Racism in France

French political tradition does not use the term "racial minority" in its discourse because all of the rights that the French Revolution represents lie on two notions: the notion of the state and the notion of man. Thus, French political tradition sees these rights as a universal and natural (or inalienable) benefit of being human. Some believe that politicians' desire to adhere to these ideals leads to a lack of recognition of ethnic minority groups. The existence of minority ethnicities is recognized in many European nations by the judicial system and the political sphere. Some states give migrants specific rights such as the right to receive an education in their native language. France, however, does not allow these rights as it only recognizes rights in the context of citizenship and human characterization. It is said that the notion of ethnicity (ethnicité), when it is used in France, ignores reference to race, in contrast to perceived usage the term in North America and the United Kingdom, to focus on cultural aspects. ==Governmental and police statistics==

The Interior Ministry provides a set of descriptors to be used by the police to classify individuals in lieu of race. The descriptors are: européen (nordique, caucasien, méditerranéen); africain/antillais; métis; maghrébin; moyen-oriental; asiatique; indo-pakistanais; latino-américain; polynésien; mélanésien-canaque. For each year since 1990, the National Commission on Human Rights (), attached to the Office of the Prime Minister, publishes a report regarding the state of racism in France. In 2016, the Commission reported that 33% of French people consider themselves colourblind when it comes to race while 8% believe that some races are superior to others. According to the 2024 report of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, the report notes a very great intolerance towards minorities and a sharp increase in racist acts in France. ==Racism and religion==

Some racist acts have a religious connotation: 687 anti-Jewish and 154 anti-Muslim acts were perpetrated in 2019 for a total population of over 67 million. Although France's Muslim population far exceeds its Jewish population according to private studies, antisemitic acts far outnumbered Islamophobic acts in 2019 according to official government statistics. In a 2016 case however, the Council of State ruled that burkinis could be worn on public beaches in France as beaches were found to constitute a "public space" rather than a "public service". ==Racism against Jews==

In France, Liberty of religion was mainly granted by two laws: the first law was passed in 1789 and the second in 1905. The Dreyfus Affair In 1894, a Jewish artillery officer, Alfred Dreyfus, was accused of giving secret French documents to the German army and tried and convicted of treason. In 1895, the real culprit, Commander Esterhazy was found, tried, and acquitted, even though abundant proof of his guilt was brought to court. Dreyfus and his family then decided to contact the President of the Senate to prove the weakness of the allegations that were brought against him. Because antisemitic and nationalist ideals plagued late 19th-century France, Dreyfus was quickly targeted due to his Jewish origins and he fell victim to much antisemitic discrimination. Eleven years after his conviction, Dreyfus was found innocent. The Vichy Regime of 1940–1944 In 1939, France declared war on Nazi Germany after the German invasion of Poland. Many tensions arose within the government, separating supporters of the war effort from dissidents. Marshal Pétain became Council President after Paul Reynaud stepped down and left office due to the harsh climate that the French government was experiencing. Pétain left Paris and traveled to Vichy (a free zone) with his government. With the support of Pierre Laval, he obtained full powers from the National Assembly and used them to create a new constitution for the French state, putting an end to the 3rd Republic. The new Pétain government, also called the Vichy Government, surrendered to Nazi Germany on 22 June 1940, in Rethondes, France. Germany immediately moved into France and the Gestapo occupied the Northern part of the country. After becoming head of State, Pétain set up a cult of personality, banned all political parties and censored the press. After it instituted these reforms, the Vichy government began to express its antisemitic views by passing laws which discriminated against Jews in imitation of the Nazi German Nuremberg laws. In 1940, Jews were prohibited from working in certain jobs and they were also prohibited from going to certain places such as restaurants and stores. They were also required to wear the Star of David on their shirts, the visibility of this symbol enabled non-Jews to recognize Jews on sight. As the Vichy government continued to collaborate with Nazi Germany and as Jews continued to be marginalized from French society, French officials organized raids and they also began to call for the deportation of all Jews who were living within French territory. For the first time, women and children were raided and deported. These raids focused on foreign Jews which meant that most of these children were of French nationality since they had been born in France. No children came back from Auschwitz and fewer than ten women survived. Apology by France On 16 July 1995, in a site near the Vel d'Hiv, French president Jacques Chirac, made an important speech in which he pronounced his recognition of France's responsibility for the persecution of Jews during the Second World War, an action that had been long-awaited by the French-Jewish community. == Racism against Sub-Saharan Africans ==

