While all communities in the United States have demonstrated massively since the death of George Floyd, the tribute and the call for justice for Adama Traore on Wednesday brought together several thousand people in Paris and other major cities of France, where the transposition of the American movement “Black Lives Matter” has so far struggled to win
"I believe that the situation of our two countries is not quite comparable, neither in terms of history, nor in terms of the organization of society", declared, Wednesday, June 3, the door - speech of the French government, Sibeth Ndiaye. The latter therefore called for caution in the face of the comparison made between police violence in the United States and in France, the day after the rally for Adama Traoré which mobilized some 20 people in Paris and in other areas. cities of France, echoing the anti-racist demonstrations that have shaken the United States since the death of George Floyd.
Across the Atlantic, “Black Lives Matter” (“Black Lives Matter”), rallying cry of anti-racist youth, has been anchored in American society since 2013. Born on Twitter after the acquittal of George Zimmerman who had killed the black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, the movement is mobilizing against individual and institutional violence and racism against African Americans in the United States. Since then, the hashtag is omnipresent on social networks, and the slogan, picked up by a number of artists who have become spokespersons in the fight against racist violence.
Massively shared on the Internet, and just as massively displayed in the street, Tuesday, on the occasion of the rally for Adama Traoré, the slogan has, so far, not yet federated in the same way in France, even after death of the young man during his arrest, in July 2016.
The tradition is less old than in the United States
“There is an older historical tradition in the United States of protest against racism”, analyzes Carole Reynaud-Paligot, historian and sociologist. “There is a memory of these protests that took shape at the time of the fight against racial segregation, in the 1960s,” she continues, adding that these protest movements have been remembered thanks to figures emblematic - like that of Martin Luther King - still extremely present in the imagination of Americans. “Its model took root during this fight against racial segregation, whereas we do not have this tradition or this model in France”.
In France, the first nationwide rally against racism, called “Marche des Beurs”, took place in 1983. That year in France was marked by clashes between the police and police officers. young people from the Minguettes district, in Vénissieux (Rhône), but also by several racist incidents, the most famous of which is the murder of an Algerian in the Bordeaux-Vintimille train, in full march against racism.
Since then, several protest movements have taken place. In October 2005, riots broke out in the French suburbs following the death of Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré, two teenagers electrocuted in an EDF transformer, in Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), while they were trying to get out of control. A few days later, the dispatch of a tear gas grenade at the entrance to the city's mosque by the police, victims of projectile fire, further intensified the riots, which, then extended to the whole of the department, lead the government to declare a state of emergency.
“There have been very localized protests which, until now have had difficulty in becoming widespread,” underlines Carole Reynaud-Paligot, who was also co-scientific curator of the exhibition “We and the Others - Des prejudices at racism ”, at the Museum of Man, in Paris in 2017-2018.
After “the Zyed and Bouna affair”, other miscellaneous facts have nevertheless marked France including, recently, the “Adama Traoré affair”, in 2016, and “Theo affair”, in 2017. These last provoked anger, leading to widespread protest movements, without instilling an anti-racist wave in France.
The slogans “Black Lives Matter” have certainly been repeated here and there, during marches in support of Adama Traoré's family, or in demonstrations against police violence following the Theo affair, but nothing since the “Marche des Beurs” did not look like a global, multicultural movement, organized beyond political divisions.
“The tradition is less old than in the United States”, insists Carole Reynaud-Paligot. “Yesterday's gathering took place on a larger scale, so it's probably the start of a more general mobilization”, she continues, estimating that it will probably take more time to see the whole. of the population to mobilize.
Adama Traoré, 24, died after his arrest in Beaumont-sur-Oise (Val-d'Oise), in July 2016.
Something is starting
Taking the example of “Black Lives Matter” and the rally for Adama Traoré on Tuesday, the historian, a teacher at the University of Burgundy, also adds that these movements can only gain momentum if other actors social commitments. Social actors, including the media, intellectuals "who are few in number to have mobilized and to have carried this cause in France", but also politicians.
“I replace all this in the general analyzes that I have been able to do since this exhibition at the Musée de l'Homme”, she continues, insisting on the importance of putting the events in their context and of observing the role of the actors. social as spokespersons helping mobilization. According to Carole Reynaud-Paligot, the role of politics is eminently important and helps explain the different levels of mobilization in France and the United States. "If the indignation is so strong in the United States, it is also because of the positions of the American president which are inconceivable in a democracy", she believes, noting that "the more the provocation of the president is strong, the more the answer is that of indignation and anger ”.
In France, “we are not up to the task either, but the situation is different”, explains the historian. “We probably do not have the exemplary attitude, because we need a greater mobilization of politicians and a greater commitment to the fight against racism, but we are not in positions as scandalous as those of the current President of the United States ”.
However, Carole Reynaud-Paligot considers that the mobilization is quite insufficient, although France legislated in 1972 by creating, via the Pleven law, the specific offenses of insult, defamation of a racist nature, but also provocation discrimination, hatred or racial violence. “All this remains timid,” says the historian.
Regarding a national mobilization against racism, and the advent of a French-style “Black Lives Matter”, the historian and sociologist nevertheless believes that “something is being started”, reinforced by the “indisputable” role of social networks which make it possible to federate on a larger scale, and all social classes combined.
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