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http://MondeDiplo.com/2003/11/11leftright
Le Monde diplomatique -- November 2003
THE NORTH AFRICAN COMMUNITY WANTS EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES NOT INTEGRATION
Franco-Arabs turn to the right
___________________________________________________________
The French integration model is not working, and the country's North
African community suffers from discrimination, poor schooling,
unemployment and political disenfranchisement. The left has failed to give
its representatives political power: can the right do better?
By KARIM BOURTEL *
* Karim Bourtel is a journalist
___________________________________________________________
YOUNG people waving Algerian and Moroccan flags flocked to the Place de la
Republique in Paris to celebrate the re-election of Jacques Chirac on the
night of the second round of the French presidential election on 5 May
2002. A few days later Tokia Saifi joined the new government as sec retary
of state for sustainable development, and Hamlaoui Mekachera was appointed
minister for veterans. Saifi is the daughter of Algerian immigrants,
Mekachera a former Algerian officer in the French army.
But in the French parliamentary elections in June not one representative
from the North African community won a seat. Any official measure to
correct this would be against France's republican principles. French
people of North African origin have few illusions about the intentions of
political parties, left or right, but they do expect full recognition of
their civil rights and not just fine phrases.
In the past rightwing parties have formed unofficial alliances with the
far-right National Front (FN) to gain control of regional and muni cipal
councils. But now they are showing an interest in the North African
community. It's a question of figures: the Union for the Presidential
Majority (UMP), the ruling rightwing majority, seems convinced that it
needs the community's backing to win the next elections.
This probably explains why the government is doing so much to promote its
two "Arab" ministers and its technical advisers: Amo Ferhati assists Ms
Saifi, Rachid Mokran advises the secretary of state for small and medium
enterprises (SME), Rachida Dati advises the ministry of the interior, and
Hakim El Karaoui advises the prime minister. Five national secretaries of
the UMP, out of 81, are of French-Arab origin. There are some hopes that
they will focus the expectations and frustrations of the community, and
perhaps even encourage it to vote UMP. As Jean-Francois Cope, the
government spokeman, said: "Having two Muslims in the government is proof
in itself of the strength of the republican ideal" (1).
In an effort to further their own or their party's interests, high-fliers
of North African origin in the UMP have turned into rightwing activists
for minority groups, although they risk imitating the old French colonial
administration with its native administrators in charge of native affairs.
They certainly make every use of their supposed ethnic affinities, in
public and private, to capitalise on the aspirations of potential voters.
Civil rights and equal opportunities are the fashionable slogans,
replacing the less popular idea of integration. Nadia Amiri wrote a
postgraduate dissertation on the failure of the Socialist party (PS) to
deliver real political power to its immigrant members (2); she fought her
way up through the same neighbourhood groups as her rightwing counterparts
and knows their methods. She says: "They play on emotions, on the desire
for ethnic and social recognition. That matters a great deal to the
Franco-Arab community, which has its own history, identity and feelings.
They know how to satisfy such yearnings."
Hence the importance of official recognition. In 2002 the minister for
urban renewal, Jean-Louis Borloo, gave the City Talents award to Aziz
Senni, a young businessman from Val Fourre, a troubled suburb west of
Paris. He and another award-winner, Abdellah Aboulharjan, had set up a
club for young entrepreneurs. This year they won the Trophy for Diversity
in Entrepreneurship, presented by the secretary of state for SMEs, who
went so far as to mention their ethnic origins (3). A new batch of
Franco-Arab personalities are likely to be promoted to the highest
echelons of the state or awarded the Legion d'Honneur. Ferhati is clear
about the underlying aim: "We're talking about at least 3 million
electors. Without them, the right cannot win the presidential election in
2007."
Kacim Kellal, in charge of national unity at the UMP, is concerned about
the poor political representation of the North African community: "There
is a debate inside the party about a policy of positive discrimination and
a more proactive approach. We are very much aware that, even just in terms
of figures, we are some way ahead of our main political opponents [the
PS]. If nothing else, we do care about our political future."
