French Racism Issues - Essay Example

French Racism The French Republic makes the stipulation that, French people are those who are in possession of French nationality. And in accordance with the French constitutional council, the constitution recognizes none other than the French people, composed of all its citizens making no distinction of race, ethnic origin or religion"(FCC) Official French statistics do not keep record of its citizens who are foreign born. Under French law it is not practiced nor is it encouraged to make reference or record the ethnic origin of persons. The French government has adopted ( indications suggest that the policy has persisted in France since the French revolution), a policy stresses French identity and this identity has its premise in the notion of citizenship rather than on cultural or ethnic origins. The French do not place any credence in the phrase "French ethnic group". As a matter of fact the phrase is very highly disputed among Frenchmen who project the argument that the composition is a nationality and a citizenship. According to Greta Gilbertson in her article, Citizenship in a Globalize World", "citizenship is a multidimensional concept that means membership in a specific nation- state and the formal rights and obligations that this membership entails. Citizenship can also be understood as a status and an identity. The principal premise of citizenship is that nation-states can set and control the perimeters of membership"(Gilbertson 2006) Subsequent to the French revolution, France was shadowed as the humanistic 'teacher of mankind'. The image was created by the French but it is very paradoxical because a rational form of equality to all promotes a single homogenous thrust towards ultimate citizenship. This concept is the cornerstone of France's pluralist society, which 2 they created and now they are tending to reject. The French created a system of universalization which is described by Levi-Strauss as the one party regime, the major problem with its precepts is that it has a heavy bias in favor of the power elite. The concepts and practices of universalization do not trickle down to the entire population. Universality is not an egalitarian concept, practice or policy, when being applied to a nation-state. Universality belies its meaning when one applies it to the French experience. In the words of Todorov, "universality can not democratically respect the entire population as it claims to do. Hence universality translates into a false ideology of inclusion, yet it is a part of the hegemonic imposition of French ideals"(Todorov, 1994). When we isolate assimilation, the concept of universality and equality, becomes blurred as it relates to integration, nonetheless in reality is exclusionary. The French politicalization of whiteness and race can be quite distasteful. According to T. S. Juge' and M. P. Perez, in their piece, The Modern Colonia Politics of Citizenship and whiteness in France, "the French/foreigner binary takes place in the universal definition of French citizenship. People of colour who do not fit the 'special' characteristics required to become French find themselves in the foreign category"(Juge', Perez) Thus, the inclusive definition of universality translates into a new form of exclusion for third-world non- European populations"(Juge' Perez) As a matter of due course in France, in order to fully perpetuate ethnoculturism there must be a strong push toward oppression and the absence of minority groups. This does not only apply to the absence of minority groups in politics and the economy, but a concerted suppression of their concept of identity, furthering their marginality and 3 enhancing all stereotypical stigmas. Anthony's Smiths 1995 quote amply describes the desired outcome; "civic nationalism often demands, as the price of receiving citizenship, the surrender of ethnic community and individuals, the privatization of ethnic religion and the marginalization of the ethnic culture and heritage of minorities within the borders of the nation state. This is how the black elite and Jews were treated by French civic nationalism"(Smith 1995) Juge' and Perez depict the nation-state rationale as the carrot and stick approach; "the concept of 'otherness' is a creation and an imposition of the universal European will to paternalistically educate colonized people under its own morality and values. As part of a hegemonic world order, 'other' signifies those who do belong to a group, culture, way of thinking, way of behaving, and so on. Minority groups carry this 'otherness', because of their different skin color, culture, nationality or religious affiliation"(Juge') The point made by Fuss is particularly relevant to understanding what is being espoused by the French for the sake of image versus, what is actually being practiced; "racial hegemony is a system of knowledge-power, in which the white man monopolizes to psychologically and physically enforce rhe identity of the 'other'.By exercising power, 'otherness' is a means by which white men appropriate the right to define and socially construct notions of the 'other', and categorize who are 'others'. Consequently the agency of people of colour to define themselves is silenced and delegitimized"(Fuss 1994). 4 Albeit, people of colour possess the ability and the forthrightness to adequately make it known who and what they are, it then becomes a matter of legitimacy, as they may become contested by whites and marginalized. Whites being in the most prominent positions of power, still take it upon themselves to define the relevance and therefore the meaning of 'otherness'. An analysis of 'otherness' is studiously presented by Sarte is his piece; Being and Nothingness, wherein he states; "the person of colour lacks the power to be subjective in his own definition. Being black is being non-white, for reciprocity is not allowed. Yet being white does not mean being non-black. In other words, whiteness is a yardstick, yet transparent, while blackness is a visible proxy of difference. The irony is that this relationship essentially renders people of colour socially and politically 'invisible' on the basis of their racialized 'visibility'. Being black creates comparison, while being white represents the norm. Thus, the notion of 'otherness' is a construction of racist ideologies"(Sarte) The French color blind assimilation model has come to place considerable interest on peoples patterns of identification. Post 9/11 circumstances have impacted the nation- state and it appears to be shedding its universality pronouncements and has ushered forward a nationalism which purports resistance to both the concept and furtherance of globalization and the continued realization of immigration laws. People are now inclined to close their minds and advocate the closing of their borders to additional immigrants Therefore nationality is steadfastly becoming to mean a strong disfavor of immigrants. With this posture, no longer is there a correlation between citizenship and nationality, as a matter of fact, it is becoming a dichotomy, which has the potential of creating crisis. Bibliography Delanty, Gerald,1996 Beyond the Nation State; National Identity and citizenship in a multicultural society Sociological research on line vol 1, no.3, Accessed on line on February 6. 2007, from socreonline.org.uk French Citizenship and Identity Fuss, D. 1994, Interior Colonies, Frantz Fanon and the politics of identification, Diacritics, 24 (2-3). 20-42 Gilberton, Greta 2006, Citizenship in a Globalized World Juge' and Perez 2006, The Modern Colonial Politics of Citizenship and Whiteness in France, vol 12 no.2 pp 187-212 Sarte 1943 Being and Nothingness, New York Philosophical Library Smith Anthony 1943 The Ethnic revival, Cambridge, Cambridge University press Todorou, T. 1994 Human Diversity: Nationalism, Racism and Exocticism in French Thought, Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press Wikipedia.com Read More