Just weeks after hugely disruptive protests and strikes over pension reforms in France finally died down, businesses in the country are grappling with the fallout from a week of rioting.
It’s truly disappointing to see that, as an American, this is what France is now. French troops saved my grandpa (AA) back in WWII when they were a more racially progressive country than the USA and I always looked up to them for that. Black POWs would often be mysteriously “killed in the camps” right before being rescued by American troops, but the French troops found him first.
I’m glad many are rioting over this. That is the France I know.
I don’t think France is any more or less racist than the US at any point. France has been multicultural, more receptive to people of colour, and did not officially have racial segregation, but they still treated non-white French as second class citizens albeit low key. The fact that France had colonies and fought hard to keep them after World War II despite postwar economic devastation showed they have still been discriminatory. The French government in the 60s was nearly couped by ultranationalist army officers for granting independence to Algeria. Even today, there are many French who are ultranationalists and there is a reason why Marine Le Pen won 40% of the French population.
There’s a lot of racism in France, just like any country. But it doesn’t take the same form as in the USA and the history and the cause are different. It’s also why we shouldn’t imitate the USA on it, same word, different reality
