The word ''banlieue'', which is French for "suburb," does not necessarily refer to an environment of social disenfranchisement. Indeed, there exist many wealthy suburbs, such as

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...

(the wealthiest commune of France) and

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

outside Paris. Nevertheless, the term ''banlieues'' has often been used to describe troubled suburban communities—those with high

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refe ...

, high crime rates, and frequently, a high proportion of residents of foreign origin mainly from former French African colonies and therefore

Berbers , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...

, Blacks, and

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

Historical context

Rebuilding of France after World War II

The destruction of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, coupled with an increase in the country's population (due both to immigration and natural increase) left France with a severe housing shortage. During the 1950s, shantytowns (''bidonvilles'') developed on the outskirts of major cities. During the winter of 1954, popular priest

Abbé Pierre Abbé Pierre, OFM Cap, (born Henri Marie Joseph Grouès; 5 August 191222 January 2007) was a French Catholic priest, member of the Resistance during World War II, and deputy of the Popular Republican Movement (MRP). In 1949, he founded the ...

urged the government to work on behalf of the country's large homeless population. To relieve the shortage, and end the practice of illegal

squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

in public places, the governments of the Fourth and early Fifth Republics began the construction of huge

housing project Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...

s. These included the '' villes nouvelles'' ("New towns") of Sarcelles,

Cergy-Pontoise Cergy-Pontoise () is a new town and an agglomeration community in France, in the Val-d'Oise and Yvelines departments, northwest of Paris on the river Oise. It owes its name to two of the communes that it covers, Cergy and Pontoise. Its populatio ...

Marne-la-Vallée Marne-la-Vallée () is a new town located near Paris, France. Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Studios Park, Val d'Europe, Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, ESIEE Paris, and École des Ponts ParisTech are located in Marne-la-Vallée. ...

and

Sénart Sénart (formerly Melun-Sénart) is a new town in southern Île-de-France, covering parts of the departments of Seine-et-Marne and Essonne. Education * Institut catholique d'arts et métiers Communes * Combs-la-Ville * Réau * Moissy-Crama ...

. These were financed in part by the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

, and organized through central planning, fixing industrial objectives to meet (''

Dirigisme Dirigisme or dirigism () is an economic doctrine in which the state plays a strong directive (policies) role contrary to a merely regulatory interventionist role over a market economy. As an economic doctrine, dirigisme is the opposite of ''lai ...

''). The ''villes nouvelles'' owe much to

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

's architectural theories, which had been decried before the war. During the '' Trente Glorieuses'', a period of economic growth which lasted from the war's end until the

1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had su ...

, and was accompanied by the

baby boom A baby boom is a period marked by a significant increase of birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds of defined national and cultural populations. People born during these periods are ofte ...

, the French state and industrials encouraged immigration of young workers from the former

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

, mostly from the Maghreb (both

Berbers , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...

and

), to help fill labor shortages. Le Grand Mail de la Paillade

In 1962, upon the conclusion of 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 ...

900,000 ''

pieds-noirs The ''Pieds-Noirs'' (; ; ''Pied-Noir''), are the people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962; the vast majority of whom departed for mainland France as soon as Alger ...

'' (the European ''colons'' in Algeria, but also Maghrebi Jews) were repatriated to France, as well as most of the 91,000 Harkis (native Algerians who fought with the French army during the war). The latter were put in

internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...

s, while the pieds-noirs settled mainly in the south of France. For example, the city of

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the department of Hérault. In 2018, 290,053 people l ...

experienced population growth of 94% between 1954 and 1975 (97,501 to 191,354). Harkis were not officially given permission to migrate, but some French military officers helped facilitate their migration to France in order to save them from certain reprisals in Algeria. After being freed from the internment camps, many harkis went on to live alongside other Algerian and Maghrebi (both Berbers and Arabs) immigrants in shantytowns. In 1963, 43% of French Algerians lived in shantytowns.

Azouz Begag Azouz Begag ( ar, عزوز بقاق ) (born 5 February 1957) is a French writer, politician and researcher in economics and sociology at the CNRS. He was the delegate minister for equal opportunities of France in the government of French Prime Min ...

, Delegate Minister for Equal Opportunities in the government of former Prime Minister

Dominique de Villepin Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac. In his career working at the Ministry ...

