Anti-Asian racism in France refers to discrimination that is faced by individuals of

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

descent in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

General

Anti-Asian

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

often consists of beliefs about people of

origin, which are often presented in a positive manner but contain hidden undertones of a negative nature: "They are cautious because they integrate without a fuss" versus "They are discreet because they are allies", "They do well" versus" "They act badly". According to Daniel Tran, of the Chinese Association of France, who was interviewed by France TV Info in January 2018, "There are many clichés circulating on Asian people, clichés specific to men and specific to women. The woman rather "nice, sweet and docile", who must say "yes" to everything. The man, also this cliché of "nice". There was an assault in August 2016 of a Chinese designer in Aubervilliers, Zhang Chaolin. Three attackers tried to steal his money, but he surrendered to his injuries.

Racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

caused the attack to be seen as less serious since it was trivialised. Gregory B. Lee of the Transtextual and Transcultural Studies Institute, speaking at a conference in Valencia at the Armenian Heritage Center in 2013, noted a deep ignorance of Asia and a social imaginary built from a few biased and stereotypical images (confusion between different Asian countries, "dog and cat eaters" and "invaders" about Chinese, etc.). Mai Lam Nguyen-Conan declared in January 2017 that anti-Asian racism "is finally quite close to

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. The idea is spread 'everywhere' while their logic is ultimately that of economic autonomy". Regarding attacks, "Only a very few complaints have been made to the court, because of a lack of knowledge about French law, the language barrier and a form of fatalism," said Mathilde Pinson. The victims accept the attacks and say that the authorities have better things to do.

History

Initial reactions

A Representative Council of Asian Associations of France is created in 2011. After the death of Zhang Chaolin, a 49-year-old

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

designer assaulted in August 2016 by three men, nearly 2,000 people of Chinese origin gathered in August 2016 in

Aubervilliers Aubervilliers () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, Île-de-France region, northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Albertivillariens'' or ''Albertivillariennes''. Geography Localisati ...

to protest. Their voices were also heard on social networks.

Incidents

* In June 2013, six Chinese students were assaulted in Hostens,

Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,62 ...

, and anti-Chinese racist insults were uttered against them. * On April 21, 2015, the spokesperson of the representative Council of Asian Associations of France alerted the media on "the outbreak of violence to which Asians are the target". He stated that Asians are particularly targeted "because they say they have money on them". * In 2016, the Chinese community of

is the victim of a large number of attacks. After further attacks, a protest was organized. From November 2015 to August 2016, more than 100 violent attacks were recorded in Aubervilliers. * On August 13, 2016, Chaolin Zhang died as a result of an assault. On August 21, 2016, a protest was organized by the Chinese community. * On 29 September 2016, three young people were assaulted and an attacker was released. It was the first time that an attacker was recognised by the Asian community. * In late May 2019, the Territorial Security Brigade of

Vitry-sur-Seine Vitry-sur-Seine () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. Name Vitry-sur-Seine was originally called simply Vitry. The name Vitry comes from Medieval Latin ''Vitriacum'', and before that ''Victoria ...

called for a witness to find the victims of a group of young

perpetrators In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp in dated U ...

of theft with violence who targeted mainly people from

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. * In July 2021, French football player Ousmane Dembélé was condemned as a racist, when video footage of him along with teammate Antoine Griezmann circulated online, in which he was seen making racial comments against the Japanese technicians in their hotel room. As the technicians appeared to be troubleshooting the room's television, Dembélé made comments towards Griezmann in French, stating "All these ugly faces, just so you can play ''

PES Pes (Latin for "foot") or the acronym PES may refer to: Pes * Pes (unit), a Roman unit of length measurement roughly corresponding with a foot * Pes or podatus, a * Pes (rural locality), several rural localities in Russia * Pes (river), a river ...

'', aren't you ashamed?", continuing with "What the fuckin language?" before zooming in while laughing on one of the technicians' faces, mentioning "Are you technologically advanced in your country or not?".

References

{{Portal bar, Society, France Anti-Asian sentiment in Europe Human rights abuses in France Racism in France Asian diaspora in France

General

History

Initial reactions

Incidents

See also

References