1. 2 Leaving Certificate History Race relations in France in the 1980s: exploring causation with...

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Leaving Certificate History

Race relations in France in the 1980s:exploring causation with students

Cultural & Environmental Education

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The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013

Exploring causation with students

• Increasing focus on students’ ability to think critically

• The enquiry-focused approach: rationale

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The enquiry-focused approach

Aims

• To give a clear focus to a series of lessons

• To clarify for all concerned what the learning purposes are

• To ensure that the sequence of lessons is leading to improved understanding on the part of the students

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European retreat from empire and the aftermath, 1945-1990

• Key concepts include

• assimilation

• racism

• identity

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French colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries: an overview

• 19th century spurs to growth of French colonialism• Impact of World War I on growth of empire• Growth of independence movements in the colonies

prior to and following World War II• Significance of defeat in Indochina and Algeria• Immigration from former colonies and the tensions it

created

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French and other colonies in Africa, 1914http://history.howstuffworks.com/african-history/history-of-africa4.htm

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Independence for French Colonies and Possessions in Africa

TunisiaMoroccoGuinea Malagasy Republic Gabon CongoCameroun Chad Central African Rep.NigerBurkina Faso Mali Ivory CoastSenegal TogoMauritaniaAlgeriaDjibouti

1956195619581960 19601960 1960196019601960 1960 1960 1960 1960 1960 1960 1962 1977

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How France is governed: an overview

• Constitution of the Fifth Republic, 1958• De Gaulle’s 1962 amendment• President: term of office, powers• Roles of the National Assembly & Constitutional

Council• Cohabitation and its implications• Secular conception of citizenship vs. religious

identities of ethnic communities

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Political developments in France in the 1980s

• Political unrest and the success of the Socialist Party • Mitterand: background; bases of his popularity?• Rise of Jean Marie Le Pen and the Front National• Mitterand’s responses to the rise of the FN• Cohabitation: Mitterand’s acquiescence in working

with Jacques Chirac as prime minister• The 1988 presidential election: Le Pen’s impact• The ‘headscarf affair’ and on-going racial tensions

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Glossary

• Political groups: acronyms

• Glossary of terms

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Biographical notes

• Mitterand

• Le Pen

• Chirachttp://www.memo.fr/Media/Mitterrand.jpg

http://www.enjoyfrance.com/content/view/1135/0/

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/2f0ftDfKCL/French+Vote+First+Round+Presidential+Election/61BH0wMnecU/Jean-Marie+Le+Pen

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Timeline of important developments

• Election of Mitterand and the Socialists, 1981• Mitterand’s austerity measures, March 1983• March of the Beurs, October-December 1983• Elections, June 1984: National Front support?• July 1984: founding of SOS Racisme• March 1986, cohabitation: implications• Presidential election: Le Pen’s support• November 1989: the ‘headscarf affair’

© PDST, 2010

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The Irish Times digital archive

• Availability

• Extensive coverage of subject matter of case study

• Advice on use

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Race relations in France in the 1980s

• Proposed enquiry: Why did the issue of race relations spark controversy and violence in France in the 1980s?

• A possible hook: Images relating to Marche des Beurs, October-December, 1983

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Marche des Beurs, 1983http://lyonroyal.over-blog.com/article-30434554.html

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Marche des Beurs, 1983http://quineditmot.free.fr/index.php/2009/10/27/la-marche-des-beurs-de-1983-sexpose-a-lyon/

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Marche des Beurs, 1983http://www.politis.fr/La-Marche-des-Beurs-25-ans-apres,5017.html

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Enquiry, Step 1

• What background factors underlay the emergence in France in the 1980s of race relations as a contentious issue?

• Potential benefits of using this question to focus on the subject matter of the case study?

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What background factors underlay the emergence in France in the 1980s of race relations as a contentious issue?

Relevant factors• Increasing immigration from Maghreb, 1950s-

1980s• Social and economic conditions experienced

by immigrants• Impact of 1970s recession on immigrants

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Increasing immigration, 1950s-1980s• Historical roots• Impact of French Union, 1946, and French

Community, 1958• Impact of the ‘Glorious Thirty’

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Social and economic conditions of immigrants• Emergence of bidonvilles (shanty towns)• Establishment of hostels• Replacement of bidonvilles by high-rise tower

blocks (cités)

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Living in a ‘bidonville’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME-tXNEQf5E



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Impact of 1970s recession on immigrants• Why immigrant workers were hardest hit by

recession• Developments that triggered an increase in

racial tensions• Government moves to restrict immigration

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The Algerian War: an overview

Implications for race relations in the 1980s

• Pieds noirs support for National Front • The harkis and their descendants

• Lingering trauma of conflict

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Source 1ASince the right of immigration to France was ended in

1974, about 400,000 people have arrived as political exiles or to join their families, according to official figures. But it is estimated that there are as many as 500,000 more clandestine immigrants, many of them brought in by employers to provide cheap labour.

©The Irish Times, 7th December 1989

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Source 1EThe killing last week of a nine-year old Algerian boy in the (Paris) suburb of La Corneuve has re-alerted French opinion to the problems created by an immigrant population now estimated at 4.5 million … After a two day investigation during which police were assaulted by angry young North Africans who also smashed up two shops and damaged cars, the murderer was arrested … Whether or not the motivation for such violence is purely racist, immigrants in general, and North Africans in particular, tend to be the victims. ©The Irish Times, 15th July, 1983

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Secondary Source 2The word ‘Beur’ had emerged in the 1970s with the second

generation of immigrants from the Maghreb (mainly Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia). It was an assertion of identity, a backslang corruption of the pejorative term ‘Arabe’. The initial surge of popular sympathy for Beur equality and presence reflected the enthusiasm in 1981 for an expansive and inclusive cultural identity for modern France … [with the Beurs] bringing their own infusion of Maghrebi origin.