( UMP), has written an autobiographic novel, '' Le Gone du Chaâba'', describing his experience living in a shantytown on the outskirts of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

Model of urban development

The vast new apartment blocks, or flats, were at first chiefly inhabited by members of the middle class. As the housing situation improved, most middle-class residents moved to better houses and immigrants left the shantytowns for the blocks. The blocks are termed "

, a Swiss architect, was to separate areas of towns or cities according to several functions: living center (blocks), commercial center and working center, with the centers being connected by buses. This led to the isolation of the living centers, with two consequences: * There was little activity at night and on Sunday, aggravated by the fact that bus transit to the central cities was limited; * When unemployment started to rise in the late 1970s, the children did not see anybody working, as the working center was far away; in the 1990s, a lot of school-age children never saw their parents going to work, and never saw anyone working. This model became increasingly contested; in the 1990s there were a number of demolitions of housing facilities in "inhumane" areas. Some towns refused to build social buildings, leaving the poor further concentrated in certain towns which placed no or few restrictions on the construction of Public housing in France, social housing. An example is the city of Paris: when old buildings were destroyed, only office and high-rent apartment buildings were constructed in their place, preventing the poor from settling in those neighborhoods. Most were forced to live in the northern suburbs (chiefly in the

Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobig ...

and Val d'oise departments). In ''The Global City'' (2001),

Saskia Sassen Saskia Sassen (born January 5, 1947) is a Dutch-American sociologist noted for her analyses of globalization and international human migration. She is Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University in New York City, and Centen ...

has analyzed the relationship between a new economic model and the shape of modern cities. The public services offered (number of police officers, post offices, etc.) did not follow the tremendous increase of the population in these areas. This phenomenon has been termed "

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished ...

isation." The 13 December 2000 " SRU law" (''loi de solidarité et renouvellement urbain'', "solidarity and urban renewal act"), required that communes devote at least 20% of their housing capacity to social housing. Many locally elected officials opposed the law, which sought to relieve residential segregation that had developed as a consequence of the earlier, uneven construction of the ''cités''. In the wealthy Parisian suburb of

, of which

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

served as mayor from 1983 to 2002, less than 2.5% of its housing stock meets the social-housing criteria. After the 2005 riots, the government announced that it would enforce the SRU law more strictly, although it would accommodate local circumstances such as the absence of land on which social housing could be built.

Social context

Confrontation of cultures

The children of immigrants often feel torn between the culture of their parents and the culture they have grown up in. Many may feel themselves fully belonging to neither one. A typical illustration of this is the use by some members of the French media of the words "second-generation from immigration" (''deuxième génération issue de l'immigration'', opposed to "just arrived", ''primo-arrivants''). Children born in France are not immigrants, so the expression "second-generation immigrants" could be considered a

misnomer A misnomer is a name that is incorrectly or unsuitably applied. Misnomers often arise because something was named long before its correct nature was known, or because an earlier form of something has been replaced by a later form to which the name ...

. According to anti-racist associations such as

SOS Racisme SOS Rascime () is a movement of NGOs which describe themselves as anti-racist. The oldest chapter of SOS Racisme was founded in 1984 in France, and it has counterparts in several other European countries or regions. Its Norwegian branch, which ...

, this reflects the ambiguity of the administration, who consider these people to be both French and foreign at the same time. Children of immigrants also complain about the use of the term "integration" (''intégration''): the integration in the society (i.e. the acceptance of the laws and customs of the adoptive country) is a necessity for a foreigner; but for someone that has been born and raised in the country, it is improper to ask them to "integrate" into it.

Established policies of racial discrimination and of segregation

Perhaps the main reason for the alienation according to the younger generations in the poorest French suburbs is the

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 antagoni ...

, both casual and

institutional Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...

. In this particular regard, France has long had a problem with dealing with both its present and its historical memory, especially with respect to its colonial past and its role during World War II—especially significant, for instance, is the lack of attention around the Paris massacre of 1961 and the still ongoing controversy surrounding the number of victims therein, an amount which as recently as ten years ago was still officially recognized as below 50 although most independent accounts place it by the hundreds. The February 23, 2005 law on colonialism, voted by the UMP conservative majority, stating that the positive consequences of

colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

must be taught to students, created a wide uproar, including among many university teachers outraged by what they have called a mark of "

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 ...

", and an infringement on the legal principle of

academic freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teach ...

. Today, children of immigrants claim that they frequently encounter economic segregation or

: they have problems getting a job, or finding an apartment, or even entering a

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gen ...

, because of their names or skin color. The association

, which has close ties to the

French Socialist Party The Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste , PS) is a French centre-left and social-democratic political party. It holds pro-European views. The PS was for decades the largest party of the "French Left" and used to be one of the two major po ...

