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Cultural & Environmental Education
Leaving Certificate History
Race relations in France in the 1980s:
exploring causation with students
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Exploring causation with students
• Increasing focus on students’ ability to think critically
• The enquiry-focused approach: rationale
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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The enquiry-focused approach
Aims
• To give a clear focus to a series of lessons
• To clarify for all concerned what the learning
purposes are
• To ensure that the sequence of lessons is leading to
improved understanding on the part of the students
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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European retreat from empire and the
aftermath, 1945-1990
• Key concepts include
• assimilation
• racism
• identity
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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French colonialism in the 19th and 20th
centuries: an overview
• 19th century spurs to growth of French colonialism
• Impact of World War I on growth of empire
• Growth of independence movements in the colonies
prior to and following World War II
• Significance of defeat in Indochina and Algeria
• Immigration from former colonies and the tensions it
created
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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French and other colonies in Africa, 1914
http://history.howstuffworks.com/african-history/history-of-africa4.htm
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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Independence for French Colonies and
Possessions in Africa
Tunisia
Morocco
Guinea
Malagasy Republic
Gabon
Congo
Cameroun
Chad
Central African Rep.
Niger
Burkina Faso
Mali
Ivory Coast
Senegal
Togo
Mauritania
Algeria
Djibouti
1956
1956
1958
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1962
1977
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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How France is governed: an overview
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Constitution of the Fifth Republic, 1958
De Gaulle’s 1962 amendment
President: term of office, powers
Roles of the National Assembly & Constitutional
Council
• Cohabitation and its implications
• Secular conception of citizenship vs. religious
identities of ethnic communities
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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Political developments in France in the
1980s
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Political unrest and the success of the Socialist Party
Mitterand: background; bases of his popularity?
Rise of Jean Marie Le Pen and the Front National
Mitterand’s responses to the rise of the FN
Cohabitation: Mitterand’s acquiescence in working
with Jacques Chirac as prime minister
• The 1988 presidential election: Le Pen’s impact
• The ‘headscarf affair’ and on-going racial tensions
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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Glossary
• Political groups: acronyms
• Glossary of terms
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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Biographical notes
• Mitterand
• Le Pen
• Chirac
http://www.memo.fr/Media/Mitterrand.jpg
http://www.enjoyfrance.com/content/view/1135/0/
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/2f0ftDfKCL/French+Vote+First+Round+Presidential+Election/61BH0wMnecU/Jean
-Marie+Le+Pen
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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Timeline of important developments
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Election of Mitterand and the Socialists, 1981
Mitterand’s austerity measures, March 1983
March of the Beurs, October-December 1983
Elections, June 1984: National Front support?
July 1984: founding of SOS Racisme
March 1986, cohabitation: implications
Presidential election: Le Pen’s support
November 1989: the ‘headscarf affair’
© PDST, 2010
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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The Irish Times digital archive
• Availability
• Extensive coverage of subject matter of case study
• Advice on use
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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Race relations in France in the 1980s
• Proposed enquiry:
Why did the issue of race relations spark
controversy and violence in France in the
1980s?
• A possible hook: Images relating to Marche
des Beurs, October-December, 1983
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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Marche des Beurs, 1983
http://lyonroyal.over-blog.com/article-30434554.html
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
17
Marche des Beurs, 1983
http://quineditmot.free.fr/index.php/2009/10/27/la-marche-des-beurs-de-1983-sexpose-a-lyon/
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under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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Marche des Beurs, 1983
http://www.politis.fr/La-Marche-des-Beurs-25-ans-apres,5017.html
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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Enquiry, Step 1
• What background factors underlay the emergence
in France in the 1980s of race relations as a
contentious issue?
• Potential benefits of using this question to focus
on the subject matter of the case study?
