France, Alternative Libertaire AL #234 - Equality: Resisting the racist politics of the left ((fr, pt)

A year and a half after the beginning of the mandate of Fran?ois Hollande, the government 
has not changed its political course towards racialized populations. Also needs scapegoats 
to hide the social damage it organizes. The united response of all victims of racism and 
exploitation is needed more than ever. ---- Change, it will not take the wait either the 
policy on immigrant-es and other victims of racism. Circular Valls November 2012 presented 
as a relaxation of regulation, subjects equally undocumented to employers and the 
precariousness of their permit to stay. Valls calls on Roma integration but does not 
repeal the circular of 22 December 2006 prohibiting de facto Bulgarians and Romanians to 
work in France, in such terms that they throw Roma in undeclared work, the poverty or 
begging. Daily harassment by the police continues in neighborhoods, and Valls refused to 
establish the receipt during identity checks, which could help in the fight against ethnic 
profiling. As for the right of foreigners to vote in local elections, the government has 
again declined.

Betrayals and paternalism

Even insults straight out of a colonial exhibition of early twentieth century against 
Christiane Taubira - compared to a monkey by FN candidate, invited to eat bananas by 
homophobic protestors in Angers, and challenged by the priest Xavier Beauvais 
fundamentalist chanting "Are Banania good, there is no good Taubira" - have attracted 
little indignation among his government colleagues.

PS / EELV Government has validated all the racist policies of his predecessors. No wonder 
violence and police impunity, racist attacks, Islamophobic, or against Roma, when the 
government, including the voice of Manuel Valls, the invalid or generates them?

Nothing quite nature against this, however. The history of the "left" has nothing to envy 
to the right on racism: recall the legitimation of colonial adventure in the nineteenth 
century or the attitude of a voting Mitterrand special powers during the war Algeria. This 
month we celebrate thirty years of marches for equality[See articles on pages 4 and 
16-17], and we know that betrayals and paternalism are a constant of French social 
democracy, and that n ' there is nothing else to expect from it a moralizing speech, 
citing "republic" and "integration."

Scapegoats

Holland and the government are at record unpopularity. Nothing like that in these cases 
that highlight scapegoats, internal enemies responsible for all ills today are Muslims and 
Roma are lightning rods.

Racist stigma as the aim of dividing the working class for to prevent emerges a vast 
movement of oppressed are against the policies of social destruction that destroy 
increasingly their lives. As a part of the proletariat takes another, more dominated and 
exploited yet, instead of attacking the exploiters, business and political oligarchy can 
sleep soundly. Stigma is also a reaction to the departure of persons of immigrant 
invisibility were relegated es where their parents, calling into question the image of an 
exclusively white and Christian France. This is to maintain the position that the leaders 
want them to care, forcing them to assimilate or remain second-class workers.

The scarecrow of the veil has been emerged, this time with the proposed ban in 
universities, racist and exclusionary measure for women who wear it. Regarding Roma, 
simply recall the sentence Valls justifying their expulsion on the grounds that they would 
not integrable. Racism against Roma and Muslims used to stigmatize as immigrant 
populations and undocumented nationals from the colonization and therefore justify the 
state xenophobia, discrimination (legal or not), casualization, and police repression.

End this systemic racism

To oppose these policies, many actions have been implemented: in September held the march 
of the great undocumented Paris, but has not really managed to mobilize beyond the 
traditional networks. Mums all equal collective organized a rally in front of UNICEF on 
May 15 to protest against the headscarf ban mothers accompanying school trips. 
Seine-Saint-Denis, Roma associations and trying to coordinate within the platform 93 and 
are mobilized es repeatedly against the eviction of slums and for the education of children[1]

Mobilizations against police violence have also occurred, insofar as the perpetrators of 
racist attacks police are not more concerned that under Valls under Hortefeux or Gueant. 
Thus, the struggle of the people and inhabitants of doors in July due to muscular identity 
check of a veiled woman helped highlight recurring racist excesses of law enforcement. At 
Garges-l?s-Gonesse in October, mobilization was organized around the family Saounera 
following the violence committed by the police in their home (the mother was beaten, 
humiliated and sprayed with tear gas apartment).

Recently, hope has come to mobilize high school and high school students, joined by 
students to protest against the expulsion of Leonarda and Khatchik, respectively educated 
youth in middle and high school. Mobilization of youth has opened an ideological gap that 
we must exploit. It resulted in a national day of protests called by associations, trade 
unions and political organizations, 16 November[see next page]. Tomorrow, only union in 
the street and in the struggle of Roma, Muslims, veiled women, racialized people in 
general, undocumented, and all victims of discrimination, police brutality, can afford to 
end this systemic racism. The fight against racism is a major focus because without it, no 
reconstruction of class solidarity. On the occasion of the thirty years of the steps, we 
must remember that the struggle led to the generation of the 1980s out of invisibility. 
And that those who are now at the Elysee and Matignon did everything to put them back...

Nicolas Pasadena (AL Montreuil)

[1] See "On the Ground: The schooling of Roma in question" in AL No. 232 of October 2013.