The ''Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples'' (MRAP; Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples) is an

anti-racist 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 ...

French

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

founded in 1949.

Origins and name changes

In 1941, the ''Mouvement national contre le racisme'' (MNCR, the "National Movement Against Racism") was created by several members of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

who believed that a specific struggle against

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 ...

was a crucial part of France's liberation from

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

. One of their primary goals was to save as many black children as possible from

deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

. The movement coordinated its actions with the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

and

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Two clandestine

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s, ''J'accuse'' in the North zone and ''Fraternité'' in the South zone, were established to counter the racist ideology of the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s and the

Vichy state Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a Spa town, spa and resort town and in World ...

. On May 22, 1949, several MNCR members, including the painter

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

and the

Social Catholic Catholic social teaching, commonly abbreviated CST, is an area of Catholic doctrine concerning matters of human dignity and the common good in society. The ideas address oppression, the role of the state (polity), state, subsidiarity, social o ...

leader

Marc Sangnier Marc Sangnier (; 3 April 1873, Paris – 28 May 1950, Paris) was a French Roman Catholic thinker and politician, who in 1894 founded ''Le Sillon'' ("The Furrow"), a social Catholic movement. Work Sangnier aimed to bring the Catholic Church in ...

, created the ''Mouvement contre le racisme, l'antisémitisme et pour la paix'' (Movement Against Racism, Anti-Semitism and for Peace). The group emphasized the role of anti-racism within their larger critique of

neo-nazism Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

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 ...

, and the larger

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. The group was renamed the ''Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l'Amitié entre les Peuples'' in 1972, the name it is still known as today.

Postwar activism

After WWII, the MRAP targeted its anti-racist activism to support anti-colonialism within the ongoing French wars of decolonization. They opposed the

Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

(1954–62) and were one of the few organizations to condemn the methods of the police prefect

Maurice Papon Maurice Papon (; 3 September 1910 – 17 February 2007) was a French civil servant who led the police in major prefectures from the 1930s to the 1960s, before he became a Gaullist politician. When he was secretary general for the police in B ...

and the

Paris massacre of 1961 The Paris massacre of 1961 occurred on 17 October 1961, during the Algerian War (1954–62). Under orders from the head of the Parisian police, Maurice Papon, the French National Police attacked a demonstration by 30,000 pro- National Liberation ...

. In 1951, the group advocated in support of sixteen accused

Martinican Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

sugar cane cutters during the unsolved French criminal case known as the Affaire des 16 de Basse Pointe. The MRAP also critiqued the nature of the French economy's dependence on

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

labor during the period of economic growth known as the ''

Trente Glorieuses ''Les Trente Glorieuses'' (; 'The Glorious Thirty') was a thirty-year period of economic growth in France between 1945 and 1975, following the end of the Second World War. The name was first used by the French demographer Jean Fourastié, who ...

'' (1945 to 1974). On January 6, 1956, at the

Hôtel Lutetia The Hôtel Lutetia, located at 45 Boulevard Raspail, in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, is one of the best-known hotels on the Left Bank. It is noted for its architecture and its historical role during the Ger ...

in Paris, the MRAP award was given to

Jules Isaac Jules Isaac (18 November 1877 in Rennes – 6 September 1963 in Aix-en-Provence) was "a well known and highly respected Jewish historian in France with an impressive career in the world of education" by the time World War II began. Internationally, ...

to recognize the “great impact” against antisemitism made by Isaac’s two books ''Jésus et Israël'' (''Jesus and Israel'') and ''Genèse de l'antisémitisme'' (''Genesis of Antisemitism''). The MRAP supported the Pleven Act of July 1, 1972, which condemns incitations to racial hate and permits anti-racist associations to depose court suits against those who commit such

hate speech Hate speech is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thoug ...

. The MRAP was also engaged in international issues. It was active against

apartheid in South Africa Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

and within the struggle against

racism in the United States Racism in the United States comprises negative attitudes and views on race or ethnicity which are related to each other, are held by various people and groups in the United States, and have been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices and ...

(in particular by defending

Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. New ...

member

Mumia Abu-Jamal Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook; April 24, 1954) is an American political activist and journalist who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. While on death r ...

