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Article

Since when has France been a land of immigration?

France is the oldest immigration country in Europe. From the second half of the 19 th century, mass immigration arrived to make up for labour shortages. Starting out in border regions (German, Belgian), it diversified in the late 19 th   century, and even more so after World War 1, to meet the country’s needs for rebuilding. Italian (the largest community in 1930) and Polish immigrations largely contributed to maintain the mining and building  sectors, and the steel and metallurgy industries. Soon after World War 2, the migration landscape diversified since Italian immigrants, being fewer than expected, were replaced by Spanish, Portuguese, Yugoslavian, Turkish, Tunisian, Moroccan immigrants and, lastly, people from Sub-Saharan countries. Algerian immigration, for its part, dates back much further since it started in the late 19 th century. When the State decided to stop immigration for salaried work in 1974, this accelerated the grouping together of families of non-Europeans, few of whom returned to their countries whereas the Europeans were gradually benefitting from freedom to circulate, settle and work.

Article

The Americans in France (18th-21st century)

Until now, migration historians have tended to study the movements of poor populations towards wealthy countries. For that reason, the presence in France of a population that does not correspond to the usual patterns, originating from the United States of America, the wealthy country par excellence, sparked our curiosity…

Article

The welcome given to Ukrainian refugees: update

Since February 24 th 2022, the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Europe has been confronted with a migratory and humanitarian drama of a kind not seen since the end of World War 2. The continent has experienced the “unimaginable”: an unimaginable that has been the fate of other regions in the world in Africa, Asia or the Near East, a fact that researcher Matthieu Tardis reminds us of ( Le Monde , May 17 th 2022). Although Europe approached the reception given to Syrian refugees during the crisis of 2015 with disunity, in 2022, they took a united stand, although the efforts were unequally distributed.

Article

What is an immigrant?

Use of the term “immigrant” became widespread in the mid-20 th century to describe immigration by manual workers. Since 1945, it has been common to talk about immigrant labour or immigrant worker and, in everyday language, the term is tending to replace the word “foreigner”. From the early 1990s, “immigrant” became a statistical category, used by demographers to describe any person born a foreigner in a foreign country and residing in France. Hence an immigrant may not be a foreigner – as is the case for individuals born abroad who became naturalised French citizens. And a foreigner may not be an immigrant, if he was a foreigner born on French soil.

Article

The welcome given to Ukrainian refugees: exception or sign of things to come?

Confronted with the influx of millions of Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, the reaction of solidarity was unanimous in Europe, from Poland to France, in the media and within political parties. On February 25 th 2022, on Europe 1, parliamentary representative for the MoDem party Jean-Louis Bourlanges declared that Ukrainians in France would represent “ high-quality immigration that we can draw benefit from ”. On February 28 th , the deputy Minister of Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari and the CEO of the SNCF group decreed that TGV and Intercité train fares would be free for Ukrainian refugees. Soon after, the question of according universal protection and right to asylum was raised. Hence on March 1 st , the CGT-rail workers union demanded that the free fares be extended to all refugees, considering that there was no reason to select “ good and bad refugees ”. Reacting to Mr. Bourlanges’ statement, journalist Yaël Goosz asked: “ so there are less useful refugees… Because they’re too different from us culturally? Not Christians or not Europeans? (...) As if we must call it ‘welcoming refugees’ when talking about Ukrainians, but ‘migrant crisis’ when referring to the fate of Iraqis, Syrians, or Afghans! ” (France Inter, March 2nd).

Article

The meaning of "sans-papiers"?

The French term "sans-papiers" describes any foreign person living in France without a residence permit. It resembles the term "clandestin", which appeared in political and administrative vocabulary in the late 19th century with the first measures strictly defining the terms of foreigners’ “right to residence”.

Article

What is discrimination?

According to the Defender of Rights, discrimination happens when three elements come together: less favourable or unequal treatment of a person or group of people; due to criteria defined by the law (origin, disability, gender, religion, sexual orientation, physical appearance…); in a context determined by the law (rental of an item/property, sale, access to employment, to a social service etc…). Discrimination indicates a distancing of a person or group of people. This discrimination can damage the dignity or integrity of that person. It is illegal and reprehensible.   Promoting inequality, insulting, threatening, as a result of origin or nationality, an ethnic group, a race, a religion, a language, or because of gender or sexual preference, a particular health condition or a disability are discriminating attitudes. The same applies to not providing a service (at a restaurant, hotel or nightclub) or refusing free housing or available employment for the same reasons. In these cases, discrimination is a crime, one that can be taken to court and punished with a fine and/or prison sentence.

Article

How can racism be defined?

Racism is a form of discrimination based on the victim’s origins or ethnic or racial affiliations, whether real or assumed. Racism makes use of prejudice to devalue the person based on their physical appearance; it attributes character traits, abilities or physical or intellectual faults associated with clichés or stereotypes. Racism seeks to attack the person’s dignity and honour, to nurture hatred and encourage verbal or physical violence. It tends to spread false ideas to set humans against each other. Sometimes, it takes the form of an ideology, a theory explaining the inequalities between people, and thus proposes a hierarchy of human groups. Ideological racism began to develop in the 19th century with authors like Vacher de Lapouge, who wanted to create a biological basis for racism, but it became a real political system with apartheid in South Africa and the Nazism of the German Reich.