The activities of the organization "SOS Racism" in the framework of French migration policy. 1983-1989.

Osipov Evgeny Aleksandrovich PhD in History Senior Scientific Associate, Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences 119334, Russia, Moscow, ul. Leninsky Prospekt 32a, 26 eaossipov@gmail.com Other publications by this author

Several waves of migration to France from Africa and the Middle East, an increase in crime, an increase in social tension, the gradual spread of Islam in the country, including in radical forms – all this makes up the domestic political agenda of modern France. The search for ways out of the current crisis situation inevitably leads to the study of the genesis of the problem.

Muslim migration to France began relatively recently. At the beginning of the XX century, there were few Muslims in the French metropolis (only 4-5 thousand Algerians) ^{[1, p. 29]}, but during the First World War their number increased markedly: 170 thousand Algerians and 135 thousand Moroccans were mobilized into the army. During the fighting, about one hundred thousand Muslims were killed or wounded on the French side. Such a significant number of victims demanded retaliatory steps from the French state. It was after the First World War that the first Muslim cemetery was opened in France and the Great Paris Mosque was built ^[2]. By 1939, 200 thousand Algerians already lived in the metropolis. The largest number of Muslims arrived in France after the Second World War. To restore the economy, the country was in dire need of a large amount of labor. The Algerian direction remained the main one until 1962. By this time, 330 thousand Algerians already lived in the country. Even after Algeria gained independence from France in 1962, Algerian migration still continued. And since the 1960s, the Moroccan trend has also intensified. By 1975, 260 thousand Moroccans already lived in France ^{[1, p. 30]}.

Already in the 1970s, all the components of the future crisis were clearly visible, but the main events occurred in the 1980s. In the autumn of 1983, in the wake of the growth of racist crimes against migrants (mainly against Arab youth, that is, representatives of the so-called second generation of migrants), the idea of organizing a migrant march on foot across the country arose. The organizers of the action were inspired by the actions of their idol — Martin Luther King, who organized the famous "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" in 1963, where he delivered the legendary speech "I have a dream...". Twenty years later, the Arab youth of France organized a march "for equality and against racism." Initially, the idea of a peaceful march did not meet with a positive reaction in the French suburbs. Moreover, on October 15, 1983, when the march began its journey from Marseille to Paris, only 17 people participated in the action, and the press paid almost no attention to it. However, it gradually became more popular and widespread, and on December 3, more than 100 thousand people participated in the march through Paris, and the organizers of the action were received at the Elysee Palace by Francois Mitterrand ^[3].

The march had far-reaching consequences for the mass public consciousness. It was then that many French people realized that migrant workers, who, as they had been told before, had come to France to work, had not been going anywhere for a long time, moreover, the second generation had grown up, a significant part of which was born in France, graduated from French schools and requires equal treatment. The migration issue began to be called a problem. At its core, the march of 1983 was precisely a social action aimed at drawing public attention to the problems of migrants.

6 years after the march, in 1989, the first scandal occurred at the college of the city of Kray with the wearing of religious clothing in a public educational institution. The famous French philosopher, intellectual Alain Finkelkraut begins his bestseller "Unhappy Identity" with the phrase "It all started in 1989..." [4. p. 25], meaning that then the identity crisis became obvious to everyone. There is a huge difference between the events of 1983 and 1989. In six years, residents of the troubled suburbs of major French cities have gone from a social protest demanding an equal approach to upholding the right to differences. In just six years, the religious factor, barely noticeable in 1983, has become one of the defining factors for the second generation of migrants. It is obvious that such a development of events was caused, among other things, by mistakes in state policy. Paris underestimated the scale of the problem.

One of the most notable manifestations of state policy towards migrants was the creation of a non-governmental organization, but close to the Socialist Party, SOS Racism, which personified state policy on the migration issue at least in the period from 1984 to 1989. The history of "SOS Racism" allows us to see the positive aspects of this policy, but above all those mistakes that were made at that time and which influenced the entire modern history of the Fifth Republic and turned the migration issue into a full-fledged crisis of national and religious identity.

As noted above, the march of 1983 turned out to be a very successful action, the attention of the whole of France was focused on the problems of racism, inequality of rights, discrimination, unemployment and low standard of living in the suburbs of large cities. However, the success of the march did not lead to the creation of a large public organization that would unite the "Bers" ("Bers" in France called the Arabs, so the march on Paris in 1983 went down in history under the name "march of the Bers"). First of all, this was due to significant disagreements within the migrant movement. One of its parts (centered in Lyon) proposed to focus specifically on the problems of the second generation of migrants – the central theme of the march of 1983. Another branch, the Paris branch, advocated a broader nature of the movement in which social aspects would be even more important than the purely migration component. It is clear that the Lyon activists were accused of a "communitarian approach", and the Parisians of stimulating the assimilation of migrants ^{[5, p. 10]}.  The Parisian part of the "Berov" in December 1984, led by Farida Belgoul, organized another march.