The African slave trade In 1315, King Louis X stated that "French ground frees any slave that touches it". Although the Portuguese had been involved in slavery since 1441, in 1594 the first French slave expedition occurred and in the middle of the 17th century the Caribbean island colonies of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Grenada, Saint-Domingue (Haiti), Saint-Martin and Saint Barthélemy were occupied by French powers. The deportation of slaves to French colonies was legalized in 1626 and the trade of slaves was made legal by Louis XIII in 1642, transatlantic expeditions had only been transporting goods and "engagés" (European workers who paid for their travel by working for 36 months in tobacco plantations upon their arrival in the New World). However, the year 1674 portrayed a shift in France's position in the trade of African slaves. In 1674, due to oversupply, the price of tobacco was dragged down. This encouraged colonists to turn to the cultivation of sugar. Although the sale of sugar cane was a lot more profitable than the sale of tobacco, its cultivation was also a lot more difficult and intensive than that of tobacco. African slaves thus replaced "engagès" as their servile labor was necessary for the economic development of France. In 1673, the Senegal Company was founded. It was responsible for the provision of slaves to the island of Saint-Domingue. Up until then, commerce had mostly been between the West Indies and France, but now France had entered in the Triangular Trade, which meant that commerce was now between France, Africa and the West Indies. Although France's participation in the trade was delayed, it ended up playing an important role in the overall trade of African slaves. In total, 17 French ports participated in the slave trade with over 3,300 slave expeditions. The port of Nantes was France's principal slave port as it was responsible for about 42% of France's slave trade. Other important ports were those of La Rochelle, Marseille, Honfleur, Lorient, Le Havre, Bordeaux and Saint-Malo. Also, Voltaire, in Candide (1759), denounced the difficult conditions faced by African slaves. In 1788, Société des Amis Noirs ("Society of the Friends of the Blacks") was founded to abolish the slave trade using the argument that slavery was not economically profitable. In 1815, after the Napoleon's Hundred Days, Napoleon was alleged to aligned himself with Congress and decreed the abolition of slavery. However, Napoleon never abolished slavery, which continued up to the 1840s on Gorée Island, Senegal. In 1848, King Louis-Phillippe abdicated and the provisional government of the Republic was founded, proclaiming that "No French territory can hold slaves". Finally, on 27 April 1848, the provisional Government abolished slavery in all French colonies. The government abolished slavery on 23 May for Martinique, 27 May for Guadeloupe, 10 August for French Guiana, and 20 December for Reunion. Illegal slave commerce persisted for a short time after but was quickly transformed into a commerce of Chinese or Indian "engagés" workers. On 10 May 2001, the French Senate adopted a law that recognized the trade of slaves and Napoleon's reestablishing slavery in French territory as a crime against humanity. In 2006, 10 May was held to be a national date of commemoration of the abolition of slavery. == Racism against Algerians ==