Recent activities

Mouloud Aounit was its first general secretary (1989–2004), then president (2004–2008), then member of the presidential college (2008–2011) to not to belong to the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

(PCF). Despite dropping the term from its name in 1972, the MRAP continues to be engaged against

. They group also defends the rights of immigrants, Romani peoples, and other forms of racism. It is also engaged in actions against the right and

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 ...

. Currently, it concentrates its action against immigration-restricting laws and in favor of immigrants' rights, as well as denunciation of racism on the internet and against

historical revisionism In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of a historical account. It usually involves challenging the orthodox (established, accepted or traditional) views held by professional scholars about a historical event or times ...

(courtsuit deposed against

Bruno Gollnisch Bruno Gollnisch (; born 28 January 1950) is a French academic and politician, a member of the National Front (France), National Front (FN) History of far-right movements in France, far-right party. He was a member of the Member of the European ...

, member of the

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: ...

). In some cases, it has also criticized the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

, criticizing

Ségolène Royal Marie-Ségolène Royal (; born 22 September 1953) is a French politician who was the Socialist Party candidate for the Presidency of France in the 2007 election. Royal was president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council from 2004 to 2014 ...

, the Socialist contender for the

2007 presidential election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...

, when she released her program on security issues, stating that she was engaging in the "most dangerous kind of

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 ...

". The MRAP was engaged in the creation of the

alter-globalization Alter-globalization (also known as alternative globalization or alter-mundialization—from the French alter- mondialisation—and overlapping with the global justice movement) is a social movement whose proponents support global cooperation and ...

NGO

ATTAC The Association pour la Taxation des Transactions financières et pour l'Action Citoyenne (''Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions and Citizen's Action'', ATTAC) is an activist organisation originally created to promote the e ...

in 1998. Some argue that a dividing line has emerged between the anti-racist organizations in France with SOS Racisme and the LICRA on one side and the MRAP and the LDH on the other. The first two are characterized as reacting against racism and antisemitism (sometimes amalgamating antisemitism and anti-zionism) while the latter two broaden their goal to defend voting rights for foreign residents and opposing the ban of the Islamic headscarf in schools. In 2006, the MRAP came to the defense of two women wearing headscarves who were refused service at a bed and breakfast in

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

. The operator of the establishment,

Fanny Truchelut Yvette "Fanny" Truchelut is part owner of a bed-and-breakfast type of hostel in the department of Vosges, France. On August 11, 2006, Truchelut asked two female Muslim boarders to remove their headscarves in the public rooms of this hostel. A lawsu ...

, was successfully sued for the refusal to provide a good or a service based on personal discrimination.

Opposition to genetic studies

The organization has voiced opposition to

genetic studies Genetic analysis is the overall process of studying and researching in fields of science that involve genetics and molecular biology. There are a number of applications that are developed from this research, and these are also considered parts of ...

being carried out in France, following advances in science and the discovery of DNA which now allows scientists to identify which

Y-haplogroup In human genetics, a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup is a haplogroup defined by mutations in the non- recombining portions of DNA from the male-specific Y chromosome (called Y-DNA). Many people within a haplogroup share similar numbers of ...

a person or group belongs to. In the summer of 2015, a group of British scientists from the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

wished to study the DNA of around a hundred local volunteers from the

Cotentin Peninsula The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; nrf, Cotentîn ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its w ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, to find out “the intensity of the Scandinavian colonisation” from the 9th century

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

invasions. Despite the French state agreeing to this, MRAP and local member Jacques Declosmenil attempted to obstruct the scientific study, saying that the scientific results "will build on the idea that there are real

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...

and fake Normans."

Image gallery

File:Mrapcrea1.png, Opening gala for the first MRAP Congress (1949). File:Palantcharles.png, Charles Palant (1949), former chairman of the Youth committee of

LICRA The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism—or Ligue internationale contre le racisme et l'antisémitisme (LICRA) in French—was established in 1927, and is opposed to intolerance, xenophobia and exclusion. In 1927, French journ ...

, who became one of the founders of MRAP in 1949, and its General Secretary from 1950 to 1971. File:MRAPdroit&liberte.png, On September 19, 1949, the newspaper ''Droit et Liberté'' (Right and Freedom) becomes the propaganda organ of MRAP.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mrap (Ngo) Anti-racism in France Anti-racist organizations in Europe Human rights organizations based in France Non-profit organizations based in France Far-left politics in France Organizations established in 1949 French Communist Party Immigrant rights organizations