Pierre-André Taguieff (born 4 August 1946) is a French philosopher who has specialised in the study of

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 ...

and

antisemitism 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 ...

. He is the director of research at the

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

in an

Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , accreditation ...

laboratory, the Centre for Political Research (). He is also a member of the

Cercle de l'Oratoire The ''Cercle de l'Oratoire'' ( French for "Circle of the Oratory") is a French think tank created a short time after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Since 2006, it edits a journal, ''Le Meilleur des mondes''. The Circle is led by the journalist Mi ...

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

. Taguieff is the author of a number of books and papers on

and

, including ''The Force of Prejudice: On Racism and Its Doubles'' (2001) and ''Rising from the Muck: The New Antisemitism in Europe'' (2004). He is known in particular for his studies on the French National Front and

populism Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...

Beliefs and works

On racism

In ''La Force du préjugé – essai sur le racisme et ses doubles'' (1987), Taguieff analyzed several different types of racism: * The first type of racism is against

miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...

, in favor of

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

, and wants to preserve differences between various alleged races. 19th century

racialism Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism (racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies can be more ...

theories, such as

Arthur de Gobineau Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (; 14 July 1816 – 13 October 1882) was a French aristocrat who is best known for helping to legitimise racism by the use of scientific racist theory and "racial demography", and for developing the theory of the Ary ...

's ''

An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races ''Essai sur l'inégalité des races humaines'' (Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races, 1853–1855) is a racist and pseudoscientific work of French writer Joseph Arthur, Comte de Gobineau, which argues that there are intellectual differ ...

'' (1853–55), are an example of this type of racism, which pretends to be founded on science and on the existence of biological human races. In other words, this pseudo-scientific racism mistakes differences in the amount of

melanin Melanin (; from el, μέλας, melas, black, dark) is a broad term for a group of natural pigments found in most organisms. Eumelanin is produced through a multistage chemical process known as melanogenesis, where the oxidation of the amino ...

(which determines

skin color Human skin color ranges from the darkest brown to the lightest hues. Differences in skin color among individuals is caused by variation in pigmentation, which is the result of genetics (inherited from one's biological parents and or individu ...

) for racial differences. * The second type is insidiously hosted by the Enlightenment philosophy of

universalism Universalism is the philosophical and theological concept that some ideas have universal application or applicability. A belief in one fundamental truth is another important tenet in universalism. The living truth is seen as more far-reaching th ...

: its dream of unity of mankind may bring it, in specific and extreme cases, to the will to annihilate all cultural differences, amounting to effective

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

ethnocide Ethnocide is the extermination of cultures. Reviewing the legal and the academic history of the usage of the terms genocide and ethnocide, Bartolomé Clavero differentiates them by stating that "Genocide kills people while ethnocide kills social ...

s. Taguieff's point is not in declaring that the Enlightenment philosophy is racist in itself, but extreme forms of this will of universality may lead, in practice, to the destruction of the plurality of cultures and to the rejection of even moderate forms of

multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...

. * The third and more recent type has integrated the cultural relativists' attacks against racism. This new form of racism has reversed the famous anti-racist arguments of

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss (, ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair of Social Anthro ...

. According to Lévi-Strauss, different cultures are incommensurable, and, because of this, each one thinks progress and superiority is on its side - Lévi-Strauss, in his 1952 essay for the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

, used the famous metaphor of two trains crossing each other's path: each one thinks he is going the right way, while the other seems not to move or to move backward. Because of this,

ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology—as well as in colloquial English discourse—means to apply one's own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead of ...

is a necessary optical illusion, which in turn racist

discourse Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. ...

uses to justify itself. Taguieff was himself accused of racism on several occasions, for instance when he praised

Oriana Fallaci Oriana Fallaci (; 29 June 1929 – 15 September 2006) was an Italian journalist and author. A partisan during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career. Fallaci became famous worldwide for her coverage of war and revolution, ...

's book '' The Rage and the Pride''. He was also criticized for his contribution to the controversial website ''Dreuz info'', which French newspaper ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' described as ultra zionist and islamophobic.

On the Nouvelle Droite's discourse

According to Taguieff, racist discourse, such as that supported by

Alain de Benoist Alain de Benoist (; ; born 11 December 1943) – also known as Fabrice Laroche, Robert de Herte, David Barney, and other pen names – is a French journalist and political philosopher, a founding member of the Nouvelle Droite ("New Right"), and ...

