Adama, Théo, Zyed and Bouna… Why didn't these cases trigger a French "Black Lives Matter"?

"I believe that the situation of our two countries is not entirely comparable, neither in terms of history, nor in terms of the organization of society", declared, Wednesday, June 3 - word of the French government, Sibeth Ndiaye. The latter thus called for caution in the face of the comparison made between police violence in the United States, and in France, the day after the rally for Adama Traore which mobilized some 20,000 people in Paris and in others cities in France, echoing the anti-racist demonstrations that have rocked the United States since the death of George Floyd.

Across the Atlantic, "Black Lives Matter", the rallying cry of anti-racist youth, has been anchored in American society since 2013. Born on Twitter after the acquittal of George Zimmerman who had killed the 'black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, the movement is mobilizing against individual and institutional violence and racism against African-Americans in the United States. Since then, the hashtag has been omnipresent on social networks, and the slogan, recovered by many artists who have become spokespersons for the fight against racist violence.

Massively shared on the Internet, and just as massively displayed in the street, Tuesday, on the occasion of the rally for Adama Traoré, the slogan has so far, however, not federated in the same way in France, even after death of the young man during his arrest, in July 2016.

Yesterday, Paris said #BlackLivesMatter & #JusticePourAdama at a massive rally in court.

Photo thread 📸https: //t.co/16n0b7hFsh pic.twitter.com/IaIgf4W5k1

"The tradition is less ancient than in the United States"

"There is an older historical tradition, in the United States, of protesting against racism", analyzes Carole Reynaud-Paligot, historian and sociologist, contacted by France 24. "There is a memory of these protests which took shape at the time of the fight against racial segregation, in the 1960s ", she continues, adding that these protest movements have been remembered thanks to emblematic figures - like that of Martin Luther King - still extremely present in the imagination of the Americans. "His model took root during this fight against racial segregation, when we do not have this tradition or this model in France".

In France, the first national rally against racism, called "Marche des Beurs", took place in 1983. That year in France was marked by clashes between the police and young people from the Minguettes district, in Vénissieux (Rhône), but also by several racist facts, the best known of which is the murder of an Algerian on the Bordeaux-Ventimiglia train, on the march against racism.

Since then, several protest movements have taken place. In October 2005, riots broke out in the French suburbs following the death of Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré, two teenagers electrocuted in an EDF transformer, in Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), while they were seeking to escape police control. A few days later, the sending of a tear gas canister to the entrance to the city mosque by the police, victims of projectile fire, further heightened the riots, which, then spread to the whole of the department, lead the government to declare a state of emergency.

"There have been very localized protests which, until now, have struggled to generalize", underlines Carole Reynaud-Paligot, who was also scientific co-curator of the exhibition "We and the Others - Prejudices in racism ", at the Museum of Man, in Paris in 2017-2018.

After "the Zyed and Bouna affair", other miscellaneous facts marked France, including, recently, the "Adama Traoré affair", in 2016, and "the Théo affair", in 2017. The latter caused anger, leading to diffuse protest movements, without instilling a wave of anti-racism in France. The slogans "Black Lives Matter" were certainly taken up here and there, during marches in support of the family of Adama Traoré, or in demonstrations against police violence following the Theo affair, but nothing since the "Marche des Beurs" did not resemble a global, multicultural movement, organized beyond political divisions. "The tradition is less ancient than in the United States," insists Carole Reynaud-Paligot. "Yesterday's gathering took place on a larger scale, so it is probably the beginning of a more general mobilization", she continues, estimating that it will undoubtedly take longer to see the whole of the population to mobilize.

"Something is starting"

Taking the example of "Black Lives Matter" and the rally for Adama Traoré, on Tuesday, the historian, a teacher at the University of Burgundy, also adds that these movements can only gain momentum if other actors social commitments. Social actors, including the media, intellectuals "who are few to have mobilized and to have brought this cause to France", but also politicians.

"I replace all of this in the general analyzes that I have been able to make since this exhibition at the Musée de l'Homme", she continues, stressing the importance of putting events in context and observing the role of the actors as spokespersons helping mobilization. According to Carole Reynaud-Paligot, the role of politics is eminently important and helps explain the different levels of mobilization in France and the United States. "If the indignation is so strong in the United States, it is also because of the positions of the American president which are inconceivable in a democracy", she estimates, noting that "the stronger the provocation of the president, the more the answer is one of indignation and anger. "

In France, "we are not up to it either, but the situation is different", explains the historian. "We undoubtedly do not have the exemplary attitude, because it would require a greater mobilization of policies and a greater commitment in the fight against racism, but we are not in positions as scandalous as those of current president of the United States. "

However, Carole Reynaud-Paligot believes that mobilization is completely insufficient, although France legislated in 1972 by creating, via the Pleven law, specific crimes of insult, defamation of racist character, but also provocation discrimination, hatred or racial violence. "All of this remains timid," says the historian, for whom it would be necessary to take "head-on" the problem of racism in the police, by focusing more on the training of police officers.

Regarding a national mobilization against racism, and the advent of a "Black Lives Matter" in French, the historian and sociologist nevertheless believes that "something is starting", reinforced by the "incontestable" role of social networks which make it possible to federate on a larger scale, and all social classes combined.

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