The Riots and the French Idea of Republicanism

The French Idea of Republicanism

According to the French version of republicanism, only the 'atomistic individualities' of citizens, and not communities, form the nation. In that sense, French republic is 'the gathering of the citizens, not the gathering of the communities.'¹

This approach directly affects the way individual rights are defined in France. Due to its strong opposition to the idea of a nation that is formed by a gathering of communities, the French state chooses to assumes that communities do not exist on a sociopolitical level. The state takes this aspect of its republicanist ideology so seriously that it even goes as far as considering all sorts of characteristics and expressions that have to do with a communal identity a problem.

With full loyalty to this model, the French expect every one within the borders of the country to conform to the French culture - which, they believe, is what 'being French' is about. However, due to its misconceptions, France fails to differentiate conformity from egality, and unfortunately, this is exactly how it creates an army of outsiders.

Discrimination in France

In cases which a group of people are expected to conform to certain cultural standards, the first issue that needs to be looked at is what happens to those who cannot (or do not) do so. For minorities in France, what happens is outright discrimination.

The naturalization process in France pretty much portrays the extent of conformity France expects from its citizens.

Candidates for French nationality are reported to have been asked questions, such as 'how many times a week the candidate eats couscous,' 'what language the candidate speaks with her family,' and even 'which newspapers the candidate reads.'²

The candidates are also 'encouraged to adopt French-sounding names,'³ however, this is actually a very good advice:

SOS Racisme, an anti-racist organization in French, sent two identical resumes of fictitious job applicants to a range of companies. The resumes listed exactly the same qualifications and experience. The only difference was the names of the applicants – one being French, and the other not. The outcome demonstrated a huge 'lack of interest in the foreign candidate.'³

Discrimination in employment leads to segregated housing of minorities in the suburbs, where the unemployment rate can be as high as 40%.⁴ These people live a life that is totally different from that of the rest of the population.

Discriminatory approach significantly affects the nature of legislative issues and law enforcement. French parliament passed a law on February 2004 to ban religious symbols (including Islamic headscarves) in public schools. This particular law not only exhibits the French version of secularism but also reveals the French idea of public schools.

French scholars proudly declare in their academic articles that '[s]chool is on the front line of acculturation to French values and, in some measure, to social accomplishment,'⁵ and just so exhibit their approval of public school indoctrination, which, in this case, strongly resembles Mao's educational notion of 'mold' that aims to create like-minded citizens.

Derived from the same old supposedly anti-communitarian approach, the French idea of secularism considers all sorts of religious public displays 'a symbol of one's identity,' and thus unacceptable. One important thing to remember here is that enforcement of secularist laws is highly discriminatory in France. Because, the French state supports thousands of Catholic schools when forcing Muslims to obey the rules of secular state schools.

Discriminatory affairs of law enforcement officers are also in line with legislative double standards. Police authorities now acknowledge that the officers commonly address 'non-white youths with the condescending 'tu' rather than the more respectful 'vous.'⁶ More importantly, immigrants in France face 'notorious levels of harassment and brutality,' and even 'deaths in police custody.'⁷

After the riots, Alan Badiou, professor of philosophy at the Ecole Normale Superieure, published a deeply moving letter in Le Monde, where he recounted the life of his adopted son, arrested six times, insulted, beaten up - simply because he was black. 'France has the riots it deserves,' he concluded.⁸

Conclusion

Despite all these highly questionable policies, the French declare proudly that their modele d'integration is the anti-thesis of the Britain's multicultural society,⁹ and caricature their opponent 'as a multitude of ethnic and religious ghettos.'¹⁰ In order to demonstrate how poorly France evaluates the state of its internal affairs, it may be appropriate at this point to state that, a few months before the riots, French newspapers 'asserted that the strength of the French integration model explained why, unlike in London, no terrorist attacks had occurred in France.'¹¹

Piously self-reighteous, France refuses to look critically at its past and present policies – including its colonial past, which is very much alive in the minds and hearts of its minorities. Instead, it keeps on insisting that the problem is not with its 'republican values,' but Islam, which is supposedly not compatible with them.¹² However, in actuality, it is not really possible to hold Islam responsible for the events since '[m]any young blacks, half of whom are Christians in France, were also part of the riots.'¹³

France may continue its arrogant attitude all it wants, but it will not help in any way to solve the country's problems. The truth is that the immigrants segregated in the peripheral provinces of Paris today consider themselves outsiders, and not full members of the community. Unfortunately, France lacks the much needed empathy to sincerely try and understand how they feel. Because, France simply does not have the will to abandon its obsessions. What it has instead is ministers like Nicolas Sarkozy, who, a few months before the riots, had brutally announced that he would cleanse the suburbs with a high pressure hose.¹⁴

Looking at how narcissistically France admires itself, it is not that hard to conclude that its problems will unfortunately only get worse in the future.



¹ Maillard, Dominique. 2005. "The Muslims in France and the French Model of Integration." Mediterranean Quarterly 16(1):74

² Murray, Graham. 2006. "France: the riots and the Republic." Race and Class 47(4):36

³ Murray 28.

⁴ Murray 29.

⁵ Maillard 73.

⁶ Murray 32.

⁷ Murray 31.

⁸ Fassin, Didier. 2006. "Riots in France and silent anthropologists." Anthropology Today 22(1):2

⁹ Wihtol de Wenden, Catherine. 2006. "Urban Riots in France." SAIS Review 26(2):47

¹⁰ Murray 37.

¹¹ Wihtol de Wenden 50.

¹² Murray 40.

¹¹ Wihtol de Wenden 51.

¹⁴ Didier 1.