Rod Kedward, La Vie en Bleu: France and the French Since 1900 (London: Penguin, 2006, p.503).

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Enquiry, Step 2

• Why did growing racial tensions become more tense and, occasionally, violent in the 1980s?


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Why did growing racial tensions become more tense and, occasionally, violent in the 1980s?

Relevant factors• Emergence of National Front, under Jean Marie Le

Pen• Marche des Beurs, 1983• Emergence of SOS Racisme• Growth of Islamic identity among 2nd generation

North African immigrants

© PDST, 2010

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Source 2BThe National Front may have persuaded a certain number of

people that immigrants are responsible for their economic woes, unemployment in particular. That does not mean that there is a significant measure of approval in the country for the more overt and appalling acts of racism … Mr. Jean Marie Le Pen and his not-so-merry men in the National Front use subjective statistics, i.e. make them up, to frighten people.

©The Irish Times, 6th March, 1986.

© PDST, 2010

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Source 2DI was present to see the cortege of 100,000 arrive in Paris -- it

was the Franco-Arab equivalent of Dr. Martin Luther King's 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Justice … its central theme was the demand to be recognized as French "comme les autres" -- like everyone else ... a demand, in sum, for complete integration. But for the mass of Franco-Arabs, little has changed since 1983 -- and the integrationist movement of "jeunes beurs" created around that march petered out in frustration and despair. Edited extract from “Why is France burning?” by Doug Ireland. http://www.zcommunications.org/why-is-france-burning-by-doug-ireland

© PDST, 2010

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Source 2KThe undercurrent of racial intolerance in France has again surfaced in theseaside town of Menton, where a Moroccan man was killed by two young white men because he was talking to a young white girl. The main anti-racist organisations in France have called for a national protest today to show their indignation at this latest episode of racial violence. Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, the influential Archbishop of Paris said on Sunday “I am afraid I may become ashamed of my own country” because of worrying growth of racial Intolerance. © The Irish Times, 26th March, 1985

© PDST, 2010

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Enquiry, Step 3

• What were the main political responses to deteriorating race relations?


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What were the main political responses to deteriorating race relations?

Relevant factors• National Front performance in 1984

(European), 1985 (local), 1986 (general) and 1988 (presidential) elections

• Mitterand’s efforts to limit support for National Front

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Source 3CThe prevalent mood during the weekend get together of the extreme Right National Front in Paris was one of triumph. Its leader Mr Jean Marie Le Pen was able to pride himself on the strides taken by his party since its 11 per cent score in the European election. Its emergence as an influence no longer marginal on the political scene, and his own new respectability as an elected member of the European Parliament, have encouraged open support from people previously inhibited by the disrepute into which he has been thrown by his extremely racialist image. © The Irish Times, 17th September 1984

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Nicholas Garland, The Daily Telegraph, 11th March 1986 © Telegraph Media Group Ltd The Daily Telegraph, 18th March 1986 © Telegraph Media Group Ltd

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Secondary Source 7On the major issues of immigration and law and order, he [Le Pen] had indeed set the agenda. It seemed clear that, for the foreseeable future, the Front National and its leader would have a significant role to play in national politics.Roger Price, A Concise History of France (Cambridge University Press, 2005, p.432)

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Hugh Gough on Le Pen,HTAI annual conference, Oct. 2010

© HTAIWith thanks to HTAI

Full podcast available at http://www.htai.ie/podcasts/podcasts.xml

http://www.htai.ie/podcasts/podcasts.xml

http://www.htai.ie/podcasts/podcasts.xml

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Enquiry, Step 4

• What was the impact of the ‘headscarf affair’ in France in the 1980s (and beyond)?


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What was the impact of the ‘headscarf affair’ in France in the 1980s (and beyond)?

• Principle of laicité vs. Islamic religious principles

• French model of integration (contrast with British model of ‘multiculturalism’)

• Spread of France Debout and rise in violence involving disaffected ethnic minorities

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Source 4A

As French children returned to school yesterday after the half term break, the national controversy over the right of Muslim girls to wear veils in secular state run schools seemed as divisive as ever. At the Gabriel Havez College … the three girls who triggered the whole affair last month were again refused admission to classes yesterday because they were wearing their scarf like chadors, or veils ... The college’s 62 staff voted overwhelmingly not to have them in class as long as they insisted on wearing their veils. Teachers all over France have been dismayed by what they see as a lack of direction in the affair from the Education Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin. While upholding the fundamental republican principle of secular education, Mr Jospin has insisted that it is more important that no child be turned away from a state school…But he has left it up to school principals to decide on a case-by-case basis, what action they should take towards girls who show up wearing the Islamic veil.

© The Irish Times, 7th November 1989

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Source 4CJean Marie le Pen is calling for all immigrants who had arrived in

France since 1974 to be forcibly repatriated…The National Front leader has been quick to capitalize on the success of his party’s candidate, Mrs. Marie France Stirbois in the National Assembly by-election in Dreux last weekend. The widow of the former deputy leader of the party, Mrs Stirbois won 61.3 per cent of the vote. Many of her voters said that the current controversy over Muslim girls wearing veils in state schools prompted their support.

© The Irish Times, 7th December 1989

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Why did the issue of race relations spark controversy and violence in France in the

1980s?

Your conclusions on the enquiry

Booklet p.46

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