In France everyone is equal. Unless you are insufficiently white or do not have a nice French name. In these cases you remain equal, but less so. Miserably less so.

Which had us reading the recent report by COE Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles.

REPORT ON THE EFFECTIVE RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN FRANCE
Strasbourg: CommDH(2006)2, 02.15.06

VIII.1.a.303. 2004 saw an unparalleled increase in acts of racism...

VIII.1.b.309. All the studies carried out and the action taken show that 50% of instances of discrimination concern access to employment, next come obstacles to the acquisition of housing, services and leisure activities. In general, French nationals of foreign origin, or who have foreign-sounding names, and foreigners are the main victims of discrimination. ...

VIII.1.b.312. All the people I spoke to claimed that discrimination was commonplace in all walks of life. It was a result of racism or more simply of ignorance. ...

VIII.1.b.316. Lastly, all the figures show that people of foreign origin are greatly discriminated against in being offered employment. A recent INED survey revealed that where they have identical qualifications, they are 1.5 or 2 times more likely to be unemployed than “natives” . The authors of the survey report claim that this likelihood of being unemployed is an effect of discrimination, also reflected in the type of job carried out. The majority of French nationals of foreign origin or foreigners in France have underqualified jobs, or are in insecure employment. This particularly applies to young people under the age of 25, with men generally being in a slightly better position than women, who have to cope with the two-fold stigma of being a woman and an immigrant.

(We have posted on other aspects of the COE report here.)

Many of our French correspondents take exception to the facts and plead racism is so much worse everywhere else (eu, say, America for example). No matter how flawed, France is the least flawed. Facts, reports, history, 3 weeks of minorities rioting, a 17.79% French xenophobic cringe -- none of these perturb the placid and fond notions of these French correspondents.

Denying manifest racism is not itself racist, it is perversely dishonest. What recourse is left but to break this dishonesty on the litigious rack of the law. [Hat tip: Andy]

FRENCH DISCRIMINATION SUIT CALLS ÉGALITÉ INTO QUESTION
Temp Agency Accused Of Rating Workers By Race For Clients

PARIS January 15, 2006 (WT) - As a 24-year-old intern in a Paris office of Adecco, one of the world's largest hiring agencies for temporaries, Gerald Roffat interviewed dozens of job applicants in 2000. He rated them according to skills -- PR1 for the best candidates -- and by skin color. PR4 was primarily for black job seekers. ...

Adecco, which is based in Zurich, with 1,100 offices in France and more than 5,000 in the United States and other countries, is now the target of a French discrimination complaint alleging that it violated the rights of at least 1,500 applicants by denying them jobs based on the color of their skin.

Tristan d'Avezac, a spokesman for Adecco, declined to comment on specifics of the complaint, citing a continuing investigation. But he said that in 2000 the company imposed a policy aimed at ending racial discrimination in its operations. "Discrimination is a reality in the labor market in France," d'Avezac said. "It is clearly the reason why we have this action plan." ...

"The official position of France is that we're all equal," said Jean-Pierre Dubois, president of the French Human Rights League [Ligue des Droits de l'Homme française, LDH]. "The problem is that it's not true. French businesses and the French people are not yet used to diversity."

Human rights organizations allege that some laws -- intended to be so racially blind that private companies are prohibited from collecting statistics on numbers of minority employees -- are used routinely to conceal poor hiring records and protect companies that discriminate. ...

HOW ADECCO PLIED RACE-BASED DISCRIMINATION

After candidates completed applications, the forms were marked with the notation "BBR" or "NBBR," according to Roffat, SOS Racisme, documents and witnesses interviewed by police and labor investigators during the five-year probe.

BBR, shorthand for " bleu , blanc , rou ge ," or "blue, white, red" -- the colors of the French flag -- identified white candidates, said Samuel Thomas, vice president of SOS Racism. NBBR meant "no blue, white, red," and denoted black and other nonwhite candidates, Thomas said.

When the candidates' names were entered into computer databases, the BBR and NBBR were replaced with the categories PR1 for the best candidates (most candidates in this category were white), PR2 for average applicants or PR4, primarily for black candidates, though a few union activists and other people deemed potentially undesirable were included, according to documents and witnesses. Thomas said about 95 percent of those assigned to the PR4 category were black. No PR3 category existed.

"We identified 50 big companies that gave orders to discriminate," Thomas said.

Roffat said the Foreign Ministry was one of the government agencies that refused to accept black workers at some of its diplomatic events. Roffat said an Adecco colleague told him that ministry officials didn't want to offend visiting African diplomats by having black Africans serving as waiters.

"I don't know why they're making these allegations," said a ministry spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, following ministry policy.

[All emphases added.]

PFFT (What is this?): Empty Republican values 5 | Rayonnement français 0

This is ridiculous. Immigrants in France benefit from incredible advantages that drive a lot of people in the country often illegally : near-zero cost housing, free education, free health care, etc.