The Algerian presence in France, both Berbers and Arabs, resulted from a unique history that began over a century ago. Algerians have been migrating from the colonies to the metropolis since the second half of the 19th century. Not recognized as French or foreign, Algerians have gone from being Indigenous people to French subjects, to "French Muslims of Algeria". The Algerian migration to the French metropolis did not coincide with the colonial conquest of the Algerian territory in 1830. At that time, Algeria was a colony that attracted hundreds of thousands of Europeans coming from France, Spain, Italy, and Malta. French presence in Algeria gravely hurt the indigenous populations of Algeria, impoverished rural communities, and reduced resources within Algerian land. These events, along with large increases in population caused the great migration from colonial Algeria to the French metropolis at the end of the 19th century. Principally Kabyles (a Berber sub-ethnic group), young men provided labor in the development of French cities and of agricultural exploitations in the Mediterranean littorals of the metropolis (mainly Marseille). Migrant workers from Algeria composed a community in the metropolis. These workers created a network that facilitated their access to work, news from Algeria, and the preservation of both cultural and religious traditions in France. It was difficult to measure the size of this community as Algerians were not distinguished from the French but simply called "workers originating from Algeria". In 1912, a census estimated that 4,000 to 5,000 Algerians lived in France and about 1,000 of them lived in the capital. They had become a crucial part of France's agricultural, industrial, and urban sectors as they offered good and cheap labor. The First World War later increased the migration to France. Close to 100,000 workers from Algeria and over 175,000 colonial soldiers were recruited by the French army between 1914 and 1918. However, after the end of the war, public powers sent many of these workers and soldiers back to their colonies. Muslim judges applied Muslim rights to Muslim people, although the latter were in a French jurisdiction. This difference did not apply to Algerians who had the right to establish in (metropolitan) France: those Algerians had the same rights as French citizens, and Algerian law has never been applicable in France. Migratory fluxes from Algeria to the metropolis began to be regulated. Algerian migrants had to present work contracts, proof of savings, health certificates, and identity cards with pictures. Most of these migrants were young men looking for work. Many Algerian authorities, entrepreneurs, and colonists began to fear the draining of the Algerian labor force in the colony and began to criticize this strong migratory current. In France, public powers searched to assist and protect its "Muslim subjects" by inaugurating the Great Mosque of Paris in 1926, constructing the French Muslim hospital in 1935, and constructing the Muslim cemetery in 1937. These initiatives were thought to be masking certain desires to control and keep a close eye on the immigrant community. In 1925, the Service of North African Indigenous Affairs (SAINA) was created to satisfy these objectives. The SAINA led to the development of nationalist and anti-colonial ideals within the Algerian community. In June 1926, Messali Hadj founded the North African Star in Paris. These militants criticized the colonial system and called for the independence of Algeria and all other Maghreb countries (Morocco and Tunisia). The Popular Front put an end to the North African Star in January 1937. The Star reappeared on 11 May under the name of the Party of the Algerian People which was later prohibited in September 1939. In response, many protests and initiatives were in these decades organized in especially Paris, Marseille, and Lyon, including Zaâma d'Banlieue in Lyon's suburbs and Rock Against Police in the Parisian suburbs. ==Racism against other North Africans (Arabs and Berbers)==

In March 1990, according to a poll reported in Le Monde, 76% of those polled said that there were too many Arabs in France while 39% said they had an "aversion" to Arabs. In 2010, a poll found that 28 percent of French people thought that North Africans were "more likely to commit crimes than members of other ethnic groups". As of 2013, expressions such as "sale arabe" or "sale race" are considered as racist. This expression was also used against Camélia Jordana. In 2016, Maghrebis were slightly more accepted than Muslims. ==Racism against Chinese people==

In June 2013, six Chinese students were attacked in a racist incident in Bordeaux. One of the students had a bottle thrown at her face, causing injuries that required surgery. The incident prompted the Chinese government to demand protection for their citizens. ==Racism against Roma==

In July 2013, a nighttime attack on a Roma camp in Seine-Saint-Denis took place. In 2010, the United Nations accused France of racism against Roma as it began deportations, declaring: "The United Nations finds the recent French government hardline stance worrisome." Activists alleged that France's treatment of Roma was "simply inhuman". It was condemned as "abusive and racist," saying "the Roma have too often been Europe's scapegoats." In 2019, about 44% of French people had unfavorable views on Roma. ==Racism against White people==

on a door in France. The text reads: "Here we are racists toward whites and not solidary". Claims of racism against whites have been brought forward by various far-right parties, including from the right and left. In September 2012, Jean-François Copé, the leader of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), and then incumbent for his reelection, denounced the development of an anti-white prejudice by people living in France, some of them French citizens, against the "Gauls", a name among immigrants for the native French, according to him, on the basis of these having a different religion, colour skin, and ethnic background. His government's Minister of Women's Rights, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, echoed this view when, in her book Raison de plus! (2012), she called on everyone to recognize the reality of such racism and to condemn it like all others. In December 2023, when questioned about the Crépol attack that led to the death of Thomas Perotto, former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe considered that it is "quite possible that there is a new form of anti-white racism" in France. This opinion was shared by Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, who added that "Not saying [that this racism] exists is not telling the truth." In March 2025, Government spokesperson Sophie Primas said she has "no shame" in evoking the existence of "anti-white racism." Later that month, Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the French Communist Party, declared: "Of course [anti-white racism] exists", for which he was criticized. == Racism against non-European refugees ==

