Assimilation and Struggle Maghrebi Immigration and French Political Culture Catherine Wihtol De Wenden
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Culture & Society Assimilation and Struggle Maghrebi Immigration and French Political Culture Catherine Wihtol de Wenden The story of the French state’s relationship with North African C atherine Wihtol de Wenden is Pro- im m i g r ation is both turbulent and complex. Migration from fessor at the Center for France’s former colonies in the Maghreb into the Fren c h International Studies and Research, Sciences metropole has affected myriad aspects of the French political Po, Paris. calculus, from the two world wars, the internal conflicts of the working class, and the mobilization in the French homeland for Algerian independence to integration policies and Islam in France. Moreover, these flows of North African peoples have played a crucial role in the framing of public policy and in the socialization of immigrant cultures in Fran c e . Yet, North African (Maghrebi) immigrants form neither a homogeneous political group, nor an isomorphic cultural community. Indeed, the North African immigrant commu- nity continues to diversify with newcomers, elites, middle classes, and refugees from the Maghreb, as the second and th i r d generations acquire French citizenship and, occasionally, br eak their links with their countries of origin. While a sec- tion of Maghrebis maintains invisibility in the social and political sphere, others fight for recognition. Most now play an ambiguous part, mixing traditional French republican val- ues with Muslim community belongings. To elucidate the role of Maghrebis in French political culture, this article will first review the history and then explore the impact of Maghreb i s Summer/Fall 2003 [6 9] AS S I M I L ATION AND STRUGGLE on French politics, as well as the con- im m i g r ant groups. Until 1974, Maghreb i flicts emerging from their participation. wo r k ers had a high rate of turnover, sending remittances to their families and Hi storical Background. France has organizing their existence around their been a recipient of massive overseas places of work, hostel accommodations, im m i g r ation, particularly compared with tr ade unions with home country organi- its European neighbors. Approximately zations (official or dissident), and visits 3.3 million immigrants live in Fran c e , to the coffee shop. Since 1974, the socio- including 650,000 Algerians, 550,000 political situation of the Maghrebis has Moroccans, 200,000 Tunisians, and slowly changed. First, family reu n i f i c a - 500,000 “harkis” (natives of Algeria tion in France has tended to accelerat e who helped France during the Algerian because workers have feared that Fran c e war and were French citizens), and would close its borders. Consequently, approximately one million second or from 1975 until 1982, non-European th i r d generation French-born citizens of i m m i g rants, a majority of them Ma g h r ebi origin. Much of the first gen- Ma g h r ebis, for the first time outnum- er ation was recruited after both world be r ed European immigrants. Second, wars to support the reconstruction of th e r e has been an increase in migrat i o n France, mainly through work in mining from Tunisia and Morocco, much of it and industry. The “thirty glorious years” illegal, due to the decrease in labor (1945Ð1975) marked a period of heavy m i g ration from southern Europe. reliance on cheap, migrant labor to fuel a Th i r d, as a result of family reu n i f i c a t i o n , resurgent domestic economy. Employers a second generation has begun to di r ectly recruited in many of the former appear—many of whom were born in colonies (particularly in Morocco) for France. A proportion of the so-called wo r k ers in the agricultural and industri- “ M a g h reb” population has there f o re al sectors. During the economic contrac - neither migrated nor ever had the legal tion and recession of 1974, however, the status of a foreigner. state gradually moved towards a policy of By the end of the 1970s, immigrat i o n tightened border control that reached its emerged as a political issue in which height in 1985Ð2000. During this time, North African immigrants and their chil- the mass influx of North Africans dimin- dr en played the central role, especially ished and became limited to smaller through their use of hunger strikes. The groups of the population: the gentrified period 1981Ð1990 was a turning point for and the feminized—refugees from the immigrant issue in French politics. In Algeria and Tunisia, experts, seasonal the first half of the decade, politicians