Behind this campaign against alleged discrimination is Political Correctness : it is sooooo easy accusing French people of being racist instead of acknowledging the dirty truth : lack of respect for France and lack of education and values is the key to lack of integration. Then how do you explain why asian immigrants strive soooo well while other lack behind and, guess what, point fingers ...

Anglo-saxon media got it 100% wrong explaining riots were a result of discrimination. This is ignorance and ideology : most rioters we're young people not even yet in the job market.

Let's prove the British integration model works better than France's. This is NOT so evident to me, at all ...

M. le Conservateur,

First, there is truth in what you say. But let us point out a few more truths:

1. It is not the Anglo-Saxon media that has produced the reports of the COE or Amnesty International. Nor did Anglo-Saxons author this report by French humanitarian and Goncourt prizewinner, Jean-Christophe Rufin.

2. If it is "lack of respect for France and lack of education and [Republican] values", then it is France who has tolerated such situations. For years allowing Zones De Non Droit in major urban areas has been a manifest lack of respect for French law by French authorities. If the Frenchest of the French are ready to let French law slide, why the surprise that alienated minorities are ready to take advantage?

3. France promoted immigration in good times to shore up her shrinking native labor pool. When her economy choked, she simply warehoused this now excess labor in the banlieues.

4. As this post points out, the rioting "young people not even yet in the job market" were not in the job market because of systemic discrimination. Had they all been employed they might have been too busy or contented to riot. But France has no jobs, and most especially she has no jobs for the maghrébins.

5. The French Chinese community is not well-woven into the French social/cultural fabric. Yet they do prosper. This is because Chinese immigrants bring with them a culture of social order, community self-reliance, entrepreneurism, and hard work.

6. Finally how better or flawed the British integration model doesn't change the situation in France where clearly integration has failed. Utterly. Government give-aways have not integrated immigrants. They have created a generation of unemployable pissed-off riot-ready Arabs, blacks, and Muslims all with a sense of privilege.

Many French, like yourself, think the government has done its part. They, like you, are shocked by what is seen as the ingratitude of immigrant beneficiaries. Sadly, we think they, like you, are in for more shocks until they, like you, realize your problems in France are something besides the Anglo-Saxon media.

Regards,
DGB

French businesses and the French people are not yet used to diversity."

Yes and apparently not only in France...

Many of our French correspondents take exception to the facts and plead racism is so much worse everywhere else (eu, say, America for example). No matter how flawed, France is the least flawed.

Ummm, who would do that? Do you mean like the post above? :)

Well, there was an interesting commentary about the “Moroccan youths seeking work in France” here.

Seems that a Moroccan leader is wanting aging Frenchmen to move to Morocco. You see, then Moroccan nurses and janitors, etc. would not have to move to France to take care of them. Among other ideas….

Evidently, this is what many Americans are doing in Mexico…

----
Sorry, I've been away lately and this is from a thread earlier about Hamas and Russia and France approval of the talks. But I found these articles interesting and did not get a chance to post them in that thread.

Editoral here in Washington Post, about Hamas/Russisa France approval of talks:
here

The commentary was not liked by Jean-David Levitte (Ambassador Embassy of France here in DC) who wrote this letter published in WaPost:
here

WaPo responds
here

Still, things do seem a tiny bit muddled at the Quai d'Orsay… they say.

Bonjour,

Rappelons à messieurs les donneurs de leçon américains leur très proche passé de RACISTES:

1949:Gaston Monerville QUATRIEME personnage de l 'Etat en France est un visite aux USA.Monsieur Monerville s'apprête à rentrer dans un grand hôtel de Washington…oui…mais monsieur Monerville est Noir et monsieur Monerville ,QUATRIEME personnage de l 'Etat en France est refoulé de son hôtel comme un gangster par les racistes yankees…

Et les USA donnent au Monde entier des leçons de morale antiracistes en 2006….
Un peu de pudeur messieurs les Yankees ,souvenez-vous de votre proche passé !!

Good luck for your country in Irak !!!

The same thing happened to Josephine Baker 6 years later in New York, forced to enter through the hotel kitchen even though she made more money in a concert than the entire hotel staff. She was called a "communist" by a well-known journalist after she complained about the incident.

p.s.Thanks for the links, andy.

1949. 1954. Yes, well, France was busy practicing Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité in Algiers and elsewhere back then.

While MM. AY/AB et Zmx pull out these chestnuts, the COE, Amnesty International, and French humanitarians write reports on contemporary and pernicious French racism. (The topic of this very post.) The Indian courts rule France in violation of her treaty obligations, contriving to rid herself of toxic waste on the cheap at the mortal expense of India's poor.

And those rioting "youths" celebrating their sense of equality and their enjoyment of Republican values, ah, when was that? 1949? 1954? Oh. No, 2005.

Then there is the bottom-up French racism of the Zones de Non Droit, a by-product of the usual top-down French racism.

M. Zmx pronounces those who advance the unpleasant facts of contemporary France as holier-than-thou. This is the whole of his rebuttal demonstrating the full powers of his wit. Wisely he has hiked his nose into the stratosphere therein to escape the heady and noisome stink of his own sanctimony.

