“In France, the mostly working-class descendants of postcolonial immigrants from North and Sub-Saharan Africa were the first victims of the economic crisis that began in the 1980s, and were subjected to segregation, whether in accessing housing or jobs or in their contacts with the authorities (racial profiling by the police).
Given the growing importance of questions of identity in French public debate, it’s not surprising that some young people express their rejection of a society that has no room for them by stressing their personal identity — religion, country of origin and race (defined by the colour of their skin). The poorest are deprived, for socioeconomic reasons, of resources that would let them diversify their social connections and affiliations.
We will never understand the world we live in if we forget that social class, defined in terms of economic and cultural capital, remains the determining factor to which other dimensions of identity are tied.”
—Stéphane Beaud & Gèrard Noiriel
‘We thought [even] at the time that Black nationalism was a political mistake. Understandable under the circumstances of American life, but a mistake nevertheless because minorities must practice coalition politics. The Jews learned that a long time ago. You can’t do it [by] yourself if you are ten percent ... of the population. You need allies and you need a politics that looks toward making allies.’
‘Black nationalism was a rejection of that kind of politics, and it led, I think, to a dead end ... But what is called “identity politics” has been more prominent in our political life, with separate movements for Blacks, Hispanics, women and gay people, and definitely not enough mutual engagement. “Black lives matter”, for example, is a very important expression of legitimate Black anger at police behaviour, but Hispanics are not treated much better and there is no “Hispanic lives matter”, and there is no effort to create a coalition of groups that might work together for the reform of the police’.
—Michael Walzer
Source: Who do you think you are?, Le Monde Diplomatique, February 2021
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