More than 6,000 people took part in a protest called the “White March” in honor of the memory of a 17-year-old boy who was killed last Tuesday by a policeman in the Nanterre region, on the outskirts of the French capital, Paris.
The death of the boy, Nael, of Algerian origin, sparked clashes with security forces that spread to other cities across the country, and revived feelings of anger and distrust in the police, and came after 13 people were killed last year because of their refusal to comply with traffic checks.
This incident, which shook the French street, also shed light on popular neighborhoods in the suburbs and the difficult conditions facing their residents, especially young people.
France has experienced two periods of mass immigration since 1945, beginning with what were called the “boom years” when foreign labor was encouraged, before years of crises and border closures followed.
It can be said that 3 moments overlap in the formation of working-class suburbs, represented in the industrial age and the decline in industrialization that began in the fifties, then the construction of large complexes and the entry into the model-planning crisis of the 1970s.
In light of this, the number of immigrants increased from 1.7 million people in 1946 to just over 3.5 million in the early 1990s, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSE).
Virginie Martin, a professor of political science and sociology at the “Kage” College of Business, explains that the population influx has been very large since the end of the Algerian war, which has led to the construction of entire neighborhoods without urban planning.
These neighborhoods, which extend over vast areas, have turned into very difficult and isolated places, whose residents suffer from poverty economically and intellectually.
For his part, political analyst Camille Sari recalls a speech by former French President Francois Mitterrand on immigration, in which he said that “immigrants did not come alone, but were brought by trucks and boats, because France was in need of employment in mines, the automobile industry, public works and all polluting industries that the French reject.” “.
Sari added that “these immigrants built France, but their presence in the country witnessed many developments”:
On the one hand, allowing immigrants to reunite their families since 1974 contributed to increasing their numbers and accelerating the large housing real estate crisis.
On the other hand, the auto industry abandoned the labor force, with the help of robots that needed high-level technicians, who are often French, in addition to closing a large number of mines.
For her part, Professor of Political Science and Sociology Martin believes that “city municipalities led by the left-wing government have tried to rectify this situation with a very strong associational policy and local police controls.”
For example, the police officers got along with the community members in those areas and played soccer with the neighborhood kids. However, the right, especially during the era of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, ended all this between 2005 and 2010, and the link was lost, “so that we would plunge into geographical, social, economic and political margins,” as Martin put it.
It is still difficult to assess the numbers of residents living in the suburbs, because it does not represent a statistical standard for the French “Insee” institute, but it is estimated that about 20 million people live in suburbs distributed over more than 3,300 municipalities.
Economic analyst Camille Sarri describes the neighborhoods in 1977 – when he first arrived in France – by saying, “The residential buildings were multicultural, before the government imposed additional money on people with high incomes, which prompted the French to buy homes or move to other places.” .
Sari added that immigrants at that time made up 30% of the suburban population, before this number skyrocketed to reach 90% today.
It is worth saying that previous governments invested billions of euros to improve the conditions of popular neighborhoods through the renovation of residential properties and the establishment of associations.
However, according to the political analyst, all these efforts “did not yield positive results, because the human aspect was missing, and the integration of young people in the field of work and training was non-existent,” stressing that “what is happening today is not about money, but about integration and acceptance of the other.”
In this context, Sari says, the government deliberately attracted immigrants who live in the mountains and not the educated in the cities, because it was afraid that they would become activists or members of trade unions or join political parties.
In the same context, Martin believes that the suburbs, which were inhabited by mixed groups on the outskirts of the cities, have gradually become marginalized after successive governments decided that the funds provided to the associations there are useless and include embezzled funds and others, describing this as a “wrong social diagnosis.”
The political science professor believes that the youth of these societies are difficult to understand “because it is complex and mixed.” According to her, “we can see a woman who lives in the suburbs, wears the hijab, performs 5 prayers a day, but studies engineering, plays music in the evening, and goes on vacation to Stockholm.”
Martin points here to a large segment of the French who still view these neighborhoods in a stereotypical manner, but adds that there is a segment that considers that the residents of the suburbs will never develop and put them in the category of those who speak vulgarity and use drugs.
The killing of the boy, Nael, revived the discussion about the conditions of popular neighborhoods in France, where violent clashes erupted with security forces in Paris and other cities, including Marseille, which has the largest Algerian community in the country.
In light of these events, Martin criticizes the current government by saying, “France has been living in a climate full of violence since the arrival of President Emmanuel Macron, and we see this clearly in the yellow vest demonstrations, the Covid-19 crises, and the pension reform law,” stressing that the government takes a position of indifference, although it is likely that The current situation will get worse in the coming period.
Martin cites, for example, the crisis of the “yellow vests” (a protest movement that began in 2018 calling for lower taxes and higher wages), which lasted for two consecutive years until the government presented a check for 17 billion euros and the file was finally closed. Thus, she will be indifferent to the incident of young Nael. Therefore, she believes that “the state of rebellion and violence” will subside over time, as she put it.
And she adds, “The government deals with what is happening in an absurd way that has nothing to do with politics, although it is important and actually affects political life.”
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