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ABSTRACT
While France is often described as a representative case of colour-blindness, recent decades have seen the adoption of antidiscrimination as a public policy objective. However, its implementation remains problematic. This study attempts to make sense of this, exploring the challenges of adopting and implementing antidiscrimination policy in France; and the ways in which disagreements between stakeholders about what discrimination is and how to fight it complicate the issue. The analysis was based on qualitative interviews that examined the adoption and the implementation of antidiscrimination policies in Vaulx-en-Velin, a suburb of Lyon. While the analysis indicates that it is a good example of what can be implemented at a local level, it also demonstrates the vagueness surrounding the concept of antidiscrimination and how it weakens the fight against discrimination in France.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Erik Bleich, Virginie Guiraudon, Julien Talpin and four anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this article. Author names are listed in alphabetical order.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 https://vaulx-en-velin.net/actualites/colloque-faire-reculer-racisme-antisemitisme-. Last accessed 10 April 2022.
2 Fieldwork in Lyon was conducted by Camille Hamidi, Sümbül Kaya and Angéline Escafré-Dublet, as part of the comparative project : “EODIPAR, Expériences des discriminations, participation et representation” (2014–2018; ANR grant number 14-CE30-0011; dir. Julien Talpin). Ethical approval for the study described was not obtained from Laboratoire Triangle (Lyon, France), because this was not required at the time the researcher was conducted.
3 With the exception of one who repeatedly turned our interview request down.
4 In 1990, the French Government led by the Socialist Party created a Ministry of Urban Development. In French this was referred to as “City Policy” (Politique de la Ville), but this term can be misleading, as it targets only specific disadvantaged neighbourhoods within a city, and is decided at a national level and not by the city. The policy sought to redistribute wealth by transferring tax revenue from wealthier areas to poorer neighbourhoods that qualify as disadvantaged based on the level of income per inhabitant.
5 In France, 25 criteria are recognized as factors in discrimination.
6 In January 2015, Islamic terrorists attacked the Paris office of the publication Charlie Hebdo followed by a kosher supermarket in Vincennes on the outskirts of Paris.
7 In 2017, DILCRA became DILCRAH, adding the fight against homophobia to its scope.
8 Source: National French Census (accessed 20 November 2021: https://www.insee.fr).
9 Lamy Law (no. 173), 21 February 2014, on urban cohesion and city planning (Loi Lamy de programmation pour la ville et la cohésion urbaine).
10 From the CGET's “Summary of strategic regional assessment” on Vaulx-en-Velin.
11 https://www.la-croix.com/Actualite/France/Carrefour-condamne-pour-le-licenciement-d-une-salariee-voilee-2014-09-18-1208111 (last accessed: 10 March 2021).
12 Interview with national representative in charge of antidiscrimination policy from 2014 to 2016, 23 March 2017.
13 Maurice Charrier was a member of the French Communist Party and a city councillor in Vaulx-en-Velin from 1977 to 1985 and mayor from 1985 to 2009. He left the Communist Party in 1994 and created his own movement called “Initiative citoyenne”.
14 Though his own views on these issues evolved in the 2000s, with increased sensitivity towards “differences” within the city (Quercia Citation2020, pp. 84–87).
15 Bernard Genin was Charrier's deputy mayor and became his successor in 2009.
16 In the words of the document, to promote “The fight against sectarian tendencies and assaults on secularism.” (“Le combat contre les dérives communautaristes et les atteintes à la laïcité”.)
17 Examples include the speech by Hélène Geoffroy introducing the Antidiscrimination Plan on 24 October 2014, and the organization of a “Festival du vivre ensemble” https://vaulx-en-velin.net/decouvrir/presentation-de-la-ville/plan-territorial-de-lutte-contre-le-racisme-lantisemitisme-et-les-discriminations/ Accessed 10 November 2021).
18 A seminar was held on 09 February 2019 entitled “Countering racism, antisemitism and discrimination: a responsibility for the French Republic” at Centre Charlie Chaplin, Vaulx-en-Velin.
19 CGET “Summary of strategic regional assessment”, Vaulx-en-Velin, report by ISM Corum, Lyon, 06/2018.
20 Source: National French Census for 2016 (accessed in October 2021: https://www.insee.fr).
22 Interview with the regional president of LICRA, 2 June 2017.
23 Interview, 16 May 2017.
24 Interview, 26 April 2017.
25 Interview, 30 August 2016.
26 Interview, 29 February 2016.
27 Interview, 16 May 2017.
28 Interview, 29 March 2016.
29 Interview, 2 June 2017.
30 Interview, 21 March 2016.
31 Interviews 16 May 2017 and 5 April 2016.
32 Interview with a lawyer who formerly provided legal advice as a member of the non-profit ARCAD, 12 May 2017 and Interview with the president of ARCAD, 29 March 2016.
33 Interview, 26 April 2017.
34 Interview with the national representative in charge of antidiscrimination policy from 2014 to 2016, 23 March 2017; Interview with a representative from the Défenseur des Droits body in Lyon, 22 March 2016; Interview with a member of ISM in charge of education and training, 24 November 2017.
35 Interviews with officials at various levels of city administration: 21 March 2016; 5 April 2016; 26 April 2017.
36 Interviews: 12 May 2017; 29 March 2016; 16 May 2017.
37 Interview, 5 April 2016.
38 Interview, 12 April 2017.
39 Interview with the president of ARCAD, 29 March 2016.
40 Interview with the legal specialist at the CCIF in Lyon, 6 September 2016. Although CCIF was dissolved later on at the national level by the French government (on 2 December 2020) because it was said to promote Islamism (Le Monde, 31 December 2020, https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2020/12/31/dissolution-du-ccif-une-bataille-juridique-se-profile-contre-la-decision-du-gouvernement_6064873_3224.html, last accessed on 15 November 2021), it should be noted that by the time of the adoption of the plan, it was still considered a rather consensual initiative, better known for its call to reclaim Muslims’ belonging to the French nation (Nouvel Obs, 17 November 2016, https://www.nouvelobs.com/rue89/rue89-nos-vies-connectees/20121031.RUE3533/nous-aussi-sommes-la-nation-un-slogan-contre-l-islamophobie.html, last accessed on 22 March 2022).
41 Interview, 2 June 2017.
42 Interview with a regional administrative official in charge of antidiscrimination policy, 11 May 2017.