, has claimed to have found experimental proof of such racism: * When responding to job offers with identical CVs, except for name and address, to the same companies; CVs with African names received far fewer positive answers than CVs with typical French names; * They filmed the entrance to selected nightclubs and observed discriminatory acts; * They found widespread use of abbreviations such as "BBR," short for ''Bleu Blanc Rouge'' ("Blue White Red," the colors of the French flag), referring to ethnic Frenchmen and "NBBR" (''Non Bleu Blanc Rouge'' - non-French) indicating the use of race in employers' databases; * They found that discrimination is more widespread for those with college degrees than for those without; * They found that French laws which make discrimination in employment illegal are rarely enforced, and that even when they are, punishment tends to be nominal. The politically correct term for those discriminated against is "visible minority" (''minorité visible''), due to the fact that the segregation applies to any visible feature (color of skin, dress, name) and is not related to the ethnic group itself. In some neighborhoods in the ''banlieue'', unemployment exceeded 40% in 2005. One explanation for this is that the general level of education in these areas is well below the national average, which, in a context where it is difficult to find jobs requiring little or no qualifications, is bound to generate high unemployment. According to the BBC, the unemployment rate for university graduates of French origin is 5%; this can be compared to the unemployment rate of 26.5% for university graduates of North African origin. According to the BBC, the inability of educated people who happen to be nonwhite to obtain employment and the connection to documented racism have left many feeling that they face dim prospects regardless of their actions. French law restricts the access to most civil service jobs ('' fonction publique'') for people who do not have French nationality, though there are exceptions to this: some highly qualified positions (e.g. public research and higher education) are open regardless of citizenship, while some positions (e.g. defense and law enforcement) are open only to French citizens. Some sensitive positions (e.g. defense and the nuclear industry) may be difficult to obtain for people with close ties to "problem countries". Finally, not all public jobs fall into the civil service, and restrictions generally do not apply to non-civil service public positions. Residents of the ''banlieues'' frequently complain that they are subject to racial profiling by the police ("face features offense", ''délit de faciès''). "Identity Controls" — unannounced places where police demand identity papers from whomever they choose are extremely unpopular and seen as unbefitting a free society. Witnesses to these identity controls confirm that only nonwhites are commonly asked for their papers. The use of identity controls contributes to widespread distrust of police in the ''banlieues''. The perception that French police are effectively immune to the law, especially with regard to offenses committed against nonwhites, has also helped to fuel anger against them in the ''banlieue''. The 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 ...

'' has written that "Justice is at a special tariff for police officers: they are never seriously punished." Cases such as one in which an eight-month suspended sentence was given to two police officers for manslaughter by asphyxiation against a black man have contributed to the belief that the police are unaccountable to the citizens who employ them. In April 2005,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

released a report that suggested that the French judicial system tacitly supports racially motivated violence by police. In contrast, some in the right and especially the

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 ...

, such as

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated fro ...

, claim that youth from the ''banlieues'' enjoy ''de facto'' immunity from prosecution and that most of them should be either sent back to the country of their origin or stripped of their French citizenship. They claim that the police and the prosecution are ordered by the government to be lenient, so as not to attract the wrath of left-wing and pro-immigration organisations. A new report of

investigates racially motivated executions, murders and abuses committed by the French police and the leniency expressed by the French government into investigating such cases has been published April 2, 2009. The report has mostly been censored by French news.

Economic context

Income

As in every country, some areas have a very high unemployment rate. As the social security, unemployment and other welfare system benefits are not indefinite, and are predicated upon having had a job at one point, families with no paid income do not benefit from the usually generous French social security system. In addition, the amount and duration are based on length of employment and the specific employment contract, further disadvantaging the unskilled immigrants in the banlieues. Welfare benefits include housing benefits and ''allocations familiales'' (welfare benefits for children). The sum that is paid to a non-working family is similar to that which one would receive working at a minimum wage part-time job. In France, there is a minimum salary called the SMIC: ''salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance''. This is the minimal interprofessional wage which follows the economic growth of the countr

It is illegal to hire someone for less than it. In 2005, the SMIC was 8.86 Euro, EUR per hour, 1,217.88 EUR per month for a full-time job.

Housing costs

If a family has fewer than three children, it will usually receive financial aid in the form of Aide Personnalisée au Logement (APL), personalised accommodation help), which is calculated according to the aggregate revenue of the household, and can account for as much as a third or even a half of the rent amount. If the family has three or more children it is not eligible for APL, but receives ''allocation familiales'' (family allowance), the amount of which depends on both the revenue of the household and the number of children, but it is not linear (the difference in the allocation between three and four children is higher than that between five and six, for example). The money is paid to the household, not individually. The housing projects are not rent-free, but are relatively inexpensive, and there tends to be an abundance of cheap rental accommodation in the ''zones sensibles'' ( sensitive urban zone).