So is the North African community veering to the right? "Not as much as
some people claim," says Frederic Callens, of the Social Action Fund for
Integration and the Fight against Discrimin ation (Fasild). He says that,
hardened by 20 years of struggle, the leaders of the 1980s are "more
self-centred and opportunistic. Not in the pejorative sense of the term.
They just know how to seize the chances that come their way."
Nadia Zouareg, now 41, is typical. She took part in the Beur
(second-generation North African immigrant) civil rights marches in the
early 1980s and has been active in neighbourhood pressure groups ever
since. She says: "We believed in the republican ideal, in equality and
everybody playing their part. I'm not going back on that. It made me the
way I am. But as for changing society, I see things differently. I didn't
switch to the UMP all of a sudden. I'm a leftwing ecologist and always
will be. But I will vote for the people who give us visibility and the
right to have our say."
Individual strategies have replaced the old militancy motivated by "the
hope of collective promotion by moving up from local pressure groups to a
role in politics" (4). This is particularly true of the middle classes.
The North African community is anything but socially and politically
consistent, so it is no surprise that some of its more successful members
should vote for the right. What is new is that others, of more humble
standing, tired of their living conditions and disappointed by the
socialist PS, should now turn to the UMP.
The PS is losing electors and a militant elite it helped to create,
notably through SOS Racisme and France Plus, two action groups started
under its aegis in 1984. Adda Bekkouche is chairman of the Movement for
Active Citizenship (MCA), an organisation with similar values to the PS.
He says: "The left has often initiated discussion of various issues, but
it is the right that has actually taken the plunge, giving the vote to
women and independence to Algeria, for instance."
Franco-Arab militants waited 20 years for the PS to choose some of them to
run for parliament and give them genuine support. It failed to deliver. Of
all those elected to the European parliament and France's regional or
departmental councils only Halima Jemni (on the Paris regional council) is
affiliated to the PS (5). When members of the North African community are
elected to town councils they rarely play a leading role, but tend to take
charge of civil rights issues, law and order, integration and
neighbourhood relations. As Amiri says, "For a long time women in politics
were allocated specific gender-related tasks" (6); to turn political
equality for women, won in 1945, into true equality has required
considerable determination, and the process is far from complete.
Many were expecting a showdown at the PS party congress in Dijon in May.
On representation three regional party activists, Bariza Khiari, Faycal
Douhane and Ali Kismoune, presented a paper on political discrimination
inside the PS, subsequently considered by Francois Hollande, the party
leader. As a result Khiari joined Kader Arif, previously the only
Franco-Arab in the national secretariat. She is proud to belong to the top
20 and is convinced it was essential the PS "woke up to this issue". The
big surprise at the congress came with the appointment of Malek Boutih,
former chairman of SOS Racisme and a controversial figure, to the national
committee. Some commentators accuse him of being an anti-Beur Beur. His
tribute to Nicolas Sarkozy, the minister of interior, whom he called "a
leader who has boosted young people's image of pol itics" (7), did little
to enhance his reputation.
It is hard to say how many of these sought-after electors there actually
are. French law forbids any reference to ethnic origin or religion in
official statistics. Unofficial estimates suggest there are about 3
million French Muslims. But who is meant by terms such as Beur, French of
North African extraction, Arab, or second-generation immigrant? Such terms
are another way of saying these people do not belong, that "socially they
are outside the core group formed by those who consider themselves
genuinely national and really legitimate" (8). Those directly concerned
are tired of the labels.
Le Mirail is a "difficult" estate in Toulouse, with a population of
50,000. The 2001 explosion of the AZF-Total chemical works just down the
road did nothing to improve its appearance, leaving shattered windows and
boarded-up blocks. Dgaoued, 26, founder of a neighbourhood group, says:
"There's no escaping our origins. Everyone can see I don't have French
ancestors, so why do they always have to say I'm French of North African
extraction. Who mentions Sarkozy's Hungarian origins?"
Nadia Zouareg says : "Once they start saying you're a first, second or
third-generation immigrant, it means you are not fully French, but a
separate category."
At the entrance to a tower block an old woman chats to 27-year-old Kacem.
