Opinion The outsider card

The magazine defended the title as a pun, albeit in bad taste. Idiomatically, “gets her banana back” also means “gets her form back”. But the racism behind the slur was obvious to all. As the face of the new gay-marriage law, Taubira has been attracting the ire of the law’s opponents, with children going so far as to wave bananas at her during a protest rally.

The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights stepped into the breach and condemned this racist abuse, which it said was indicative of “the rising racism, xenophobia and intolerance aimed at members of ethnic and religious minorities, as well as migrants, in many European countries.” There is no question of tarring all French people with the same brush. But a poll conducted by the French national commission for human rights in 2012 found that almost 30 per cent of the French considered themselves to be racist, with almost two-thirds stating that “racist reactions were justified in the case of certain behaviour.” Racist incidents rose by 23 per cent in 2012 and, over the last 20 years, have increased fivefold.

The reasons are not far to seek. France is experiencing rising unemployment and a persistent recession. And the far-right Front National is using this as kindling to keep resentment against immigrants alive. “Immigrants = unemployment, vote for the FN, the French come first”, say their posters. Immigrants are used as punching bags and are blamed for poaching jobs that would have otherwise gone to the “French of pure stock”. In an attempt to stem the leaching of votes in favour of the extreme right, politicians from both the right-wing UMP and the left-wing Socialist party have been resorting to an anti-immigrant discourse. This in turn has heightened the perception of a national identity under siege from the growing numbers of Muslim immigrants of north and west African origin. Some politicians have even raised the spectre of “anti-white racism” and worry that soon, French consumers will be obliged to buy halal meat for lack of an alternative and that during Ramzan, young white boys in Muslim neighbourhoods will not be able to eat their pain-au-chocolat openly.

There is a clear rise in xenophobia with 69 per cent of the French now feeling that there are too many immigrants in France as compared to 47 per cent in 2009. According to the weekly, Le Point, the French routinely estimate immigrants at 25 per cent of the population, whereas they only account for 8.2 per cent.

Though African immigrants may have made France their home for two or more generations, their overt “clinging” to their own culture, customs and religion renders them foreign in the eyes of the French. France is not founded on the melting-pot principle of multiculturalism but rather on the corner stones of integration and assimilation. In the largely conservative French society, social mobility for immigrants is an uphill task. The lack of immigrants in top positions in government, media and the corporate sector is a sad reflection of French conservatism and is in stark contrast with the UK. In spite of having appropriate qualifications, many immigrants are never called for a job interview, with their names and addresses betraying their foreignness.

Racial profiling by the police, though covert, definitely exists. The Roma community is also specifically targeted, as it is perceived to be unwilling to adhere to the French way of life. “Overdose of the Roma,” proclaims a recent cover of the reactionary weekly, Valeurs Actuelles. Indians, on the other hand, have long benefited from India’s privileged place in the French imagination and were generally welcomed. This is changing with the rise in the numbers of South Asian immigrants. Vive la différence is no longer the accepted by-word. The widespread use of social media and the anonymity that it provides encourages the use of abusive and race-based taunts without fear of consequences.

In an encouraging sign, thousands took to the streets of Paris and several other French cities last month to protest against racism. Though the large majority of French people are undoubtedly not racist, racism is definitely on the upswing in France. The dire economic straits France finds itself in today only compounds the problem. And with both main political parties doing little to thwart the Front National’s ascent and even playing the anti-immigrant card, the by-product can unfortunately only be an increase in racist incidents.

Kapoor-Sharma is a Paris-based interpreter and writer