Health care costs

In France, the costs of seeing a doctor and obtaining medicine are at least partially refunded by the government, with the proportion varying between 30% and 100%. Low-income families receive CMU ('' Couverture maladie universelle'' - universal health allowance), a law voted in 1997 by

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...

Plural Left The Gauche Plurielle (French for ''Plural Left'') was a left-wing coalition in France, composed of the Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste'' or PS), the French Communist Party (''Parti communiste français'' or PCF), the Greens, the Left Rad ...

government, meaning that not only 100% of the cost of medical expenses is paid for, but also that it is not necessary to pay up front for service. The CMU, however, only applies to very poor families. Those in higher income brackets must pay initially and then apply for reimbursement.

Education costs

Education is compulsory to age 16. After this age, school is optional and is carried out in the lycée (

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

) in preparation for the ''

baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

'', an academic degree. Entrance to both the ''college'' (

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

) and ''lycée'' are based upon a "sectorisation" system (called ''carte scolaire''), which assigns students to schools geographically. However, one can attend a different public high school through other means, including following a special course of study (such as studying a less-commonly learned language, such as Portuguese). As in many countries, the quality of education offered by different public high schools varies. Some parents chose to send their children to private high schools for a small cost, most of them also receiving funding from government through a contract of association with the Minister of National Education (around 2.2 million students in 2007), other forms of private education (simple contract, outside contract and education at home) being really marginal. Higher education is divided into three different categories: Universities, which are public; ''

Grandes écoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes Agustín Muñoz Grandes (27 January 1896 – 11 July 1970) was a Spanish general, and politician, vice-president of the Spanish Government and minister with Francisco Franco several times; also know ...

'' which are public or private, and further study in a lycée towards a ''Brevet de Technicien Supérieur''. Entrance to all is based upon the completion of the ''baccalauréat''. Universities are the only ones which are allowed to deliver the title of Doctor, hence

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

s, medical doctors and dentists are all educated at ''universities''. Also, ''universities'' are not free, with fees ranging from

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

100 to €600 and social security payments (€200) may be demanded for students who are older than 20. This may be a lot for some students, although those from poor families are exempt from paying fees and social security. Entrance to the ''grandes écoles'' is earned through a national contest after the equivalent of two years of further study at a university. Costing between nothing and €6,000 annually, they enjoy a very good reputation amongst employers. On the other hand, public universities also give good education and graduates from universities have a reputation for being well-educated and well-trained, but there are significant differences between curricula, with some (such as medical schools) being highly selective and possessing a strong reputation, while some others are overcrowded and may not offer good job prospects. Given the large number of students that graduate annually, it can be challenging for a new graduates from a university to get a job without additional qualifications. Student housing is generally inexpensive, ranging from €70 to €200 per month. However, students from poor backgrounds may have their rent paid for by the government, along with a monthly grant with which to buy food and books. As in other countries, the quality of education received, and the peer group to which one belongs, can depend upon the school the child attends. In the ''zones sensibles'', students may struggle to see the opportunities offered to them by the French education system. In addition, the teachers at these schools are frequently the least experienced, as those with more experience may avoid working in the 'zones sensibles' if possible. This can affect the quality of education that low-income students receive. To counter these effects, the French government established a system known as "ZEP" ("zones of priority education"), with incentives for teachers to work in the zones, as well as increased government funding. The ZEP system, though, was criticized by the right-wing government which took power in 2002; in 2005,

, as head of the UMP, the leading right-wing party, proposed a total reform of the system, which he deems insufficient. The family background of low-income students can be critical to their success. In poorer areas, parents are often uneducated, and many women, in particular, are illiterate. In addition, families may be plagued by instability as caregivers may be obliged to work far away from home. To these concerns may be added motivational problems: some youth in the ''banlieues'', perceiving French society to be biased against them, may see little point in obtaining a French education.

Welfare

Social policies implemented by the French government since 1981 include: minimal income for social insertion (''

revenu minimum d'insertion The Revenu minimum d'insertion (RMI) was a French form of social welfare. It is aimed at people without any income who are of working age but do not have any other rights to unemployment benefits (such as contributions-based unemployment benefits). ...

