I've been thinking over the Kakar readings lately, and the readings on the "New Hindu Identity" really had a lot of strong parallels to the recent French debates on national identity. National identity has been a hot conversation topic in France over the past few years, and in 2009 the Minister of Culture announced the "Grand débat sur l’identité nationale"/Great Debate on National Identity. While the implementation of this national debate was a little stilted and forced, the topic of national identity was all over the news and many strong opinions were presented on the subject. The main question here was "What does it mean to be French?"
You would think that would be a simple question to answer.
But no. It was actually a highly controversial debate. Setting aside the frustrations of the many Frenchmen who were convinced the debate was designed only to make the government look good before elections, the debate also touched right on the hot-button issues of immigration and "communitarianism." After WWII, France needed workers to reconstruct their ravaged country, and turned to their North African colonies for manpower. Eventually the workers were allowed to bring their families and settle down. These families of North African origin are now in their second, third, or even fourth generation in France, yet many of them are not fully integrated into society (because of problems of high unemployment, poor housing, etc). For some, even though these children of immigrants were born and educated in France, they are not "truly" French.
Enter the Front National. This extreme right-wing political group, founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen and currently headed by his daughter Marine Le Pen, is most famous for its views on immigration. The party calls for a complete halt to immigration, in particular from Muslim countries. Until rather recently, the party leaders demanded the "humane and dignified" repatriation of all legal immigrants in France. Now they only ask for the repatriation of all illegal, criminal, and/or unemployed immigrants...
For the Front National, there is a big difference between these children of North African immigrants (often called "beurs") and the "indigenous" French, or "Francais de souche" (literally "French from the stump/roots"). Overlooking the fact that almost everyone in France has an "immigrant" somewhere in their background and the France itself was formed by waves of invasions and different tribes, the Front National has created a shimmering history for itself of national purity and the pristine values of the Republic. FN followers panic that polls show that by 2060, "Francais de souche" will be the minority in France, because the North Africans "breed like animals" and will crush the secular French society with their "radical Islam."
As in the case of the New Hindu Identity movements, here we see another case of the majority group in power feeling threatened and victimized by the minority. By creating an image of the pure, perfect France (led by Joan of Arc, no less..), they split off everything that is dirty, dangerous and animal-like onto the French of North African origin. The Front National has not been responsible for any violence, but recognizing these same characteristics of splitting and "narcissistic rage" makes me worry.
This thought is so true of what is going on in Europe, and especially part of the Breivik bombings this summer. The notion of a exclusive nationality, as some are portraying, goes down to the problem of identity. If the very traditional characteristics of an identity is threatened, is it the same identity at all?
ReplyDeleteThis also goes to show that just because your born and raised in a nation-state, the idea of being that nationality doesn't always follow. Its an exclusivity of the nation-state identity compounded with globalization.