On December 18, a demonstration (the date of which is becoming
traditional) took place in Paris and several cities in France for theregularization of all undocumented immigrants. For once, it was also
called by the inter-union. Despite a union mobilization that was not
that intense, it was an imposing demonstration. But not on a par with
the current virulent attacks. On March 22, the no less traditional march
for dignity will take place, the date falling between the international
day against police violence and the international day against racism. It
is important to participate in these demonstrations despite their ritual
aspect (but don't we participate every year on May 1st?), and it is even
more important to participate in the mobilizations driven by
undocumented immigrants and immigrants, especially today.
A scapegoat policy squared
In times of crisis, the scapegoat policy of designating a specific part
of the population far removed from power as responsible for all the
evils is a great classic. It is the main ideological function of racism.
And we can say that at the moment, on the part of the power as well as
its faithful lackeys, in the media and among media intellectuals, it is
going happily, to a point that we thought we would never see again since
the 1930s and 1940s. Repression of illegal immigrants and toughening of
the law on regularizations as if they were responsible for unemployment.
Threats of expulsion of immigrant parents whose children have committed
acts of delinquency as recently in Alsace. The living and working
conditions of the parents, the fate reserved for them by society,
national education, have nothing to do with it, eh... Refusal to
recognize the minority status of isolated minors, and infra-human "care"
of those who are recognized, in defiance of all conventions on the
rights of the child. They are not children, they are tanned young
people, therefore a threat to society. Evictions left, right and centre
in homes, sorry, social residences, in particular of retirees who are
hosting a son or nephew who helps them... That will make that many more
places for the national preference for the French homeless... Immigrants
are even responsible for the damage caused by cyclones, when they pass
through Mayotte... Everything is reduced to a fantasized war of Islam
against the West.
Obviously, this maelstrom is fertile ground for the extreme right, and
fighting it is vital. Not with great reinforcements of morality, but
because this stigmatization of a scapegoat is a way (unfortunately
effective) of diverting anger from those truly responsible. These
attacks on immigrants are attacks on us. When rights are no longer
universal, and it is indeed deprivations of rights that are discussed
above, they cease to be rights and become favors or precarious
privileges. Let us recall the numerous layoffs in the steel industry
that had given rise to very strong and radical struggles at the end of
the 1970s. This massive restructuring was preceded by massive layoffs of
immigrants in the steel industry: it is an already weakened working
class that has lost its desperate fight. The fate of immigrants
indicates our future. And when these attacks affect all areas, it means
that a precedent is created to attack us in all areas. Today, residents
of homes that receive a relative are being expelled. Tomorrow, and there
are already examples today, social housing tenants will be asked to
declare the people they are hosting...
A fairly weak reaction
I am not talking here about the reaction of the immigrant part of the
working class: there are currently long and combative strikes for
regularization, unaccompanied minors have organized themselves
remarkably... I am talking about the overall reaction of society. It
seems that what is happening with immigration is not our problem, that
it is a problem external to the workers' movement. We are paying the
consequences here of the traditional chauvinism of the French workers'
movement. It has rarely been at the forefront in the fight against
colonialism and xenophobia. The international, yes, but when it is
compatible with French patriotism. Solidarity, yes, but we should not be
taken for natives all the same. It is often a solidarity of good
feelings, not that which consists in recognizing the other as part of
our class, not that which consists in recognizing his interests as
common to ours.
Other reasons can explain this relative isolation from the union
movement. Because they are sidelined by society, because of the
prevalence of racism, because they are not in the same conditions of
exploitation and life as others, but in generally much worse conditions,
immigrants have had to develop their own demands and organize themselves
to drive their struggles. The most powerful and longest struggle was
that of the SONACOTRA homes in the 1970s, but there were also many
strikes by O.S. in the same years. Even if they are more often unionized
than average, these are not movements driven and controlled by the union
leaderships. And we know very well that they do not like that very much.
We also know that they have never been at the forefront in organizing
the struggle of the most precarious employees. Especially since in the
70s, which were a little more politicized than today, the political
movement that was most involved in supporting immigrants was the Maoist
movement. Finally, they are often outside the French politicking. Of
course, they do not have the right to vote. But that is surely not the
main reason. There is no need to have the right to vote to be used as an
instrument. This use is mainly the work of the right and the far right.