'', RMI), universal health insurance ('' couverture maladie universelle'') and housing allowances (subsidies for home councils in case of

HLM An habitation à loyer modéré (HLM, , ), is a form of low-income housing in France, Algeria, Senegal, and Quebec. It may be public or private, with rent subsidies. HLMs constitute 16% of all housing in France.aide personnalisée au logement'', APL), help for the children ('' Caisse d'allocations familiales''). The results of this policies are still debated. Right-wing parties have criticized this policy on several points: * When all assistance is added up, total income from government sources is not far from the minimal legal income ('' Salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance'', Smic); there is therefore limited incentive to seek paid employment. (Critics of this perspective have noted that it implies a shortage of willing workers, which has been demonstrated to be the case only in certain fields, such as

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

and

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

.) * These policies are a way to buy social peace (''

Panem et circenses ''The Hunger Games'' is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set 64 ...

''), but do not solve underlying social problems. * Criminal behavior does not require social treatment but rather, stricter law enforcement.

Statistics

Poverty rates are higher than the national average in the ''cités''; those for 2005 are shown below (national averages in parenthese

* Unemployment: 20.7% (8.6%); * Poverty: 26.5% (6%); * Single-parent families: 15% (8%). The ''cités'' contain a higher proportion of children and adolescents than in the rest of France: 31.5% of their population is 19 or younger, compared with 24.5% nationwide.

Urban violence and nonviolent demonstrations

The first suburban violence is believed to have occurred in 1979 in

Vaulx-en-Velin Vaulx-en-Velin () is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Lyon, and is located to its northeast, on the river Rhône. History The rivers, including ...

in suburban

. The first event to receive wide

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

coverage, however, was that in the ''Minguettes'' at Vénissieux, also near Lyon. After another violent episode in Vénissieux in March 1983, 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: * ...

improved its standing in local elections, tapping into widespread fears that the violence would continue. Since then there have been both violent and nonviolent events in the ''cités'', including: * Events such as the "March for equality and against racism" (''Marche pour l'égalité et contre le racisme'') in 1983 and the women's movement ''

Ni putes ni soumises Ni Putes Ni Soumises (which roughly translates as ''Neither Whores nor Submissives'') is a French feminist movement, founded in 2002, which has secured the recognition of the French news, press and the National Assembly of France. It is generall ...

'' ("Neither whores nor submissive"), formed in 2003 after the murder of Sohane Benziane, 17 years old, burnt alive by a young man. * Riots, chiefly involving arson and stone throwing, usually provoked by the killing or wounding of a resident during a police operation. Riots in the ''banlieues'' have tended to last a few days. They have also tended to take place on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...

. Policymakers have used two different approaches to curb violence in the French suburbs. Some have advocated the management of

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse

and social isolation by deploying social workers, forming school aid associations, and instituting crime prevention programs (the 'soft' approach). Others have taken a more hard-line stance, asserting that the best way to curb the violence is to increase the police presence in poor and violence-prone neighborhoods (the 'stick' approach).

Suburbs and the "quasi-apartheid"

Although there is no legal apartheid in France, in the sense there is no official will for separation of people, the ''apartheid'' word has been used by many politics and journalists.L'« apartheid » en France ? Pourquoi les mots de Manuel Valls marquent une rupture www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2015/01/20/l-apartheid-en-france-pourquoi-les-mots-de-manuel-valls-marquent-une-rupture_4560022_823448.html For instance, prime minister Manuel Valls considers that France faces an ''«apartheid territorial, social, ethnique »'' which could be translated in English words as an ethnic, social and territorial apartheid.

Algerian roots

During most of the period when Algeria was part of France (1830-1962), Algerian Muslims were treated differently under law from French citizens, a situation which has been described as "quasi-

apartheid 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 ...

"."Algeria was in fact a colony but constitutionally was a part of France and not thought of in the 1950s (even by many on the left) as a colony. It was a society of nine million or so 'Muslim' Algerians who were dominated by the million settlers of diverse origins (but fiercely French) who maintained a quasi-apartheid regime." Bell, David Scott. ''Presidential Power in Fifth Republic France'', Berg Publishers, 2000, p. 36. Although formally the Malékite Muslim right has not existed in metropolitan France, Algerian people coming in (metropolitan) France had to follow French law, this system has been understood to have continued in France, informally, after the repeal of the relevant laws and the

independence of Algeria Independence Day ( ar, عيد استقلال, french: Jour de l'Indépendance), observed annually on 5 July, is a National Holiday in Algeria commemorating colonial Algerian independence from France on 5 July 1962. Algerian War (1954–196 ...