Oh, M. AB/AY, it's Gaston Monnerville, not "Monerville" as you have misspelled it. Please show some respect for your French champion. And save your self-rigtheous apoplexy for your abandonned harkis. Or your warehoused blacks in the banlieues.

Good luck celebrating your glorious French colonial past.

DGB

Bonjour,

[humor]
Here is a little known fact: The limo driver, who drove M. Monnerville to the back door, was none other than Charles de Gaulle! Many people think that this incident is what started the “bad blood” between de Gaulle and Monnerville, which came to a head in the early 1960’s.
[/humor]

OK, M. ABAY, I don’t think you are getting a lesson in morals, but you must remember: This is a blog about FRANCE. Not about the US. So, if racism is discussed about FRANCE, the racial history of the US is not of much matter. We are given a certain “license” if you will because it is about France.

So, let us discuss racial issues and France.

Interesting that you bring up M. Monnerville, as I just recently finished reading a book on Charles de Gaulle. (DE GAULLE, the Ruler 1945-1970 by Jean Lacouture), and the sections that include M. Monnerville are quite interesting, to say the least.

Now, it is stated that after the end of WWII, in the process to “rebuild” its empire, France incorporated the French Caribbean as French departments. They also appointed our Gaston Monnerville (a black from Guyanese) as President of the Conseil de la Republique, as you remind us, and already know.

But there are some historians who say that these efforts were to be used as a symbol to give France a “good face” in post WWII colonial Africa. You see, the implication to Africa would be that if you also incorporate French culture, you would be granted the same privileges as the French, within the French Empire.

Also, M. Monnerville was not above “empire building”, as this quote extols: “Without an Empire France would only be a free country. Due to its Empire France is a victorious country” (spoken in 1945: boy, one could really dissect that quote and write an entire book about if the “Empire” really did determine the outcome of WWII….)

As a wrap up to this post I’m going to post from the book the writing about after the 1962 defeat of the Pompidou cabinet and the dissolving of the Assembly.
This conversation is between De Gaulle and Monnerville.

“According to the usher at the Elysée, there had never been a shorter meeting. De Gaulle was standing behind his desk. ”Monsieur le Président du Sénat," he began, "the Constitution places me under a duty to consult you. I am now doing so." "Monsieur le Président, I believe the dissolution to be necessary, but a new Prime Minister must be designated." "Monsieur le Président du Sénat, thank you."

Can’t you just feel the ice? Classic. Almost as good a put down as from Damian....

Bonjour,

Enfin c'est incroyable de se faire traiter de colonialistes par des yankees !
Mais ,Messieurs ,les USA sont une colonie encore aujourd'hui et vous êtes des colons !
Ce n'est pas parce que vous avez exterminé en grande partie les colonisés que vous n' êtes pas des colons !
Tiens, au fait les premiers habitants des ""USA"" étaient des ....Français.
Un documentaire vient de nous montrer que les premiers habitants (-18000 avant JC) des ""USA"" et donc les ancêtres des Indiens actuels étaient partis de France (région de Bayonne ou de Bordeaux).C'est la culture dite Clovis.
Honte aux assassins yankees de nos frères français indiens !

Good luck for """your""" country in Irak !

Dear Damian,

Frankly I don't care about anglo-saxon media. My favorite media is fox news chanel so you see my problem.
I don't say, you Brits also have integration problem so let's not criticize ours, either.

I just want to point and hammer the fact that the whole discrimination story is a fable invented by people who want exclusive privileges for their 'clients' or by people who want to prohibit us from criticizing immigrant behavior and lack of respect.

I don't care if people say I'm racist. Racist is the word one says when the brain produces no output. "Uhh ... I mean ... errrr... racist !!"
Being French is a matter of culture, as well as being English. People who don't love my country and culture will never be French, period. France existed before the republic, therefore French is not defined by a paper printed by the republic.

all the best,

et donc les ancêtres des Indiens actuels étaient partis de France

They are not the only ones who left France...
(thanks to Carine at E-nough for the link)

Racism is not always the same. Indeed, between US and France we can see this. In US, the racism is “biological racism”; black skin/white skin. In France I think we can see more of a “cultural racism” ( racisme differentialiste).

I could come up with no better example than that posted above:
Being French is a matter of culture, as well as being English. People who don't love my country and culture will never be French, period.

This is almost a textbook definition of cultural racism. The assumption is made that your culture is different from the culture of the minorities; however it is mostly done with the notion that your culture is superior. This superiority leads to “they do not understand our culture; that is why they are unemployed (or choose any other word and put here).

Of course, the knife cuts both ways. We in the west have many different elaborate “classifications” of what determines race. But the muslims have their divisionary qualification under a single category. As Bernard Lewis says, “The really significant division of mankind is between Muslims and unbelievers.”

I’m not sure that stopping biological racism or cultural racism will be of any help in assimilation of the Muslim’s when they have that philosophy….