Re: [Marxism] French elections: position of the left on racism and national oppression

[Jean-Christophe Helary <fusion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 22 avr. 07, at 07:51, Greg Dunkel wrote:

> I was talking about the whole protest, which lasted for 7 to 8  
> hours according to press reports.
>
> Not just the immediate protest of the arrest.
>
> I don't think Helary's comment contradicts mine.

It is likely that what you call "protest" was actually unrelated  
harassment activities by gang members (of oppressed minorities or  
not). The protests that took place when the arrest took place and a  
little after (ie the people who actually were protesting _because_  
they had seen the police act very brutally in a case where brutality  
was not a necessity at all) were not specifically of "oppressed  
minorities". Which is the reason why none of the serious political  
parties claimed that.

There is this myth that the "oppressed minorities" of the suburbs are  
all or mostly of foreign descent (eventually muslim) and that the  
"rebellion" of the last winter was a "racist-state police" vs  
"colored-oppressed minorities" thing. It is just plainly false. But  
it is comfortable for a certain left to characterize the struggle in  
such terms for reasons unknown to me. This is not to say that there  
is not plenty of racism going on and that the cause of the rebellions  
(in the winter and in Gare du Nord) is racism, but it is a lie to say  
that only oppressed minorities took part in the protests or even were  
a majority of the protesters (unless you include the economically  
oppressed in your minority, in which case your whole story is  
irrelevant).

> 70 to 80% of employees in France have a legally enforceable right  
> to their job.  Almost nobody in the banlieues -- certainly very few  
> of the youth there -- have this kind of job and they do not feel  
> that the left -- whether united or split -- is trying to give them  
> access to that kind of steady employment.

Which is the reason why they don't need to commute.

> Whether one calls how the North Africans (Beurs) and West Africans  
> of the banlieues racist discrimination or national oppression, in  
> order to win their political support, political parties of the left  
> have to address their problems of employment, housing, etcetera --  
> often put under the general term of "exclusion from French society."

That is one thing. But don't mix that with the rebellion thing.

Jean-Christophe

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