How an 80s punk lyric became the rallying cry of French protests against the far right

François Guillemot’s band, Bérurier Noir, wrote Porcherie in 1985. In the lead-up to a watershed election in France, its lyrics are making a comeback among the youth, politicians and celebrities alike

Ahead of this Sunday’s first round of France’s high-stakes parliamentary election, the slogan La jeunesse emmerde le Front national has been making the rounds on social networks. Young people are uploading clips of themselves singing it on TikTok, leftist MEP Manon Aubry has led chants of it at rallies, and actor Marion Cotillard has worn a badge with the slogan. Where does it come from?

François Guillemot: The line is from the song Porcherie that I recorded with my punk band, Bérurier Noir, in 1985. The year before the far-right Front National party, then fronted by the father of National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, Jean-Marie, had obtained its first strong result at the European parliamentary elections, gaining almost 11% of the vote. Porcherie starts with a sample of Le Pen addressing a rally in Belgium, predicting there would be a huge nationalist movement in that country too. We cut out the word “Belgium” and replaced it with “oink oink oink”.