A new investigative book uncovers the trajectory of Renaud Camus, a former left-wing activist turned proponent of the racist « great replacement » concept. Journalists Gaspard Dhellemmes and Olivier Faye portray the 79-year-old writer who influences figures like Éric Zemmour and Trumpist elites. The book will be published on January 28 by Flammarion.
Renaud Camus, 79 years old, is a prolific author with over 160 books published. A former associate of the left, he was a member of the Parti socialiste and rubbed shoulders with figures like Andy Warhol in New York and Louis Aragon in France. In recent years, he has become known for developing the « great replacement » concept, a racist idea that fuels supporters of « remigration », including Éric Zemmour.
The book The Man by Whom the Plague Came, written by Le Monde journalists Gaspard Dhellemmes and Olivier Faye, examines this ideological shift. In an excerpt dated March 11, 2023, Camus notes in his journal: « Two journalists want to write my biography. They are journalists from M, the magazine of Le Monde: so it can only be an extremely hostile biography, even hateful, necessarily hateful. »
Four years after the Christchurch massacre on March 15, 2019 – an islamophobic attack in New Zealand causing 51 deaths and 49 injuries –, other massacres have been carried out in the name of fighting the « great replacement ». In France, intelligence services are concerned about the growing terrorist threat from the ultradroite, an expanding movement fueled by fears of decline and the « change of people » advocated by Camus. His thinking has permeated the discourse of 2022 presidential candidates, led by Éric Zemmour, and now inspires the new Trumpist elites in Washington in their pursuit of power.
This thorough investigation paints a chilling portrait of a writer turned ideologue, whose ideas contribute to a persistent extremist rhetoric.
