From the 1983 March for Equality and Against Racism to the 2023 riots in France: 'Even when outbursts of anger recur, they fail to translate into political action'
ConversationWhile one focused on the banlieues in the 1980s, during a peaceful movement of young residents from immigrant backgrounds, the other looked at the following generations, marked by the riots of 2005 and 2023. In a conversation with Le Monde, François Dubet and Fabien Truong analyze 40 years of controversy surrounding the situation in French working-class neighborhoods.
October 15 marks the 40th anniversary of the 1983 March for Equality and Against Racism in France. Initiated by young residents of Les Minguettes housing estate in Vénissieux, near Lyon, after months of police violence and clashes with law enforcement, this endeavor advocated for the principles of non-violence, the value of fraternity and the virtues of co-education. Setting out from Marseille on October 15, the marchers were greeted triumphantly by 100,000 people in Paris on December 3, 1983, before being received at the Elysée Palace by former socialist president François Mitterrand.
Forty years later, in July 2023, the French banlieues – here referring to working-class suburbs with residents from immigrant background – were set ablaze by the death of Nahel M., a teenager killed by a policeman in Nanterre. While the origins of the anger remained the same – police violence – the murder triggered not a peaceful march, but riots. How can we analyze this contrast 40 years on? After decades of urban policy, how can we understand this enduring French "suburban issue"? To address these questions, we brought together two sociologists who have worked on working-class neighborhoods, youth and racism: François Dubet and Fabien Truong.
Professor emeritus of sociology at the Université de Bordeaux, Dubet has conducted research in several French banlieues, including at Les Minguettes, from 1983 to 1986. The result was La Galère: Jeunes en Survie ("The Struggle: Young People in Survival," untranslated, Fayard, 1987), a book that explores the 1983 March for Equality in detail. He is also the author of La Préférence pour l'Inégalité. Comprendre la Crise des Solidarités ("The Preference for Inequality: Understanding the Solidarity Crisis," untranslated, Seuil, 2014); Le Temps des Passions Tristes. Inégalités et Populisme ("The Time of Sad Passions: Inequalities and Populism," untranslated, Seuil, 2019) and Tous Inégaux, Tous Singuliers. Repenser la Solidarité ("All Unequal, All Unique: Rethinking Solidarity," untranslated, Seuil, 2022).
Professor of sociology at Université Paris-VIII, Truong focuses on the generation that came after the one Dubet met in Les Minguettes in the 1980s. From the 2005 riots to the 2015 terror attacks, he followed the careers of around 20 of his former high school students in Seine-Saint-Denis (Jeunesses Françaises: Bac +5 Made in Banlieue, "French youth: Bac +5 Made in Banlieue," untranslated, La Découverte, 2015). He is also the author of Des Capuches et des Hommes: Trajectoires de "Jeunes de Banlieues" ("Hoodies and Men: Trajectories of Suburban Youth," untranslated, Buchet-Chastel, 2013), Loyautés Radicales. L'Islam et les "Mauvais Garçons" de la Nation ("Radical Loyalties: Islam and the Nation's 'Bad Boys,'" untranslated, La Découverte, 2017) and La Taille des Arbres ("Pruning Trees," untranslated, Rivages, 2022).
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