Fewer people participated in it than in 1983, but it was still widely covered in the media. During the new march, a number of incidents occurred that showed an insufficient level of communication between various migrant organizations on the one hand, as well as local authorities and suburban residents on the other hand. Farida Belgoul eventually made a speech in Paris that the rights of migrants are not really protected and that she has become a dissident in her own movement ^{[5, p. 11]}. The fact of serious internal disagreements in the migrant environment was obvious.

Another reason that after the march of 1983, the Bers could not create a serious organization was the lack of support from the authorities. The views of the Bers, even of the Parisian trend, were too radical for state structures.

Nevertheless, in October 1984, a large organization, SOS Racism, was nevertheless created, but not by the leaders of the migrant movement, but by young political activists close to the Socialist Party of France. The organization was conceived as anti-racist (that's why this name was chosen), and continuity with the Berov movement and the marches of 1983-1984 was also implied. At the same time, by its composition, "SOS racism" initially did not fit the migrant or anti-racist agenda. Many of those who created it were members of the Socialist Youth Movement or the UNEF student trade union, known for its leftist orientation. Their informal leader was a well-known leftist activist (until 1981 a member of Trotskyist organizations) Julien Drey. Being graduates of prestigious schools, most of the organizers of "SOS Racism" were far from the Berov movement and anti-racist themes, which in the future became one of the main reasons for the hostile attitude of the Arab minority of France to "SOS Racism".

In September 1984, the organizers of "SOS Racism" met with the priest Christian Delorm, the initiator of the march of 1983, and even received his blessing for further activities ^{[5, p.13]}. However, relations with the leaders of the Berov movement were initially very difficult for the organization. "SOS Racism" did not participate in the march in December 1984 ^{[6, p. 59-63]}, where Belgoul and other leaders of the Bers did not want the presence of "SOS Racism" because of the "too political and insufficiently migrant" nature of the organization ^{[5, p. 10]}, and such a position was quite justified. About the social composition and the almost complete absence of migrants among its leaders has already been mentioned above. The political aspect was even more important. Throughout the existence of SOS Racism, the organization's connection with the Socialist Party was obvious. Moreover, from the very first days of its existence, it was aimed at combating the growing popularity of the National Front led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, which was explained by close ties with the Socialist Party and far-left youth organizations, for which the fight against far-right movements was the main task. For the Bers, the internal political struggle was far from of paramount importance.

Julien Drey recalled in his memoirs that from the very beginning the organizers of "SOS Racism" felt that "it is necessary to play the card of mixing (today they would say "multiculturalism" - E.O.), and not differences, and use symbols" ^{[7, p. 204]}. The first such symbol was appointed by the head of the organization Harlem Desir – a black man, a descendant of migrants, a participant in the march of 1983 and a friend of Julien Drey. To this day, the French consider Desir a symbol of the fight against racism. From the very beginning, SOS Racism gave priority to large-scale public actions, symbols that could expand the social base of the movement. The organization organized concerts, distributed badges with its symbols to young people. A few weeks after the official launch of the movement, the slogan of the organization appeared – "Touche pas ? mon pote" ("Don't touch my friend") - which soon became very famous and is still strongly associated in France with a protest against various kinds of discrimination and illegal restriction of rights.

SOS Racism tried to work with movie and television stars, invite them to their events, which increased the number of mentions in the media. For example, the famous French comedian Kolyush participated in one of the concerts "SOS Racism". The leaders of the movement gave priority to working with French students and high school students, which also caused controversy in the migrant environment. On the one hand, the involvement of young people is absolutely the right step and contributes to the expansion of the movement. On the other hand, SOS Racism worked mainly not with young people from difficult suburbs, for whose help it was created, but with French university and lyceum youth. Julien Drey writes in his memoirs that they worked very actively, for example, with the Lyceum of Henry IV in Paris ^{[7, p. 207]}, one of the most prestigious lyceums in Paris, where, obviously, there were no students from the suburbs. The attraction of film and television stars was also aimed more at French youth in order to expand the electorate of left-wing political forces to fight against the National Front, rather than solving the problems of second-generation migrants. Once again, we emphasize that the internal political struggle for the creators of "SOS racism" was more commonplace than anti-racist activity in its purest form.