. According to Paul A. Silverstein, associate professor of anthropology at

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

and author of ''Algeria in France: Transpolitics, Race, and Nation'', and Chantal Tetreault, assistant professor of anthropology at

University of North Carolina at Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs through nine coll ...

, who has researched and written extensively on language, gender, and social exclusion in French suburban housing projects, the colonial apartheid in Algeria has been re-created in the cities of France:

As such, the colonial dual cities described by North African urban theorists Janet Abu-Lughod, Zeynep Çelik, Paul Rabinow, and
Gwendolyn Wright Gwendolyn Wright is an architectural historian, author, and co-host of the PBS television series ''History Detectives''. She is a professor of architecture at Columbia University, also holding appointments in both its departments of history and ...
— in which native medinas were kept isolated from European settler neighborhoods out of competing concerns of historical preservation, public hygiene, and security — have been effectively re-created in the postcolonial present, with contemporary urban policy and policing maintaining suburban cités and their residents in a state of immobile apartheid, at a perpetual distance from urban, bourgeois centers.Silverstein, Paul A. & Tetreault, Chantal
Postcolonial Urban Apartheid
''Civil Unrest in the French Suburbs'', November 2005,
Social Science Research Council The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a US-based, independent, international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines. Established in Manhattan in 1923, it today maintains ...
, June 11, 2006. Retrieved July 15, 2007.

Policy issues

Ralph Peters Ralph Peters (born April 19, 1952) is a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel and author. In addition to his non-fiction books, he has published eight novels under the pen name Owen Parry of which ''Honor's Kingdom'' received the Hamme ...

, in an article about the

2005 civil unrest in France The 2005 French riots (french: Émeutes de 2005 dans les Banlieues Françaises), was a three-week period of riots in the suburbs of Paris and other French cities, in October and November 2005. These riots involved youth in violent attacks, and t ...

, wrote that France's apartheid has a distinctly racial aspect. In his view, France's "5 million brown and black residents" have "failed to appreciate discrimination, jobless rates of up to 50 percent, public humiliation, crime, bigotry and, of course, the glorious French culture that excluded them through an informal apartheid system."Peters, Ralph
France's ''Intifada''
, ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'', November 8, 2005. Left-wing French senator Roland Muzeau has blamed this apartheid on the right, insisting that it is responsible for both a "social" and "spatial" apartheid in cities controlled by the right, pointing out as an example that

, from 1983 to 2002 mayor of

, refused to permit the construction of any

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, de ...

in the city. French media also tend to ignore blacks and North Africans, failing to market to them, and not representing them in television, print, the internet, or advertisements. This in turn has led to protests against "''l'apartheid culturel''". against which is engaged the :fr:Club Averroes. Following this constat, and under

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a Politics of France, French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to ...

impulsion, some people have been changed to present TV programs. On TF1 channel one black or Arab person appeared. Other TV channels have also reconsidered some issues, such as TF1, France Télévision,

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

Arte France Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...

, M6

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned international news television network based in Paris. Its channels broadcast in French, English, Arabic, and Spanish and are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Mo ...

BFM La chaîne parlementaire et le Public Sénat.

Criticism

Some have argued that the claims of apartheid in France are a consequence of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism among some French Muslims, and not just government policy. This argument has been made in the debates about the 2005

French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools The French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools bans wearing conspicuous religious symbols in French public (e.g., government-operated) primary and secondary schools. The law is an amendment to the French Code of Educatio ...

, which was formulated primarily to prohibit girls from wearing the ''

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While s ...

'' in schools. It should however be noted that this argument originated in the far-right nationalist French party of Jean-Marie Le-Pen and was adopted by then French president

. Gilles Kepel, who co-authored this law, argued that it was not "acceptable" for members of different religions groups to primarily identify themselves as members of their faith (and secondarily as French) by wearing conspicuous religious symbols, as the end result would be "a sort of apartheid". Some French Muslim women also see the "apartheid" as being internally imposed by the French Muslim community, and the issue as not one about religious freedom, but rather "about saving schoolgirls from a kind of apartheid that was increasingly imposed by men in their community". These debates also mirror earlier crises, particularly the "headscarf affair" of 1989, when three Muslim girls were excluded from schools for wearing headscarves. The affair triggered national debate in France, revealed previously unusual alliances between the left, feminists, and the right, and exposed differing views of and visions for the nature of French society. According to Maxim Silverman:

In the headscarf affair this 'vision', in its most extreme form, was often polarised in terms of the Republic ''or'' fundamentalism (secularism or fanaticism), the Republic ''or'' separate development (integration or apartheid). The problem for large parts of the Left was that they were often sharing the same discourse as Le Pen who used the affair to warn against 'the islamicisation of France'… in a splended example of the either/or choice facing France, in which there was is a convergence of many of the discursive elements mentioned above, the Prime Minister Michel Rocard announced on 2 December 1989, that France cannot be 'a juxtaposition of communities', must be founded on common values and must not follow the Anglo-Saxon model which allows ethnic groups to barricade themselves inside geographical and cultural ghettos leading to 'soft forms of apartheid' (quoted in ''
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 ...
'', 7 December 1989).