's ''

Nouvelle Droite The Nouvelle Droite (; en, "New Right"), sometimes shortened to the initialism ND, is a far-right political movement which emerged in France during the late 1960s. The Nouvelle Droite is at the origin of the wider European New Right (ENR). Vario ...

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

movement, has accepted the theories of cultural relativism and the non-existence of biological race. Claiming to uphold cultural relativism and thus antiracism, this new racist discourse in fact reiterates the strict distinction of various

ethnic groups An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

and segregation between them. Since it argues that "ethnic groups" exist but are not biological races, it claims not to be racist. However, apart from the pseudo-scientific racist theories of the 19th century, it espouses an anti-

assimilationist Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or assume the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group whether fully or partially. The different types of cultural assi ...

point of view in completely rejecting the notion of a social

melting pot The melting pot is a monocultural metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" with a common culture; an alternative being a homogeneous society becoming more heterogeneous throug ...

. Arguing that the Enlightenment's philosophy of universality, taken to extremes, is a form of racism, it pretends to be antiracist by preaching strict separation of ethnic groups. However, if the critics of "universal racism" are correct, it is clear that this new form of racism is descended in a direct line from the old discourse of separation between different supposed races.

About antisemitism and ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion''

Taguieff is also very interested in the work of

Leon Poliakov Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

and

Norman Cohn Norman Rufus Colin Cohn FBA (12 January 1915 – 31 July 2007) was a British academic, historian and writer who spent 14 years as a professorial fellow and as Astor-Wolfson Professor at the University of Sussex. Life Cohn was born in London, to ...

and has worked a great deal on the antisemitic forgery ''

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...

''. Today he works on

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

, the future of the

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

, and the concept of

progress Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension wi ...

. Pierre-André Taguieff's denunciation of

and of the instrumentalisation of

anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestin ...

by specific ultra-minority groups has caused controversy, his opponents claiming that he was identifying anti-Zionism with antisemitism. However, Pierre-André Taguieff is a staunch opponent of any form of

communitarianism Communitarianism is a philosophy that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. Its overriding philosophy is based upon the belief that a person's social identity and personality are largely molded by community relati ...

whatsoever. As such, he does not claim that anti-Zionism is necessarily antisemitism, but simply that in some Islamist circles, explicit anti-Zionism may dissimulate implicit antisemitism, in the pure tradition of the European history of antisemitism. Despite its contrast to conservatism (he is a former

situationist The Situationist International (SI) was an Proletarian internationalism, international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and Political philosophy, political theorists. It was prominent in Eu ...

close to

René Viénet René Viénet (born 6 February 1944, in Le Havre) is a French sinologist who is famous as a situationist writer and filmmaker. Viénet used the situationist technique of détournement — the diversion of already existing cultural elements to ne ...

), Pierre-André Taguieff wrote ''Les Contre-réactionnaires'' in 2007, in which he opposed both

antiracism Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...

and

antifascism Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers wer ...

. He considers them as ideologies which are instrumentalized by

far-left Far-left politics, also known as the radical left or the extreme left, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single definition. Some scholars consider ...

groups "aiming to regularize as many illegal immigrants as possible without any regulation".

Bibliography

* ''Racismes, antiracismes'' (edited by André Béjin, Julien Freund ; with

et al.), 1986 * ''La Force du préjugé. Essai sur le racisme et ses doubles'', Paris, La Découverte, "Armillaire", 1988 ; rééd. Gallimard, "Tel", 1990. :*''The force of prejudice: on racism and its doubles''. University of Minnesota Press, 2001. , * ''The New Cultural Racism in France''
''Telos''
83 (Spring 1990). New York: Telos Press. * (dir.), ''Face au racisme'', t. 1, ''Les moyens d'agir'' ; t. 2, ''Analyses, hypothèses, perspectives'', Paris, La Découverte, "Cahiers libres, essais", 1991 ; rééd. Paris, Seuil, "Points essais", 2 t., 1993. * (co-directed with Gil Delannoi), ''Théories du nationalisme'', Paris, Kimé, "Histoire des idées, théorie politique et recherches en sciences sociales", 1991. * (dir. and ed.), '' Les Protocoles des sages de Sion. Faux et usages d'un faux'', t. I, ''Introduction à l'étude des "Protocoles" : un faux et ses usages dans le siècle'', t. II, ''Études et documents'', Paris, Berg International, "Faits et représentations", 1992 ; new edition, Berg International et Fayard, 2004. * ''Sur la Nouvelle Droite. Jalons d'une analyse critique'', Paris, Galilée, "Descartes et Cie", 1994. * ''Les Fins de l’antiracisme'', Paris, Michalon, 1995. * ''La République menacée. Entretien avec Philippe Petit'', Paris, Textuel, "Conversations pour demain", 1996. * ''Le Racisme. Un exposé pour comprendre, un essai pour réfléchir '', Paris, Flammarion, "Dominos", 1998. * (with Michèle Tribalat), ''Face au