There is the weight of colonial history, and in particular the Algerian
War. Let us remember that an entire generation was enlisted in a very
dirty war, and which was not even officially recognized as a war. So no
follow-up of the trauma that it may have caused for veterans who saw
their comrades die or who themselves committed horrors, nothing
comparable with the United States after the Vietnam War, where veterans
are a figure, used by both sides of society, a figure also present in
films, series... To this weight of colonial history, all the more
significant because it remained silent and the French workers' movement
never confronted it, are added national political traditions different
from ours. Yes, undocumented immigrants are not just poor wretches. The
strikes in the garment industry in the 80s were often the work of Kurds
and Turks (or both at the same time!), whose political organization is
well known; the first hunger strikes at the end of the 70s were often
linked to Tunisian or Moroccan revolutionary organizations. Which also
complicates their struggles: the Senegalese and Malians, while all
"Senegalese riflemen," do not have the same political history or the
same current political situation.
We can say in a way that, unfortunately for them, they are only used by
the right and the far right, and are rather inconvenient for the left
that they unintentionally put face to face with its contradictions, both
from the point of view of anti-colonialism and of unionization and the
organization of the precarious.
And the radicals in all this?
This situation should put solidarity with undocumented immigrants and
immigration struggles in general at the heart of the mobilizations of
radical circles. If this is indeed a very present theme in our circles,
if there are indeed anti-racist and anti-fascist mobilizations,
significant participation in major events, it is clear that when it
comes to concrete support for autonomous immigrant mobilizations, the
fingers of both hands are often enough to count us. And if we are
specifically looking for anarchists, one hand should be enough. (1)
First, we cannot escape the deadly ideological atmosphere of the West.
Comrades often have the modesty of young girls when it comes to
immigration: are women veiled? Are these workers polygamous? Would they
dare to be practicing Muslims? Well, often yes, so what? The question
should not be are these people nice and do they resemble us, we who are
the ideal of nice people? If we are revolutionaries, the question is are
they part of the exploited? Clearly yes. Do they have a class
consciousness? The answer is yes, rather more than us. Do their demands
go in the direction of our fight? And there, it is clearly yes. The
petty bourgeoisie is often more sympathetic, in any case cooler, than
the working class. You only have to see the first reactions of our
circles to these yellow vest brutes. We are sufficiently influenced by
the ambient racism not to be able to recognize our class brothers and
sisters as our fellow human beings. Of course, there are no primary
racists among us, we all accept all skin colours as our equals, but
without being able to perceive that an African is not a black European.
However, there are every reasons for us to be actively in solidarity
with the struggles of undocumented immigrants, strikes as well as the
struggles of isolated minors and the homeless, to be in solidarity with
the struggles on housing, against dematerialisation, etc. These are
determined struggles that are, by force, outside of "social
consultation" and, as a result, often take the path of direct action.
Let us remember that the first demonstration that broke the de facto ban
on demonstrating at the end of the lockdown was a demonstration by
undocumented immigrants. It was this demonstration that paved the way
for the return of trade union or other demonstrations. While we regret
the weakness of the social movement, and in particular the strikes, we
would have lessons to learn from those who manage to organize long
strikes while they are in a situation of greater precariousness, much
more vulnerable to repression, and divided into different nationalities.
In the political situation in which we find ourselves, it is all the
more urgent to find how to resist the extreme right both politically and
in terms of its ideological impregnation of society. We have always
written (and noted) that moral indignation and large anti-fascist groups
were useless. We have always written that it was through struggles, the
movement, and the awareness that accompanied it that we could resist. We
are among those who believe that the emancipation of workers must be the
work of the workers themselves. These struggles exist, before our eyes,
and feeling solidarity with them, understanding that in fact it is not
just a story of solidarity, that these are our struggles, is vital for
our survival.
This is why the low mobilization of our circles seems incredible. There
is probably also a sociological explanation. We do not live in the same
universe, their working and living conditions are far from ours, their
cultural and historical references are not the same (what do we know
about the real history of the non-Western world?). As a result, we
recognize them more as others to help than as our fellow men and women
to support. However, they prefigure our future.
We must clearly see that the shifts are very rapid, and will accelerate.
Already, a group of French people are considered not quite French and
assimilated to immigrants, all those who are of immigrant origin.
Already, they have the same rights as others in theory, but not in
reality (racial profiling, discrimination of all kinds, etc.). For a
long time, there has been a category of not-quite-French people, to whom
colonial legislation has already been applied (curfew after the riots,
etc.), not-quite-French by birth, one might say. And we know that the
more a society slides towards fascism, the more it designates as
foreigners those who put themselves outside the "national community",
that is to say, among others, us.
The response to the extreme right involves supporting undocumented
immigrants, immigration struggles in general and mobilizing for the
March for Dignity on March 22.
Sylvie
Note
(1) This is also true for the anti-colonial demonstrations of the West
Indians and other Kanaks.
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4365
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