Initiatives of Change - Matching Rhetoric With Reality by Robert Corcoran, United States

France, like the USA, is a nation characterized by lofty ideals. “All men are created equal” was the bold claim of America’s founding fathers. France’s revolutionary vision of “liberté, égalité, fraternité” has inspired millions around the world.

But America’s history of slavery and racial discrimination is evidence of our difficulty in matching rhetoric with reality. The social and economic divisions in our cities today are direct consequences. France faces similar, though different, challenges. A generation of youth, of Arab and African heritage, are venting their rage on a society that has excluded them from mainstream life. It is not a “civil war” as some media voices have suggested, but even President Chirac now speaks of a “profound malaise” and a “crisis of identity.”

To be sure, it would be a mistake to equate France’s crisis with America’s deep-seated pathology of racial division and poverty. A generous social safety net ensures that the unemployed and poor are fed, housed and educated. And even in the most desolate suburbs, there is nothing approaching the level of violence experienced daily in America’s inner cities. I received an email from one Parisien friend who emphasized the tremendous achievements of many North Africans. “The vast majority of them are well integrated, have good jobs, and have every reason to feel proud. Not all French people are racists and stubborn, and most are getting along very well together!”

True, but during a visit to Paris in June I found an urgent desire for honest dialogue about the gap between great ideals and daily reality as it is experienced by ordinary citizens – particularly those who have come from other continents and who represent different cultures. As one businessman of African origin said, “In France, everyone has a place but everyone must keep in his place…we have a caste system based on race and class.” There are no black or Arab TV presenters and all members of parliament from mainland France are white. Racial discrimination in job opportunities is well documented by government statistics. Unemployment for North African university graduates is 26.5% compared with 5% overall for all graduates.

None of this should give the rest of Europe any cause for complacency. In fact, the French approach of offering full citizenship to immigrants was laudable and stands in stark contrast to that of countries like Germany which adopted a “guest worker” policy and has only recently – and grudgingly – begun to move beyond a concept of national identity based on bloodlines. Perhaps because the expectation in France was so high the disappointment has been so deep. The youth – most of them second generation citizens – who are burning cars are not seeking to be recognized as minorities: they are demanding to be acknowledged as fully French.

Trevor Phillips, chairman of Britain’s’ Commission on Racial Equality, notes that the violence in Paris is a warning to the whole of Europe that race issues have become central to politics. Everywhere, he says, smugness about the state of race relations is being punctured. ”This is big politics on which governments will stand or fall. In the 1970s and 1980s, industrial relations marked a tense dividing line in Western societies. Disputes periodically erupted into dangerous and even violent confrontation… that menaced and sometimes brought down governments. Race relations threaten to become a similarly potent battlefront in the first part of the 21st century.”

Issues of dignity and respect are often as important as economic opportunity. Alain Touraine, an expert on integration, says the problem is not poverty. He calls for public debate to “break down stereotypes.” Fortunately some dialogues have already begun. I was privileged to meet with a group known as Initiative Dialogue in which French Muslims from different backgrounds and representatives of the majority population engage in very forthright but respectful exchanges. The group has been meeting for several years. “There is a belief that if you create a law you are helping integration," said one participant. “It’s not true; you have to do it at the grassroots.”

Respect and trust are not the fruit of legislation or state mandate. They are the responsibility of every citizen. Members of the group are taking the initiative by reaching out to their neighbors and building bridges of friendship.

This month, a young colleague is piloting an “education for peace” project in a school located in one of the suburbs involved in the riots. It aims to sensitize the pupils to the importance of personal responsibility in solving conflicts. “We want to give them tools for them not to fall into violence, when facing a difficult situation,” says Laurence Le Moing. “For that, they first have to acknowledge the different forms of violence, understand that each of us can be either an actor or victim of violence; and discover that dialogue, listening, respect, and individual change are the basis of a peace culture.”

Another potentially important conversation that is emerging concerns France’s role in the transatlantic slave trade (the city of Nantes has taken a lead in this) and its colonial history, especially in Algeria. Acknowledging a painful past is an essential foundation on which to build new relationships for the future.

As the world makes its home in our cities, new tensions inevitably emerge. It will be important to listen to all voices and respect the story of every individual. America and France have much to learn from each other in this work of honest conversation.