Front national The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: ...

. Arguments pour une contre-offensive'', Paris, La Découverte, 1998. * ''La Couleur et le sang : doctrines racistes à la française'', Paris, Mille et une Nuits, "Les petits libres", 1998 ; new edition, coll. "Essai Mille et une Nuits", 2002. * (with Grégoire Kauffmann and Michaël Lenoire, dir.), ''L'Antisémitisme de plume (1940–1944). La propagande antisémite en France sous l'Occupation. Études et documents'', Paris, Berg International, "Pensée politique et sciences", 1999. * ''L’Effacement de l’avenir'', Paris, Galilée, "Débats", 2000. * ''Résister au bougisme. Démocratie forte contre mondialisation techno-marchande'', Paris, Mille et une Nuits, "Essai", 2001. * (co-directed with Gil Delannoi), ''Nationalismes en perspective'', Paris, Berg International, "Pensée politique et sciences sociales", 2001. * ''Du Progrès. Biographie d’une utopie moderne'', Paris, EJL, "Librio", 2001. * ''La Nouvelle judéophobie'', Paris, Mille et une Nuits, "Essai", 2002. :*''Rising from the muck: The New anti-Semitisme in Europe''. Ivan R. Dee, 2004. * ''L'Illusion populiste : de l'archaïque au médiatique'', Paris, Berg International, "Pensée politique et sciences sociales", 2002 ; new edition : ''L'Illusion populiste. Essais sur les démagogies de l'âge démocratique'', Paris, Flammarion, "Champs", 2007. * (dir.), ''Le Retour du populisme. Un défi pour les démocraties européennes'', Paris, Encyclopedia Universalis, "Le tour du sujet", 2004. * ''Le Sens du progrès. Une approche historique et philosophique'', Paris, Flammarion, "Champs", 2004 ; 2006. :*"Does progress have a future?", A conversation with Pierre-André Taguieff, in ''Queen's Quarterly'', December 22, #111, 2004. * ''Prêcheurs de haine. Traversée de la judéophobie planétaire'', Paris, Mille et une Nuits, "Essai", 2004. * ''L'Illusion antifasciste. La Gauche et le Terrorisme intellectuel à la française'', Paris, Mille et une Nuits, 2004 (articles). * ''La République enlisée. Pluralisme, communautarisme et citoyenneté'', Paris Éditions des Syrtes, 2005. * ''La Foire aux illuminés. Ésotérisme, théorie du complot, extrêmisme'', Paris, Mille et une nuits, 2005. * ''L'Imaginaire du complot mondial. Aspects d'un mythe moderne'', Paris, Mille et une nuits, 2007. * ''Les Contre-réactionnaires. Le progressisme entre illusion et imposture'', Paris, Denoël, 2007. * ''Julien Freund, au cœur du politique'', La Table ronde, Paris, 2008.

Notes

External links

Pierre-André Taguieff on the new "anti-Zionism"

* [http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/france_159/label-france_2554/label-france-issues_2555/label-france-no.-38_4204/feature-together-into-the-21st-century_4285/campaigning_4294/rethinking-anti-racism_6609.html Rethinking anti-Racism by Pierre-André Taguieff]
"The Illuminati fair: Esotericism, Plot Theory, Extremism"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taguieff, Pierre-Andre 1946 births Living people Writers from Paris Sciences Po alumni French people of Russian descent French people of Polish descent French political scientists Social philosophers 20th-century French philosophers 21st-century French philosophers Protocols of the Elders of Zion Populism scholars 20th-century French essayists 21st-century French essayists School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences faculty Academics and writers on far-right extremism French National Centre for Scientific Research scientists