Minette Marrin of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', while recognizing that "poverty and rejection" have "played a significant part" in the problem, also believes that some French Muslims have "retreat dinto more extreme forms of Islam and into the arms of fundamentalists", and that Westerners have been unwilling to recognize this as "deliberate separatism — apartheid."However, we might at least recognise the problem. As usual a great many people are deliberately avoiding it, in particular by editing the word Muslim out of their debates, as if Islam had nothing to do with the dangerous mood sweeping Europe. Poverty and rejection have played a significant part, but there is an unmistakable sense in which the riots are Muslim, consciously so. Muslims vary and their beliefs vary. But the response of some Muslims to frustration — whether or not the fault of westerners — has been to retreat into more extreme forms of Islam and into the arms of fundamentalists. Yet although we know this, and despite the Salman Rushdie affair, despite the bombs and assassinations that led up to

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

, despite the recent atrocities, we seem unwilling to recognise that what this can mean is deliberate separatism — apartheid." Marrin, Minette
Muslim apartheid burns bright in France
''

'', November 13, 2005. The French periodical ''

Le Monde Diplomatique ''Le Monde diplomatique'' (meaning "The Diplomatic World" in French) is a French monthly newspaper offering analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs. The publication is owned by Le Monde diplomatique SA, a subsidiary com ...

'', however, disagrees with this assessment, and devoted two entire articles to the discussion of "urban apartheid""A few villains or a handful of Muslim "brothers" can hardly be held responsible for the ghettoization of more than 700 (ZUS, "sensitive urban areas": government-designated problem areas) and their 5 million inhabitants. As Laurent Bonelli points out, it makes more sense to attribute the recent violence to a process of urban apartheid — a stark contradiction of the French integrationist model — and to the discrimination and racism that afflict young Berbers, Arabs and Blacks. The smokescreen generated by the controversy over Islamic headscarves has blown away, revealing a brutal reality." Vidal, Dominique
"The fight against urban apartheid"
''

Le Monde diplomatique ''Le Monde diplomatique'' (meaning "The Diplomatic World" in French) is a French monthly newspaper offering analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs. The publication is owned by Le Monde diplomatique SA, a subsidiary com ...

'', December 2005. and "educational apartheid" in France, citing them as the two main factors in the explosive 2005 French youth riots. Stating that the controversy of Islamic headscarves was a "smokescreen", it argues that " few villains or a handful of Muslim "brothers"" cannot be held responsible for "the ghettoization of more than 700 (ZUS, "sensitive urban areas": government-designated problem areas) and their 5 million inhabitants." The authors agree with Laurent Bonelli that the violence was the result of "a process of urban apartheid" as well as "discrimination and racism that afflict young Berber, Arabs and Blacks".

Terminology

's socialist mayor,

Hélène Mandroux Hélène Mandroux-Colas (born 1 December 1940) is a French politician. A member of the Socialist Party (PS) since 1982, her career in Montpellier debuted in Georges Frêche's municipal administration. Frêche gave her important responsibilities su ...

objects to the term "apartheid" in relation to France's treatment of African minorities, arguing that "Terms like urban apartheid are over-dramatic. We recognize the problem and we are trying to deal with it, but this is not

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

in the 1980s."Gentleman, Amelia
"France wakes up to plight of its forgotten cities"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', August 6, 2004.

Notes

References

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in N ...

reports from

** ' (Analysis report about the job segregation followed by SOS racisme,

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

file, 39p), March 21, 2005 ** ' (Activity report of SOS racisme against the discrimination in the access to private housing, PDF file, 37p), June 1, 2003 ** ' (Racial and ethnic discriminations in the access to social housing)
France Will Continue to Mirror Apartheid-Era South Africa
''DiverseEducation.com'', May 4, 2006.
La droite organise un apartheid social
''

l'Humanité ''L'Humanité'' (; ), is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organ of the French Communist Party, and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, ''L'Humanité'' would not exist." History and profile Pre-World Wa ...