The first months for "SOS racism" were difficult. Only a few people attended the two press conferences on the occasion of the organization's creation, on November 22 and December 4, 1984. The creators of "SOS Racism" recall that at that moment they were all very disappointed and seriously thought about closing the project. However, the active distribution of badges with the symbols of the new organization to young people at universities and lyceums gradually bore fruit, more and more people learned about the existence of "SOS Racism" ^{[5, p. 18]}.

The breakthrough occurred in February 1985 . One of the most famous magazines in France – Nouvelle Observer – devoted an article to "SOS racism", and on the first page of the issue was depicted the logo of the organization – a yellow palm with a black inscription "Touche pas ? mon pote" ^[8]. In the article "SOS Racism" was presented as a "young, modern and non-political" organization. Author Jacques Juliard wrote in a positive way that "SOS Racism" is "anti–gay". Instead of utopian, dogmatic and ultra-political organizations that emerged during and after May 1968, a pragmatic, concrete and apolitical structure appears, according to historian and columnist Nouvelle Observer ^[8]. As for apolitical, Jacques Juillard was clearly wrong, but the publication in the Nouvelle Observer brought "SOS Racism" to a whole new level. In the future, from February to December 1985, the press was very active in covering all events related to the activities of "SOS Racism". Namely, the press and television, interested in creating a popular left-wing public organization with a migrant theme, played a key role in the formation of "SOS Racism". The Socialist Party, also interested in consolidating the youth electorate around leftist ideas and in mobilizing young people against the growing National Front, supported "SOS Racism" in creating a positive media background. As a result, SOS Racism, created at the end of 1984 and initially had 50 employees, of whom only 15 worked there on a permanent basis ^{[5, p. 16]}, during 1985 became the most popular anti-racist organization in France. 

The success of "SOS Racism" was not liked by everyone, especially harsh criticism came from various directions of the fragmented Berov movement. The organizers of "SOS Racism" used the popularity of the ideas of the march of 1983, but created their own organization outside the framework of the Berov movement. Christian Delorme, who initially supported the creation of "SOS racism", in the spring of 1985, in an article in the newspaper "Monde" criticized "SOS Racism", expressing doubts about the independence of the organization from the socialist Party and accusing it of striving to become a hegemon and oust other movements from the anti-racist political field ^[9]. It should be noted that the discontent of the bers with the growth of popularity did not help them overcome internal contradictions and create their own full-fledged structure. And the further strengthening of the positions of "SOS Racism" led to the fact that some of the leaders of the Bers eventually joined "SOS Racism". So, Kaissa Titu, Malek Butih, Hiatt Bujema, Malik Loon even became vice-presidents of SOS Racism.

The peak of the popularity of "SOS Racism" occurred in the summer of 1987. On August 19, Harlem Desir took part in the television program "Hour of Truth" ("L'heure de verit?"). Many expected him to make rather radical statements about the difficult fate of migrants in France. But Desir mostly talked about the socio-economic factors that lead to the emergence of racism. In general, there was much more social than moral in his speech.  70% of viewers approved of his behavior on the program. Many journalists also noted successful theses from his speech: the fight against illegal immigration, but at the same time efforts to integrate migrants into the legal field and especially their children; the fight against racism, which feeds on poverty, unemployment, degradation of living conditions in the suburbs ^{[5, p. 37-38]}.

Subsequently, due to the approach of the presidential elections in 1988, "SOS Racism" began to play an increasingly active political role and eventually turned into one of the instruments of Francois Mitterrand's victory over Jacques Chirac. In November 1987, SOS Racism organized a demonstration "against racism and xenophobia, for integration and equality of rights and for the protection of democratic values." The event was attended not by film and television stars, as it was before, but by leading politicians from the Socialist Party: Lionel Jospin, Michel Rocard, Jean-Pierre Chevenman, etc. In the press, such inclusion of the organization in the political struggle did not meet with a positive response.

Harlem Desir's performance in the "Hour of Truth", thus, can be considered the highest point in the development of "SOS Racism", and the demonstration on November 29, 1987 is already the beginning of sunset ^{[5, p. 40]}. In the future, "SOS Racism" will increasingly be accused of prioritizing political goals over the actual fight against racism, and the leaders of the organization themselves have already linked their political future with the Socialist Party. The culmination of this process will be the appointment of Harlem Desir in 2012 as the first secretary of the party.