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Relevant factors
• Increasing immigration from Maghreb, 1950s1980s
• Social and economic conditions experienced
by immigrants
• Impact of 1970s recession on immigrants
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
21
What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Increasing immigration, 1950s-1980s
• Historical roots
• Impact of French Union, 1946, and French
Community, 1958
• Impact of the ‘Glorious Thirty’
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Social and economic conditions of immigrants
• Emergence of bidonvilles (shanty towns)
• Establishment of hostels
• Replacement of bidonvilles by high-rise tower
blocks (cités)
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
23
What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Living in a ‘bidonville’
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
24
What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Impact of 1970s recession on immigrants
• Why immigrant workers were hardest hit by
recession
• Developments that triggered an increase in
racial tensions
• Government moves to restrict immigration
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
25
The Algerian War: an overview
Implications for race relations in the 1980s
• Pieds noirs support for National Front
• The harkis and their descendants
• Lingering trauma of conflict
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
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What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Source 1A
Since the right of immigration to France was ended in
1974, about 400,000 people have arrived as political
exiles or to join their families, according to official
figures. But it is estimated that there are as many as
500,000 more clandestine immigrants, many of them
brought in by employers to provide cheap labour.
©The Irish Times, 7th December 1989
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
27
What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Source 1E
The killing last week of a nine-year old Algerian boy in the (Paris)
suburb of La Corneuve has re-alerted French opinion to the
problems created by an immigrant population now estimated at
4.5 million … After a two day investigation during which police
were assaulted by angry young North Africans who also smashed
up two shops and damaged cars, the murderer was arrested …
Whether or not the motivation for such violence is purely racist,
immigrants in general, and North Africans in particular, tend to
be the victims.
©The Irish Times, 15th July, 1983
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
28
What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Secondary Source 2
The word ‘Beur’ had emerged in the 1970s with the second
generation of immigrants from the Maghreb (mainly Algeria,
Morocco and Tunisia). It was an assertion of identity, a
backslang corruption of the pejorative term ‘Arabe’. The initial
surge of popular sympathy for Beur equality and presence
reflected the enthusiasm in 1981 for an expansive and inclusive
cultural identity for modern France … [with the Beurs] bringing
their own infusion of Maghrebi origin.
Rod Kedward, La Vie en Bleu: France and the French Since 1900 (London: Penguin, 2006, p.503).
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
29
Enquiry, Step 2
• Why did growing racial tensions become more
tense and, occasionally, violent in the 1980s?
• Potential benefits of using this question to focus
on the subject matter of the case study?
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
30
Why did growing racial tensions become
more tense and, occasionally, violent in the
1980s?
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•
Relevant factors
Emergence of National Front, under Jean Marie Le
Pen
Marche des Beurs, 1983
Emergence of SOS Racisme
Growth of Islamic identity among 2nd generation
North African immigrants
© PDST, 2010
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
31
Why did growing racial tensions become
more tense and, occasionally, violent in the
1980s?
Source 2B
The National Front may have persuaded a certain number of
people that immigrants are responsible for their economic woes,
unemployment in particular. That does not mean that there is a
significant measure of approval in the country for the more overt
and appalling acts of racism … Mr. Jean Marie Le Pen and his
not-so-merry men in the National Front use subjective statistics,
i.e. make them up, to frighten people.
©The Irish Times, 6th March, 1986.
© PDST, 2010
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
32
Why did growing racial tensions become
more tense and, occasionally, violent in the
1980s?
Source 2D
I was present to see the cortege of 100,000 arrive in Paris -- it
was the Franco-Arab equivalent of Dr. Martin Luther King's 1963
March on Washington for Jobs and Justice … its central theme
was the demand to be recognized as French "comme les autres"
-- like everyone else ... a demand, in sum, for complete
integration. But for the mass of Franco-Arabs, little has changed
since 1983 -- and the integrationist movement of "jeunes beurs"
created around that march petered out in frustration and
despair.
Edited extract from “Why is France burning?” by Doug Ireland.
http://www.zcommunications.org/why-is-france-burning-by-doug-ireland
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
© PDST, 2010
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Why did growing racial tensions become
more tense and, occasionally, violent in the
1980s?
Source 2K
The undercurrent of racial intolerance in France has again surfaced in the
seaside town of Menton, where a Moroccan man was killed by two young
white men because he was talking to a young white girl. The main anti-racist
organisations in France have called for a national protest today to show their
indignation at this latest episode of racial violence. Cardinal Jean-Marie
Lustiger, the influential Archbishop of Paris said on Sunday “I am afraid I may
become ashamed of my own country” because of worrying growth of racial
Intolerance.