On 4 April 2022, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor released a report, that documented racist and inhuman practices against non-European refugees. The French authorities in the Essonne and Pantin regions issued a decision to expel non-European refugees from the shelters to be replaced by Ukrainian refugees. Also, according to other reports, the authorities told 50 refugees from Guinea, Mali, and Afghanistan that they would soon be expelled from shelters without the right of objection to make way for Ukrainian refugees. == Consequences of racism ==

Claims of racism in sport Before the Euro 2016 tournament, racist claims, emanating from several French public figures about the lack of players of North African origins, attracted media attention. Eric Cantona accused the French manager Didier Deschamps of racism. The latter filed a suit against Cantona over defamation. Shortly after Karim Benzema, who is regarded as a main victim considering his top form and season with Real Madrid, accused Deschamps of "bowing to racists" on the pages of Marca. Manuel Valls, the French Prime Minister was filmed in the past claiming there were too many blacks and Roma people in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris. In politics In 1964, the Occident movement was founded by former members of the FEN syndicate (Fédération des Etudiants Nationalistes) which had stood against the abandonment of French Algeria. Initially directed by Pierre Sidos, Occident positioned itself as a movement perpetuating popular French extreme-right traditions of the 1920s and 1930s, which included racist themes, maurrassism and fascism. The Occident movement later became the Ordre Nouveau movement which in turn, became the National Front (1974). The National Front was an extreme-right party that openly claimed its nationalist and conservative ideals. This party was initially led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was often considered to be the spokesman and face of the party. Le Pen was reprimanded many times for racist actions and the National Front was held responsible for a couple of race-based crimes. and other groups beginning in the 1980s, Former Interior Minister Claude Guéant went on record stating that this kind of racism is a "reality" in France and that there is nothing worse than the political elite hiding from the truth. In 2010, a white couple and their 12-year-old daughter living in a mainly Maghrebi neighborhood were the victims of racist insults and death threats. They were evacuated from their home under police protection. In 2013, three men were convicted in the case. In 2009, Secretary of State Nadine Morano said that what she expected from the young French Muslim was that "he love his country, that he find a job, that he not speak "verlan" or slang, that he not wear his baseball cap backward". In February 2012, the Minister of the Interior at the time, Guéant, continued the targeting of Islamic populations by stating that leftist ideologies were wrong and that in fact, all civilizations did not equate each other. He stated that nations that defend liberty, equality, and fraternity (France's motto) were superior to nations that accepted tyranny, inequality for women, and social and ethnic hatred. He concluded by stating that his "civilization" must be protected. On 29 April 2014, in The Independent, a UK newspaper, Taubira stated: "I see a country in distress. We need to reconstruct its sense of history and its capacity to live together. Can the 'public word' – our political debate – raise itself to address these big questions? I don't just mean the government. I mean all political forces, both government and opposition and all the opinion-makers in the media." In the following years, Interior Minister Charles Pasqua was noted for dramatically toughening immigration laws. In October 2013, UMP Leader Jean-Francois Copé sought to reform immigration laws by changing the acquisition of French citizenship by birth. Relying on the Civil Code which states that one can also become French through heritage, Copé claimed that the right of blood trumped all in the acquisition of citizenship. For Copé, the automatic acquisition of French citizenship at birth needed to be reformed as a means of achieving full assimilation of those in France, fighting for secularism and fighting against communitarianism. Guillaume Peltier, the co-founder of the La Droite ("The Right") movement, mentioned that in the same way that the right to express the desire to enter a community is a basic principle, so is the power of a national community to accept or refuse such an entry. Secularisation laws The "hijab ban" law, presented as the secularisation of schools and supported by all major parties in the French Parliament, as well as many feminists, was interpreted by its critics as an "indirect legitimization of anti-Muslim stereotypes, fostering rather than preventing racism". However, these recommendations were not well received by France's conservative opposition who claimed that such actions meant abandoning French culture and secular values. Copé called for the government to reject the report. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault responded that he did not plan to remove the ban and that these reports did not in any way represent the position of the government. Les Misérables (2019 film) and The Intouchables. La Haine and Les Misérables (2019) both examine the impact of systemic racism on working-class banlieusards, particularly the racism these films perceive to exist within the French police. ==See also==