Francoise Hebrard de Veyrinas, the UMP deputy mayor of Toulouse, walks
past, saying hello to the old woman and completely ignoring Kacem, who is
so used to such behaviour that he barely reacts.
Tarek is a teacher on the New Opportunities programme, designed to give
school dropouts a second chance. He has spent half his life with
youngsters in the Paris and Toulouse suburbs, and just smiles when we
mention the non-meeting between Kacem and De Veyrinas. His job,
reintegrating students, leaves little room for indulgence. Over the past
two years French society's distrust of the North African community has
increased his bitterness. He says: "I keep asking them to make an effort,
but what's the point? To make their way in a society that constantly
rejects them unless they give up their roots? Any violence and the kids
are immediately categorised as delinquent Arabs." They are also compared
with their stereotyped counterparts, the dynamic young Beur women.
The media are mostly responsible for the cliches, particularly since 11
September 2001. Despite the law they habitually mention the ethnic origin
of Arab or African suspects in petty delinquency, violence or terrorism.
As Zouareg says: "They've been type-casting immigrant and Muslim kids for
the past 20 years."
There is the same blinkered attitude towards Islam as a cultural or
religious force. Even members of the community who were previously
relatively unconcerned are affected by the prejudices, and may adopt
practices out of solidarity with the rest of the community.
This summer an editorial in a centre-left weekly said: "What is
irritating, indeed shocking, about these people who want to make their
children wear a headscarf, kippa or whatever token of identity is that,
despite being guests of a state, they do not have the politeness to comply
with the laws of their hosts" (9). How should an integrated French person
with ties to the Arab and Muslim world react to that?
Religion helps some people survive and even, as Mustapha puts it, "make
sweet juice from a bitter lemon". He adds: "It's the only fixed point in a
society that cannot or will not let them put down roots."
Zouareg shares this view: "Religion has prevented many from going too far
down the path to self-destruction, through drink, drugs, delinquency or
suicide. It is a force on which they can draw to build a different future
from the one their parents imagined for them. Trees needs roots to grow.
My children and grandchildren may no longer be French of Algerian
extraction but they will still be Muslims, because that is something I
want to give them." As Mustapha points out, hostility to Islam stimulates
Muslim identity: "When a youth sees his mother or sister singled out
because she wears the hejab, he may adopt their religious values as a
defensive reflex."
Naziha, 24 and wearing the hejab, and Shab, 33 and bareheaded, both say:
"Islam provides guidance in everyday life." Shab, as a young French woman
of Pakistani origin, is uncertain of her identity, but Islam is a source
of stability. She says: "Its universality transcends cultural ties and
enables me to lead a fuller life. Which is not necessarily the case with
Pakistani or North African culture." Naziha adds: "In North African
families Islam is used to justify practices that are more a matter of
custom than religion. Studying the original text is a way of getting back
to the roots of the traditions and religious beliefs."
What is left for those without work who do not believe in politics, or
local activism, or God? Miloud walks up to a nearby wall and taps the
concrete. Tarek, thinking along similar lines, says: "The young have done
all they possibly can to integrate into society. Now it is society's turn
to make an effort." The universal value of the republican message loses
much of its force when it comes from politicians who are mostly prosperous
white men.
Officially France refuses to accept the idea of minorities. But behind the
scenes the government is working on the problem. Adda Bekkouche queries
the right of "the people most in the public eye who are rarely the most
representative or deserving" to speak up for minorities.
As a member of the UMP explains, "No one can rally these French people.
All we can do is encourage them to adhere to a political project and
certain values. What some politicians are doing will achieve nothing, but
attract goodwill to secure their political future. Having moved from the
PS to the UMP, they will not turn back." By cynically pandering to some
groups, the parties are doing more to promote people from a specific
background than fight discrimination.
Bekkouche adds: "Representation is not an end in itself. But
under-representation is an anomaly in a democracy." Furthermore "the
distortions in the existing system of representation need to be corrected.
Declarations of good intent are no longer enough. The technical and
cultural reasons that prevent minorities from playing a proper part in
political life are powerful enough to be limited by large-scale temporary
corrective measures subject to regular reappraisal" (10).
