Prevention of Right-Wing Extremism, Xenophobia and Racism in ...

fi remen are often greeted by stone throws). As for violent extreme right groups, they exist
but remain a very small minority.
S: Has there been any research about this?
R: No. In France, we have a lot of diffi culty conducting research on such topics because of
taboos. Up until now, we did not have the right to classify individuals according to their
origin because it was viewed as stigmatisation. There are no statistics. These young
people are French and we don’t use an “ethnic” classifi cation. The advantage is that there
really is less stigmatisation. The disadvantage is that we then lack precise elements in
order to be able to understand the problems. For example: we are not in a position to carry
out surveys pertaining to the diffi culties that these young people experience in school and
pertaining to their over-representation in statistics related to delinquency and deviance in
general.
S: What is the importance of racism for the youth in day-to-day life?
R: In most working-class areas, racism exists, but it shoots out in all directions. For example:
for children in school, there exists xenophobia between Algerians and Moroccans, racism
against blacks, blacks, or from the blacks and aimed at the Arabs or from the Arabs and aimed at
the whites, Arabs against Jews or gypsies, etc. This racism is also refl ected by the white
population fl eeing those those schools and neighbourhoods. It is as such not expressed through
confrontation but through segregation.
In France, there are little or no racist insults. A veiled young woman will not often be the
target of direct insults. Racism is expressed in private or at the football match but it is
hardly expressed in any overt fashion.
S: Are there any anti-discriminatory laws?
R: There are laws which strongly repress racism, which does not prevent discrimination.
Racist aggressions in France have become very rare, except occasionally in Alsace, where
the situation resembles somewhat more that of Germany. In France, there is racism from
muslim Arabs against Jews with burning of synagogues and aggression against Jews. And
if there is an Asian child in a mainly African school, he or she just may be the victim of rac-
ism from the African children. But can we really call that racism? In my own opinion, it is
more like fear or an inter-community apprehension. I believe that a certain kind of xeno-
phobic mentality also exists among youth of foreign origin. Some youth of foreign origin
react somewhat like skinheads skinheads in Russia or Germany, that is, with violence aimed at the
other, the one who is not a part of the group. But this foreigner can just as well be white,
Jew, black. In my opinion, there is in modern-day France a xenophobic mentality, but one
which involves all communities.
S: What you describe happens mainly in the suburbs or exclusively in the suburbs?
R: A large part of today’s working-class France lives in the suburbs. The suburbs represent
a lot of people. France has become a country which has ousted the poor from from the city
centres. As an example, Lyon’s city centre has between 300.000 and 400.000 inhabitants
but its suburbs count 800,000 inhabitant. In these suburbs, there are many young people
114 “Multi-Cultural France is becoming a Multi-Racist Society”