found, instead, that it was adopted by the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini in the 1920s, and then Hitler’s Nazi party in Germany. – Guardian/Reuters