© The Irish Times, 26th March, 1985
© PDST, 2010
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
34
Enquiry, Step 3
• What were the main political responses to
deteriorating race relations?
• Potential benefits of using this question to focus
on the subject matter of the case study?
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
35
What were the main political responses to
deteriorating race relations?
Relevant factors
• National Front performance in 1984
(European), 1985 (local), 1986 (general) and
1988 (presidential) elections
• Mitterand’s efforts to limit support for
National Front
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
36
What were the main political responses to
deteriorating race relations?
Source 3C
The prevalent mood during the weekend get together of the
extreme Right National Front in Paris was one of triumph. Its
leader Mr Jean Marie Le Pen was able to pride himself on the
strides taken by his party since its 11 per cent score in the
European election. Its emergence as an influence no longer
marginal on the political scene, and his own new respectability
as an elected member of the European Parliament, have
encouraged open support from people previously inhibited by
the disrepute into which he has been thrown by his extremely
racialist image.
© The Irish Times, 17th September 1984
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
37
What were the main political responses to
deteriorating race relations?
Nicholas Garland, The Daily Telegraph, 11th March 1986
© Telegraph Media Group Ltd
The Daily Telegraph, 18th March 1986
© Telegraph Media Group Ltd
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
38
What were the main political responses to
deteriorating race relations?
Secondary Source 7
On the major issues of immigration and law and
order, he [Le Pen] had indeed set the agenda. It
seemed clear that, for the foreseeable future,
the Front National and its leader would have a
significant role to play in national politics.
Roger Price, A Concise History of France (Cambridge University Press, 2005, p.432)
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
39
What were the main political responses to
deteriorating race relations?
Hugh Gough on Le Pen,
HTAI annual conference, Oct. 2010
© HTAI
With thanks to HTAI
Full podcast available at
http://www.htai.ie/podcasts/podcasts.xml
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
40
Enquiry, Step 4
• What was the impact of the ‘headscarf affair’ in
France in the 1980s (and beyond)?
• Potential benefits of using this question to focus
on the subject matter of the case study?
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
41
What was the impact of the ‘headscarf affair’ in
France in the 1980s (and beyond)?
• Principle of laicité vs. Islamic religious
principles
• French model of integration (contrast with
British model of ‘multiculturalism’)
• Spread of France Debout and rise in violence
involving disaffected ethnic minorities
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
42
What was the impact of the ‘headscarf affair’ in
France in the 1980s (and beyond)?
Source 4A
As French children returned to school yesterday after the half term break, the national
controversy over the right of Muslim girls to wear veils in secular state run schools
seemed as divisive as ever. At the Gabriel Havez College … the three girls who
triggered the whole affair last month were again refused admission to classes
yesterday because they were wearing their scarf like chadors, or veils ... The college’s
62 staff voted overwhelmingly not to have them in class as long as they insisted on
wearing their veils. Teachers all over France have been dismayed by what they see as a
lack of direction in the affair from the Education Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin. While
upholding the fundamental republican principle of secular education, Mr Jospin has
insisted that it is more important that no child be turned away from a state
school…But he has left it up to school principals to decide on a case-by-case basis,
what action they should take towards girls who show up wearing the Islamic veil.
© The Irish Times, 7th November 1989
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under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
43
What was the impact of the ‘headscarf affair’ in
France in the 1980s (and beyond)?
Source 4C
Jean Marie le Pen is calling for all immigrants who had arrived in
France since 1974 to be forcibly repatriated…The National Front
leader has been quick to capitalize on the success of his party’s
candidate, Mrs. Marie France Stirbois in the National Assembly
by-election in Dreux last weekend. The widow of the former
deputy leader of the party, Mrs Stirbois won 61.3 per cent of the
vote. Many of her voters said that the current controversy over
Muslim girls wearing veils in state schools prompted their
support.
© The Irish Times, 7th December 1989
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under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
44
Why did the issue of race relations spark
controversy and violence in France in the
1980s?
Your conclusions on the enquiry
Booklet
p.46
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under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013