A
different kind of discrimination
During the era of apartheid in America, the French
gazed across the Atlantic with disdain at the mistreatment of blacks.
France was the home of human rights, they insisted, a national culture
bolstered by the principle of “liberty, equality and fraternity”
from the French Revolution of 1789. A number of prominent blacks,
tired of fighting for civil rights in America, sought refuge in
France. Writers Richard Wright and James Baldwin, and cartoonist
Ollie Harrington, among others, became expatriates.
However, France’s policy of colonialism has emerged as its
racial and ethnic problem of the 21st century. France acquired colonial
control of Algeria, Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire,
Mali, Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Chad, all in Africa.
As was the common practice of colonial powers in the 20th century,
France opened their borders to citizens of their colonies.
The first wave of immigrants understood and tolerated their inferior
status in France, but their children who were born in France and
are bona fide French citizens, have no intention of doing so. For
several weeks Arab and African youth have been rioting throughout
France. The government is incapable of responding appropriately
to the problem because officials have never acknowledged that the
country has an ethnic problem, so no programs to accommodate diversity
are in place.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front party,
has been campaigning in recent elections to urge the French to close
their doors to the cultural “intruders” from Africa.
In the past, the reaction of French citizens was to be offended
and embarrassed by a political appeal which is based in racial discrimination.
It is presumptuous for outsiders to opine on the nature of the present
conflict in France. However, it would be erroneous to assume that
France is in the throes of a racial conflict which is identical
to what has occurred in the United States. Nonetheless, it does
seem that the French are more concerned with maintaining cultural
homogeneity than they are obsessive about the color of the African’s
skin.
The French have been concerned for some time about preserving their
culture. In 1635, France established the Académie Francaise
for the sole purpose of maintaining the integrity of the French
language. The Académie was eliminated by the French Revolution
as an appendage of aristocracy, but it was restored in 1803 and
continues today. The responsibility of the Académie is to
establish acceptable usages of the language. Their decisions have
great influence on the language, but the Académie lacks the
authority to enforce its conclusions on the government or anyone
else.
Also, the French led an effort through UNESCO to adopt a treaty
that would exclude cultural products such as films, TV shows, music
or books from being treated as commercial commodities. The objective
was to prevent the cultural domination of a country by U.S. products.
Without the treaty, France would be in violation of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) treaty by censuring artistic products.
France is an aggressively secular state. The courts recently ruled
that Muslim girls could not wear the hijab (headscarf) to school.
There has been no effort in France to consider multiculturalism
or ethnic diversity. The objective has always been for all citizens
to embrace the values of being French. This policy excludes those
who either cannot or will not completely surrender the culture of
their elders. It is time for France to reconsider its policies.
Fortunately, the United States has accepted, more or less, the concept
of racial diversity.
|
Melvin B. Miller
Editor & Publisher
Bay State Banner |