In 1988-1989, "SOS Racism" continued to organize events, a rally in Paris in 1988 gathered about 300 thousand people, which was an absolute success, but the press showed less and less interest in covering such events ^{[5, p. 48]}, and, as mentioned above, it was the attention of the press that turned "SOS Racism" to the largest anti-racist organization in the country. There were also problems in relations with local activists of the migrant movement, who were dissatisfied with the organization's too moderate position on key issues and high involvement in the internal political struggle.

The events of 1989 at the college of the city of Kray (the first scandal involving the wearing of religious clothing in a public educational institution) became a serious challenge for the "SOS Racism". The organization initially advocated the fullest possible integration, if not assimilation, of French Muslims into French society. The scandal in the city of Kray meant the failure of such a policy and once again emphasized that "SOS Racism" did not control the situation in the suburbs and was in fact disconnected from the real migrant agenda.

It is no coincidence that already in December 1989 the French government created a new body – the Supreme Council for Integration, which was supposed to develop French policy in the field of preserving national and religious identity. SOS Racism has not just gradually lost its status as the most influential anti-racist organization, in fact, the attempt of the Socialist Party to turn SOS Racism into a public policy conductor has led to much more serious consequences. We are talking about a significant increase in the influence of Islamic organizations, including radical and fundamentalist ones, on French Muslims, which was not properly taken into account in the activities of the "SOS Racism" and the policy of the French socialists in the 1980s. "SOS Racism" mainly operated in the public, media field, in the difficult suburbs themselves there is little about it who knew.

Despite the success of the Berov movement in 1983-1984, the living conditions of migrants in France continued to deteriorate in subsequent years. The growth of unemployment, the low level of education, the increase in problems with youth crime led to an aggravation of the situation. The authorities actually withdrew from solving the problems of migrants, a vacuum arose in the suburbs, which was actively filled by the activities of Muslim organizations, many of which were radical, and almost all of them were funded from foreign countries. The oil shock in the early 1970s and the sharp rise in oil prices led to the fact that some Arab countries, primarily Saudi Arabia, were able to finance the development of Islam in Europe. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 gave another powerful impetus to the Islamic movement in Europe – Arab youth in European countries realized that it was possible to fight the global dominance of Western values.

Various Islamic centers were actively opened in Europe. Back in 1969, the Islamic Cultural Center of Belgium was opened in Brussels with the money of Riyadh, with the activities of which the spread of Salafism in Europe began ^{[10, p. 31]}. In 1977, the World Islamic League began its work in Paris, which in the future will control a significant part of the places of Islamic worship in France ^{[11, p. 63]}. In 1980, the Regional European Council of the Supreme Council of Mosques opened in Brussels, and in 1982, the Islamic Institute for the Training of Preachers and Imams in Europe also appeared there.

In the 1980s, the second generation of migrants was re-islamized in European countries, primarily in France and Belgium. The children of their parents who came to Europe ended up being much more religious than their parents. This was directly connected with the ineffective policy of the authorities to solve the problems of the migrant community and, on the contrary, with the active activity of religious organizations. Islam turned out to be the unifying and socializing force ^{[11, p. 171-172]} that helped French Muslims integrate into European society, and often it was about Islamic communitarianism, that is, the creation of Muslim communities on the territory of European countries that lived by their own rules, created an Islamic society in Europe. It is no coincidence that Gilles Kepel, a leading French expert on the Islamic question, spoke in 1987 about the emergence of French Islam ^{[11, p. 9]} and that its role within France would only grow.

The emergence of the Muslim community, and hence the final failure of the policy of assimilation of migrants, became especially noticeable in 1989. As ten years earlier, Iran's spiritual leader Khomeini again played a significant role. In February 1989, he issued a fatwa calling for the murder of the famous British writer of Indian origin Salman Rushdie, author of the novel "Satanic Verses". This event has become one of the key events in the history of the development of Islam in France. It was then that the French began to wonder which side the Muslim community was on, how much influence Iran and other states had on French Muslims and what it threatened France with in the future. On television, performances were shown in the suburbs of Arab youth who were ready to implement Khomeini's fatwa. Recently, in August 2022, Rushdie was assassinated in New York.

The consequence of the "Rushdie case" was just the hijab scandal at the college of the city of Kray. As for the reaction of the authorities, for the left-wing political forces in France, including the "SOS Racism", the migration problem was still socio-economic, not religious in nature. As a result, time was lost, and French Muslims were forced to live under the influence of radical religious groups, which significantly affected the development of modern French Islam.