| Luc Michel | |
| Nationality: | Belgian |
| Occupation: | politician, activist |
Luc Michel (born 1958[1]) is a Belgian political activist. He is the current leader and founder of the Parti Communautaire National-Européen (PCN). According to research by the BBC and Logically, he is also behind Russosphere, a French-language African social network and fake news network spreading pro-Russian and anti-Western propaganda in Africa.[2]
Luc Michel is from Charleroi.[3] In his youth, Michel was a member of Front de la Jeunesse, a private militia group on the extreme right.
Michel first came to prominence when he served as Thiriart's personal secretary.[4] Inspired by the success of Jean-Marie LePen in France, Michel attempted to establish a group using the National Front name in 1984, but this proved unsuccessful. A more long-lasting Belgian National Front was established by Daniel Féret the following year, although Michel took no role in this group due to a strong personal antipathy towards Féret.[5]
He established the PCN in 1984,[6] following the failure of his National Front initiative. Michel has been leader since its foundation, although following the collapse of the Soviet Union he convinced his mentor Thiriart to become a member.[7] Thiriart died soon afterwards.
In 2014, Michel and Jean-Pierre Vandersmissen, as representatives of a group called the Eurasian Observatory for Democracy and Elections, acted as observers of the Crimean status referendum.[8]
In early 2023, the BBC and Logically identified Michel as the creator of Russosphere, a French-language social media campaign that pushes pro-Russian propaganda in Africa.[9] [10] Russosphere first emerged in mid-2021, but was fully launched in February 2022, prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It amassed over 65,000 followers on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, as well as Telegram and VK. The network's posts typically accuse France of modern-day "colonialism", describe the Ukrainian army as "Nazis" and "Satanists", and praise the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company. Logically researcher Kyle Walter said that Russosphere relied on legitimate grievances African countries have with France and Belgium to promote Russia as a better alternative.[11]
Logically also identified Michel as being involved in the "Republic of Detroit" movement, a campaign to create a breakaway republic in the United States. Walter said that while the movement was a "weird sideshow" without much impact or influence, its message echoed that of Russosphere, and described it as Russia's "firehose model" of propaganda.
Michel is a supporter of National Bolshevism and has described himself as a "national communist".[12] He has created a number of peridocials that stress opposition to Zionism and the United States.[13] He is a lawyer by profession, he has also written extensively on his political ideas. He has claimed to have the support of Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, in this endeavour.[14]
In his writing Michel has expressed admiration for several developing world figures, including Che Guevara, Juan Peron, Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi.[13] His attraction to the latter led him to establish the Mouvement Européen pour la Démocratie Directe, a think tank inspired by the Third International Theory.[13] Michel established contact with the Libyan regime and in August 2003 organised with their help the quatrieme universite d'ete pour les mouvements verts, pacifistes et alternatifs en Europe as an attempt to encourage co-operation between elements of the far right and the far left.[15]