wo r k ers, workers under short term con- emphasized granting human rights and tr acts, and trainees—as well as those seek- the freedom of association to forei g n e r s . ing illegal entrance and work. But the March 1983 local elections saw the I m m i g ration to France from the nationalist and xenophobic National Ma g h r eb has been a gradual process Front gain significant electoral backing, throughout the twentieth century. The revealing that immigration had become a diverse social, economic, and political politically-charged issue. Social move- pr esence of North African immigran t s , ments in 1983Ð1984 rose in res p o n s e , however, has made them unique among stimulating new forms of political partic- [7 0 ] Georgetown Journal of International Affairs DE W E N D E N Culture & Society ipation among the second generat i o n , mobilization and segmentation of the who claimed both equal rights and the Ma g h r ebi community, particularly in the right to be different. Meanwhile, the economic and political spheres. Socio- ex t r eme right hinted at the inability of the political mobilization by Maghre b i ch i l d r en of Maghrebis to integrate into im m i g r ants and their children has gone society. Political debates focused on through distinct trends. Three are par- whether there could be an allegiance ticularly important: between French and Muslim culture. 1) Immigrants as For e i g n e r s . Mi g r ant work- Some activists, such as the leaders of ers first became organized in relation to France Plus and SOS Racisme, gained their country of origin in the 1960s and access to the “Summits of the State,” while 1970s, with a focus on home country Mo st Maghrebi immigrants mix trad i t i o n a l republican values with Muslim community be l o n g i n g s . middle class elites emerged as mediators issues, sometimes with strong links to between the immigrant suburban groups French or foreign unions. “Amicales,” and the beurgeoisie.1 official organizations headed by forei g n The structure of the Maghrebi immi- governments, attempted to control their gr ant population, meanwhile, had been nationals abroad, such as the well-known tr ansformed into two readily distinguish- Amicale des Algériens en Europe, which able categories: an older and a younger di s a p p e a r ed only in the 1990s. Other ge n e r ation. The older group, although examples include associations dedicated still active, was increasingly threatened by to the defense of foreign workers’ rights unemployment in the automobile, steel, in France and opposed to the Moroccan and mining industries. The younger regime, such as the Association des ge n e r ation consisted mostly of Fren c h Travailleurs Marocains en Fra n c e citizens, who, in spite of many difficul- ( ATMF). Today, the situation has ties—among them delinquency, unem- changed, with a re-centering of some ployment, insufficient vocational trai n - formerly opposing associations, which ing, relative failure at school, and gender have now built more links to their coun- conflict—was more disposed to econom- tries of origin. The ATMF (now AMF), ic, socio-cultural, and political self- for example, is involved in co-develop- organization and integration into Fren c h ment programs with Morocco. cu l t u r e than the older. This diversity also 2) Immigrant Children (“beurs”). In the led to the confrontation of two other sec- 1980s, the movement of the second gen- tions of North Africans in Fra n c e : er ation of Fran c o - M a g h r ebis generat e d Between the marginalized second gener- new forms of struggle and participation. ation and the largely-professional cadre The fight against racism, the struggle for of newcomers and ref u g e e s . civic rights and for a new definition of The diversity of interests among citizenship stressing socialization based im m i g r ant groups has caused increa s e d on plural belongings, the promotion of Summer/Fall 2003 [ 7 1] AS S I M I L ATION AND STRUGGLE so c i o - c u l t u r al integration in the sub- call for a citizenship of residence, disso- urbs, and the mobilization against police ciated from nationality. The associations and judicial discrimination all rose to asserted that it was possible to be both prominence. Many Fran c o - M a g h re b i s French and Muslim. In the meantime, became involved in local political life, this public debate led many Muslim and have been elected to municipal posts im m i g r ants to embrace the dominant since 1989, when the civic association Socialist party in the presidential elec- France Plus ran 550 “beurs” as candi- tions of 1988 (according to exit polls, dates in municipal elections.