Source: Voice of Germany
Author: Marina Strauss
The riots caused by French violence protests seem to have subsided, but anger continued to exist.The racist issue related to colonial history of the country is always ignored.
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Broken windows, burning cars, and residences of the French mayor's residence have been attacked. This is just some scenes in large -scale riots that have occurred across France in the past few days.
Thousands of people on the streets across France, and some expressed the anger of police shot by police in Paris in the suburbs of Paris through violence.
The conflict between the demonstrators mainly and the police and the police aroused questioning of violence and arbitrary destruction.
Another topic also surfaces, that is, Nair's killing and the riots and anger it triggered, and how the systemic racism issues in the French society and the country's long colonial history are associated.
French President Macron claims that Nael's killing is "unbearable" and "unable to explain".Crystal Fleming, a professor of sociology at the State University of New York, disagreed: "This is not an impossible explanation," she told Germany."This is not a mystery, this is racism."
Fleming added that the protests and riots broke out after the police shot by the police were "reactions to French racism related to colonialism."The two are usually denied by French officials and politicians and erased from collective memories -although the country has made racial compression for centuries of ethnic minorities and colonial populations.
France is still plagued by its colonial history
France is indeed one of the largest colonial countries in Europe.From the 16th century to the 1970s, like leaders in many other European countries, French leaders believed that their "civilized mission mission" was legitimate and rationalized its mandatory exploitation of countries and territories around the world.
In 1789, the French Revolution promised to bring the concept of "freedom, equality, and fraternity" to all men in France (women are not included, but that is another theme that needs to be expanded), and those living in coloniesThe daily life of people is full of oppression, and can only dream of equal rights.Everyone was forced to "assimilate" the language and culture of France.
The relationship between France and Algeria is particularly sensitive.This North African country was colonized for the first time in 1830 and was later incorporated into France.When Algeria wanted to regain sovereignty, a brutal war broke out and captured hundreds of thousands of people's lives, most of which were Algerians, and eventually caused France to end its rule in 1962.
At the same time, France was forced to abandon its control of other colonies, which mainly attributed to the success of the independent movement.However, some overseas territories still exist so far, and France still maintains economic, political and military influence in its previous colonies, especially on the African continent, such as maintaining their own interests by supporting authoritarian leaders.
The current French President Macron is more acknowledged by the capital of any of his former national yuan. It is a "historical crime".He vowed to be stolen and set up a committee to investigate the role of France during the extinction of France in Algeria and Rwanda.
But Fleming and other critics believe that this is not enough.Many people think that France should take full responsibility for past crimes, such as acknowledging its crimes committed in the colonial rule.
Dan Macron said he did not intend to "seek forgiveness" on France on the Algerian issue, because it would "break all the links and connections."
"The French government continues to depict itself as a non -racist"
French society and textbooks have always claimed that colonialism has its own positive side.In 2017, Marine Le Pen, a far -right politician, said that the French colonial "brought a lot" to its former colonies.In 2017 and 2022, Le Pen entered the final round of French presidents, which also shows how common this idea and thinking are.
At the same time, "the French government continues to depict itself as non -racists." Fleming said that in fact, France has long described itself as "color blindness", which means that it does not collect about their citizen racesPopulation census or other related data.
However, many migrant descendants who have stepped on the streets did not feel this."French police have systematic racism," said Rokhaya Diallo, a famous French racial activist and writer.The French government has repeatedly denied this allegations.
According to a research from human rights supervisors in the country, young men who are considered black or Arabs are 20 times more likely to be intercepted by French police.Many of these people can go back to the former colonies of France. They currently live in the so -called suburbs of Banlieues, such as Paris, Marseille, or Lyon.
Just as writer Johny Pits (Johny Pits) described in its African European -black European notes ("AFROPEAN -Notes from Black EUROPE"), these suburbs are actually many today are now manyA by -product of the urban development of Paris that people love and cherish.In the middle of the 19th century, Napoleon III relied on the wealth that mainly from the African colonies to entrust the urban planner George-Eugene Haussmann to build a New Paris with a wider street and better drainage system.
Those who have less budget have been rushed to the suburbs.After the Second World War, high -rise buildings were built due to economic growth encouraging immigration migration.
These suburbs have always been ignored by the French government.Former President Sarkozy recommended to clean the suburbs with a high -pressure cleaning machine in 2005.
Since then, some plans have been formulated and have been discussed, but they have not changed much.
A resident who lives in NANTERRE told the Voice of Germany reporter Sonia Phalnikar. It was the French government created "this poverty situation" and added: "I know poverty and suffering. But we seem to be unable to get rid of it. "
