[8] An ardent anti-fascist, Garel in the early 1990s cofounded "Ras l'Front", a French network fighting racialism and white supremacy.
He is a former president of the Greens group, who deployed a banner in support of Chinese and Tibetan political prisoners while the 2008 Olympic torch was at the Eiffel Tower.
[15] In 2006, Garel opposed giving John Paul II's name to a public place in front of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
[17] In September Garel opposed a settlement between the City of Paris and its former mayor Jacques Chirac in a corruption scandal.
[19] In 2011, he protested against the erection of a marble stele in the Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet church, in memory of those who suffered for their fidelity to French Algeria.
[20][21] In June 2011, Garel appeared on the "shame list" of French politicians published by Europe-Israel, a lobby fighting antisemitism, bigotry and anti-Zionism.