France already implements other forms of discrimination. In the Senate
(the upper chamber of parliament), "country people are deliberately
over-represented to maintain a political, rather than demographic, balance
between areas of sparse and dense population" (11). Similarly, "policies
of urban regeneration and social inclusion may be seen as forms of
affirmative action, in the sense that they implement measures to iron out
inequality" (12).
There are other examples, such as priority education areas, places in
French universities for students from under-privileged neighbourhoods, and
incentives for companies to recruit local staff. An open debate on
corrective measures required to achieve equal opportunities, including in
politics, seems more promising than a discreet arrangement.
The choice of candidates for the coming elections will be a good test.
According to Kellal, everyone is convinced that "there is no going back:
no political force will count if it fails to represent all parts of
society."
(1) In parliament on 26 November 2002.
(2) "Le mythe egalitaire a l'epreuve des representations politiques:
l'exemple des Francais d'origine maghrebine dans le Parti socialiste".
(3) See: Les Trophees de la diversite entrepreneuriale
(4) Catherine Withol de Wenden, "Le Creuset de la beurgeoisie", Sciences
humaines, Paris, special issue # 39, December 2002/January-February 2003.
(5) The Greens and the Communist party (PCF) are little better, with one
MEP each, respectively Alima Boumediene-Thierry and Yasmine Boudjenah.
Sami Naur, deputy-chairman of the Citizens Movement (MDC) is also an MEP.
At a local level two Franco-Arab councillors of the PCF are on the
departmental council in Seine-Saint-Denis. Louardi Boughedada, a Green,
has been on the regional council of Nord-Pas de Calais since 1998.
(6) "La representation nationale: un enjeu democratique", Migrations
Societe, Paris, vol.15, # 86, March-April 2003.
(7) Le Monde, 30 August 2003.
(8) Veronique de Rudder, Christian Poiret, Francois Vourc'h, "Les enjeux
politiques de lutte contre le racisme", CIEMI, Paris, June 2000.
(9) "Decidement, non au voile", Jean Daniel, Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris,
15 May 2003.
(10) Laurent Pascal Chambon, "Le sel de la democratie, l'acces des
minorites au pouvoir politique en France et aux Pays-Bas", doctoral thesis
in political science, Amsterdam University, November 2002.
(11) Ibid.
(12) Veronique De Rudder and Christian Poiret, "Affirmative action et
discrimination justifiee", in Immigration et integration, l'etat des
savoirs, La Decouverte, Paris, 1999.
=================================
http://MondeDiplo.com/2003/11/12unwelcome
Le Monde diplomatique November 2003
UNWELCOME STRANGERS OF THE PAST
By EMMANUELLE FLEURY
MANY young Franco-Arabs feel they are the first to suffer. But however
unpleasant their lives, far worse was endured by those outsiders who
settled in France in the 19th and 20th centuries. Conditions were so bad
that most of them chose "to move to more hospitable countries" (1).
In 1881 Italian workers were the targets of riots in Marseille. The
violence against them culminated in 1893 in nearby Aigues Mortes, where
300 French workers set upon a group of Italians. According to The Times 50
people were killed and 150 injured.
In 1892 miners in the north of France attacked their Belgian workmates who
made up three-quarters of the workforce. Many had no choice but to flee
the country.
In 1894 the Dreyfus affair led to mob violence. Under Napoleon, France had
been the first country in Europe to emancipate Jews, but almost a century
later the violence in some towns (described by Pierre Birnbaum in Le
Moment antisemite) could almost be regarded as a pogrom.
Under the Vichy regime (1940-44) the state persecuted Jews, deporting more
than 75,000 men, women and children (out of 330,000). Only 2,500 returned
at the end of the war.
In 1939 almost 500,000 Spanish Republicans fled to France to escape from
Franco's army. The authorities interned half of them in camps in the
south, then in 1940 (after the German invasion) forcibly enrolled them in
foreign worker units (GTE), "a modern version of organised slavery" (2).
