Racism in France, are we exempt?

[SaligoBay]

Sorry, but racism is front-page news in France just now, with that woman (allegedly?) getting swastikas drawn on her by a gang of French yoofs because they thought she was Jewish.

M. Chirac has spoken out about the "despicable and odious acts of hatred soiling our nation". He said that all kinds of racism are spreading insidiously in France. In the last few months there have been a number of attacks on Muslim and Jewish cemeteries around the country, the odd school has been set fire to, and so on.

As we've seen in other threads, "les anglais" in France are also a hot topic here right now. Is this a coincidence? We tend to look at les anglais in isolation, as if we're the only people who come to France, and we spend a lot of time navel-gazing about integration and holiday homes. But we're not the only ones!

So, are we safe from this kind of racism because we're European and we generally bring money to the country, or do we risk getting lumped together with all the other "foreigners"?

What do you think?

[Will]

We find in Normandy that memories are long, and even when it's not the 60th anniversary of debarquement that British and Americans are generally liked, though 'tolerated' can be nearer the truth in some heavily-settled areas. We may not be Normans, but we are thought to be more acceptable than Germans or Parisians .

Further south though I think we are regarded in much the same light as other Europeans.

At the risk of getting even more flak about generalising and daring to complain about France in any way, I do feel that the French are a pretty xenophobic nation and if we give them anything to moan about they will do so. National stereotyping seems to be typically French trait, we often hear that Germans and Dutch arrive in motor homes full of their own food and contribute nothing to the local economy. In the case of Arabs, French xenophobia crosses the boundary to the sort of out and out racism that would never be tolerated in politically correct Britain. Other minorities like gypsies seem to attract a lot of mistrust. I'm surprised that there is significant anti-Jewish feeling though, unless it originates from the Arab communities.

Will (50)
Forum moderator

[Val_2]

Racism is alive and well in Brittany especially amongst the population from about 35 year and into old age. Youngsters are the most tolerant and mix well at school here with kids from african,arab and eastern european states who have come here to live,BUT I do know a few who have been brainwashed by racist parents who do like to use cruel words and torment those in the minority. My son has been tormented by the son of the mayor from a neighbouring village since they started collge together and who is a bad lot anyway,but the boot is now firmly on the other foot as he has started to ask our boy to help him with his hard english homework at Lyce when all he did before was call our boy all the names under the sun which hurt.Guess what my son told him to do!!
We fell out with a chap who worked for us for five years and in that time he was never racist towards us,but because he left of his own accord he started to get abusive towards us but then that the was the alcohol talking and the jealousy setting in because he was and still is causing mayhem with his family life.

[Merteuil2]

Radio news today says that she's apparently a known "mythomane", so they're now treating her story with a large pinch of salt.

Unlike the policeman in the place whose name I didn't catch, who's now under fire for using undue force with a man who was illegally parked. But after just looking for a parking space, and seeing the last 2 parking spaces taken up by one huge 4-wheel drive, I think I'm on his side (if it's true, of course).

[Existential2]

SaligoBay

Interesting question you put !

One thought : a number of times recently, when being grilled by some gite guest/house hunter about why I left UK, it's not taken them long to tell us about how they hate "the way England's going" ... and it's become fairly obvious that one reason they want to move to rural France is to avoid having to see black people on the street.

My guess (borne out by some experience) is that they are not alone, and that a number of Brit ex-pats in France have moved to rural France for (literally) reactionary reasons to get away from social progress (such as it is) in the UK.

I just hope that our French neighbours don't tar us all with the same brush when they come across/against these racist Brits !!

Ironically, our area of rural France is refreshingly cosmopolitan and accepting - as a number of our black guests have attested. So maybe the racist Brits will just have to move on to the Costas next ?

Best wishes


Jean-Paul