As many readers may know, the French have no ethnicity, no skin color. Article 1 of the French Constitution of 1958 constitutes France as a color-blind republic in which all citizens are equal before the law, without distinction based on “origin, race or religion”. No statistics are collected that would permit categorizing people; all citizens are simply French. This egalitarian myth is, o
f course, hard to square with the daily discrimination suffered by countless persons whose skin is not white or whose names belie origins beyond “the hexagon”, as France is often called. Thus, for example, the weeks of rioting in 2005 by poor youth primarily of African origin (though 2nd or 3rd generation French) pushed the French to contemplate some form of affirmative action, which they call “positive discrimination”. Contemplation by the French bureaucracy meant that not much was done, and further rioting was sparked early this week when 2 teenagers of, you guessed it, North African origin, were killed in a traffic accident with a police car.
Nonetheless, when the law on computers and freedom (informatique et libertés) was passed in 1978 – and affirmed by the Conseil constitutionnel - it set guidelines for collecting statistics that enable researchers to get a sense of the “negative discrimination” occurring despite Article 1. Recently, a new law on “immigration, integration and asylum” containing 2 contentious provisions was passed. One allows for using DNA tests to prove family ties; the other was, according to Alex Türk, president of the National commission on computers and freedom (CNIL), designed to tighten controls on the ethnic data collection that had been authorized in 1978. It provided, however, that ethnic statistics would be gathered from all arriving immigrants. The Conseil constitutionnel struck it down as unconstitutional, throwing the CNIL and research projects throughout the country into confusion, as their reading of the decision is that the 1978 law might now be considered unconstitutional, despite the fact that all ethnic data collection under that law has been strictly voluntary and geared merely toward revealing perceptions of discrimination. Sample questions include, for example: of what origin(s) or skin color are you? With what frequency do people speak to you of your origin(s) or skin color? How do you think people see you? According to a couple of con law profs interviewed by Le Monde, the Conseil did not say ethnic data collection was in and of itself unconstitutional and should not be interpreted as putting a stop to research. Rather, it is merely a political intrusion into scientific work. Seems more like a political intrusion into revealing the truth and providing a foundation for a successful affirmative action program.
f course, hard to square with the daily discrimination suffered by countless persons whose skin is not white or whose names belie origins beyond “the hexagon”, as France is often called. Thus, for example, the weeks of rioting in 2005 by poor youth primarily of African origin (though 2nd or 3rd generation French) pushed the French to contemplate some form of affirmative action, which they call “positive discrimination”. Contemplation by the French bureaucracy meant that not much was done, and further rioting was sparked early this week when 2 teenagers of, you guessed it, North African origin, were killed in a traffic accident with a police car.