Though not as openly violent as in the past, hostility to immigrants and
their descendants persists. Perhaps because of resentment about the defeat
of France in the Algerian war of independence, Franco-Arabs bear the brunt
of racial discrimination, although they are not alone: the second intifada
has prompted anti-semitic violence.
Roma still have difficulty finding places to stay. The minister of housing
recently undertook to apply a law obliging local authorities to provide
them with campsites, 13 years after it was originally passed (3).
________________________________________________________
(1) Gerard Noiriel, "Petite histoire de l'integration a la francaise", Le
Monde diplomatique, February 2002.
(2) Louis Stein, Par-dela l'exil et la mort. Les republicains espagnols en
France, Mazarine, Paris, 1981.
(3) Speech by Gilles de Robien, on 27 August 2003, to the Roma Evangelical
Congregation.
============================
http://MondeDiplo.com/2003/11/13emancipation
Le Monde diplomatique November 2003
THE NORTH AFRICAN COMMUNITY WANTS EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES NOT INTEGRATION
* Nacira Guenif Souilamas is a sociologist and author of 'Des beurettes
aux descendantes d'immigrants nord-africains' (Paris, Grasset/Le Monde,
2000). This interview by Laurence Wurtz was originally published in French
by Pote a Pote
'All they want is a job and a salary. They feel entitled to that'
LAURENCE WURTZ: The women who took part in the March of the Beurs [in the
early 1980s] say that being emancipated involved conflict, and often
forced them to break with their families. Do young Franco-Arab women still
have the same problems?
NACIRA GUENIF : There is a difference between the generations. The older
generation believed every word of liberation theory. The second generation
is not convinced that the theory was either right or useful, and is only
now using feminist arguments, as in the Ni Putes Ni Soumises movement (1).
Women who were 30 in the 1970s adopted feminist ideas wholeheartedly,
believed in them, clung to them and in many cases lost out. They did not
find their place in society or they paid a very high price, losing all
contact with their families.
LW: Women in their 30s today do not define success in the same way as the
older generation?
NG: I don't think so. It is still an open question how Muslim women in
France can succeed, which is perhaps the main difference. There is still
pressure to succeed, but now young women do not necessarily yield to that
pressure. They want to succeed, but not at any price. They keep a distance
from standards imposed by others, even educational standards. There is
beginning to be an individual definition of success that is not socially
determined. Success and society can be dissociated. As long as women know
what they mean by success, it does not matter if other people do not
understand their criteria.
Society believes the criteria for success are the same as they were in the
1970s - that a university degree is the only hope of salvation for the
daughters of migrants, the only way of escaping stereotypes, of escaping
pressure from parents and religion, and a closeted life. Today's young
women know a degree offers them no protection in society. They suffer the
same discrimination in the job market as their menfolk, even if it is less
obvious. To find work they may have to change their name so that it sounds
more French.
They have fewer ambitions about liberation and are much more realistic
about the gap between theory and practice. All they want is a job and a
salary. They feel entitled to that.
LW: How do current demands differ from those of the previous generation?
NG: They clearly want society to stop focusing on what supposedly makes
them different as Muslim Arab women, because that leaves them no way out.
What French society thinks is a lifeline may in fact drown them, because
it implies that they are not the same as other women and asks them to
demonstrate they are really French, properly integrated and socially
successful. This just highlights the differences.
Their other main demand is about their menfolk, fathers, brothers and
potential lovers. They want to draw attention to the suffering of their
menfolk - the menial labour of their fathers, the arranged marriages of
their brothers, and the need of some men to exaggerate their manhood. This
generation of women is also asking men what they are doing to overcome
these problems. Instead of competing, man against woman, they could be
helping each another.
Some women, children of successful migrants, are now an elite that some
people set as an example and use to make comparisons with school
drop-outs, petty delinquents, and young women wearing the hejab. In
focusing on social success we risk creating an artificial elite. That is a
trap. It is essential that we understand that success does not include the
idea of an elite.
(1) For more information on the Ni Putes ni Soumises (neither whores nor submissive) movement, see their website
==============================================
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