'', June 5, 2007. * Bell, David Scott. ''Presidential Power in Fifth Republic France'', Berg Publishers, 2000. * Benguigui, Yamina '' Mémoires d'immigrés, l'héritage maghrébin'' ("Memory of immimgrants, the legacy of the Maghreb", documentary), 199

* Bonora-Waisman, Camille. ''France and the Algerian Conflict: Issues in Democracy and Political Stability, 1988–1995'', Ashgate Publishing, 2003. * Felouzis, Georges and Perroton, Joëlle
The trouble with the schools
''

'', December 2005. * Follath, Erich
Tariq Ramadan on the crisis in France
'' Salon.com'', November 16, 2005. * Gentleman, Amelia
France wakes up to plight of its forgotten cities
''

'', August 6, 2004. * Kelly, Debra. ''Autobiography And Independence: Selfhood and Creativity in North African Postcolonial Writing in French'',

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

Press, 2005. * Leiken, Robert S., Revolting in France; The labor-law protests pitted the privileged young against disaffected immigrants, ''

The Weekly Standard ''The Weekly Standard'' was an American neoconservative political magazine of news, analysis and commentary, published 48 times per year. Originally edited by founders Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes, the ''Standard'' had been described as a "re ...

'', 5/1/2006. * Maceda, Jim
France divided by headscarf debate
''

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's v ...

'', February 9, 2004. * Marrin, Minette
Muslim apartheid burns bright in France
''

'', November 13, 2005. * McGoldrick, Dominic. ''Human Rights and Religion: The Islamic Headscarf Debate in Europe'', Hart Publishing, 2006, * Mélanchon, Jean-Luc
Abolir l'apartheid social dans les banlieues
March 29, 2006. * Peters, Ralph
France's ''Intifada''
''

'', November 8, 2005. * Silverman, Maxim. ''Deconstructing the Nation: Immigration, Racism, and Citizenship in Modern France'', Routledge, 1992. * Silverstein, Paul A. & Tetreault, Chantal
Postcolonial Urban Apartheid
''Civil Unrest in the French Suburbs'', November 2005,

Social Science Research Council The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a US-based, independent, international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines. Established in Manhattan in 1923, it today maintains ...

, June 11, 2006. Retrieved July 15, 2007. * Simons, George F. ''EuroDiversity: A Business Guide to Managing Difference'', Elsevier, 2002. * Smith, Craig
Elite French Schools Block the Poor's Path to Power
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 18 December 2005 * Taheri, Amir
France’s Ticking Time Bomb
''

Arab News ''Arab News'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. It is published from Riyadh. The target audiences of the paper, which is published in broadsheet format, are businessmen, executives and diplomats. At least as o ...

'', November 5, 2005. * Vidal, Dominique
The fight against urban apartheid
''

'', December 2005. * Wall, Irwin M. ''France, the United States, and the Algerian War'',

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...

Press, 2001.

External links

*
Audio book (mp3)
of the introduction and first chapter of Éric Maurin's book ''Le ghetto français, enquête sur le séparatisme social'' *

of the 751 ''Zones Urbaines Sensibles'' including maps

''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', November 19, 2005
Muslim segregation
reader comments (dated November 20, 2005) on the articl
Muslim Apartheid Burns Bright in France
''

'', November 13, 2005

Films

*
Le bruit l'odeur et quelques étoiles
',

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

on previous outbreaks of violence *
Wesh Wesh qu'est-ce qui se passe ?
', French movie (2001) from Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche, about the social fracture in the Cité des Bosquets,

*
Ma 6-T va crack-er
', 1997

, from Jean-François Richet *
Le thé au harem d'Archimède
' French movie (1985) from Mehdi Charef about teen-life in the ''

HLM An habitation à loyer modéré (HLM, , ), is a form of low-income housing in France, Algeria, Senegal, and Quebec. It may be public or private, with rent subsidies. HLMs constitute 16% of all housing in France.Might is right
French documentary - scene portraying the racial situation in French suburbs {{Segregation by type Arabs in France Contemporary French history Politics of France Society of France Islam in France Berbers in France Riots and civil disorder in France

Civil unrest Civil disorder, also known as civil disturbance, civil unrest, or social unrest is a situation arising from a mass act of civil disobedience (such as a demonstration, riot, strike, or unlawful assembly) in which law enforcement has difficulty ...

2007 riots Urban decay in Europe Racism in France Discrimination in France Social class in France