Paperless but not hopeless
On 23 August the police broke down the door of the St Bernard church in Paris, and used tear gas to expel several hundred anti-racists, and arrest some 270 African immigrants, including ten hunger strikers. Jean Dupont
Most were legal residents of France for many years, before an administrative loophole or missed deadline stripped them of their legal status. Since many of them are the partners of legal residents, or parents of French citizens, they cannot be expelled from France as easily as more recent migrants.
The last thing most immigrants in this situation want is to draw attention to themselves, and begin a confrontation with the state. But this group reasoned that enough was enough, and that only exposing their kafkaesque situation, and appealing for a humanitarian solution, would force the state to regularise their situation and reform the absurd laws which continue to strip longterm residents of their legal status.
The mass media has tended to present these men and women as illegal immigrants, rather than the victims of illogical acts by the French state. As they tramped from one temporary home to another (from the St. Antoine Church, via the LCR Paris office, the SUD HQ, to the St. Bernard Church), gathering supporters as the weeks went on, the Catholic hierarchy washed its hands of them. And some "respectable" leaders of the 1980s antiracist movement tried to split the movement from "the radicals," proposing themselves as intermediaries for a pre-selected group of "justified" applicants for residence status. Manipulation?
Refusing to believe that African immigrants could organise themselves, the media looked everywhere for proof of the manipulation of the "paperless" (sans papiers) by naive Priests, and the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR).
In fact, the LCR was scrupulous in respecting and promoting the auto-organisation of the paperless protesters, and their genuine leadership of the solidarity movement. Despite occasional differences over tactics, and doubts over the possibility of "negotiations in good faith" to which the Africans hoped the government would agree.
This honest approach enabled the LCR to establish a relationship of trust with the African protesters, their supporters in 'the movement' and the numerous personalities who came forward to show their solidarity when the state threatened a "muscular solution.' "2
There is another reason why the LCR was right. The direct testimony of the paperless themselves has exposed the true nature of the discriminatory laws which support the 28 International Viewpoint growth of xenophobia. It has also provoked an unprecedented wave of solidarity, and the re-emergence of an anti-racist and immigrant rights milieu which goes beyond the traditional circles of far left militants.
The anti-racist movement in support of these paperless Africans has become another expression of revolt against the authoritarian and unpopular regime of President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Alain Juppé. Juppé the axe-man
Since the police intervention on 23 August, the state has continued its strategy of division and intimidation. They have let it be known that the "dossier will be regularised" by awarding residence permits to a number of those concerned. 40% is the magic figure - enough to demonstrate humanitarian concern, without surrendering to the mob.
But all this is just public relations anyway. Only 50 of the 270 applicants have been promised residence permits. Others have been imprisoned because of their "irregular" status. And the threat of expulsion from France still hangs over their heads.
Different factions of the right are competing to present themselves as the firmest opponents of immigrant rights. Some deputies support [yet another] reform of the electoral law, to allow the National Front back into parliament.
While the right hardens up, the left seems to be wallowing in its old mess. Socialist leader L. Jospin has resuscitated his party's scandalous "refusal of illegal immigration" and called for a hard line against asylum seekers who are refused refugee status. Rather than fighting against xenophobic tendencies in the electorate, Jospin panders and stimulates them. Whatever Jospin thinks the Socialist Party can win from this, the main result of his current opposition" strategy will be a strengthening of the far right.
None of this is particularly new. Successive Socialist Party governments made their own contribution to France's restrictions on the rights of immigrants and refugees.
The endless discourse on the dangers of immigration has contaminated many people, particularly those who have seen their own
Actress Emmanuelle Béart was one of many personalities who stayed in the church until the very end. " . "I was flabbergasted.... and outraged that these people, all of whom had lived legally, normally in France, with their tamilies, tor tive, ten or more years... had maliciously been labelled as "secret immigrants. No-one is fooled. The motivation behind the governments actions are purely electoral! They have one eye on the 1998 elections, and all they are doing is accepting the logic of the National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen
"I want to keep the picture of these men and women, and the lesson in dignity which they have given us." [EDJ, 29 August]
lives decline under the combined shocks of mass unemployment and worsening job security. The government's popularity actually increased to 49% during the standoff at the church. Only 19% of voters, for the moment, want "less strict" immigration laws. Only 12% support the immediate granting of residence permits to all those involved in the occupation. Among workers, only 37% of those polled by Le Monde on August 26th said they sympathised with the demands of the paperless occupiers of the church. Unemployment and prejudice
Unfortunately, some of those who defended the Africans for humanitarian reasons, tried to convince the government to regularise their situation by stressing the ecolomic value of immigratior 1, which wouk depress wages and make French goods more competitive. Lawyer Simon Foreman wrote, in Le Monde, that "men have the right to work... [even] for half the minimum wage." These voices were heard more often than those, like Laurent Joffrin, who wrote, in Libération, that "certain sectors of the economy are particularly hungry for "black' [underground] workers. The solution would be to bring these sectors into the legal framework."
n une centre-lent weekly & Evenemen e ieudi. Jean-François Kahn complaine that "the "progressive' position looks a lot like the arguments of ultra-liberal economists and conservatives like Milton Friedman, or Gary Becker, one of Bob Dole's counsellors, who proposes a free market in labour migration, so as to reduce wages, and provoke the collapse of social security and minimum wage legislation. Faced with ideas like this, the working-class rejection of illegal immigration does have a certain sense. The next step
Recent activities include the September 6th protest outside Air France's office on the Champs Elysées (Paris poshest shopping street). Iransport workers' unions called the demonstration to expose the company's (profitable) role in the deportation process.
"Air transport workers are concerned because the powers that be are not attacking the real problems - be it the North-South divide, or the role of those French employers, including Air France, which themselves exploit immigrant workers through the growing web of sub-contracted services," CGT representative P. Bonnefous told the LCR weekly Rouge on 12 September. "There have also been problems in the planes, when the police handcuff, or tape the deportees to their seats. There have been heated debates inside the planes with the other passengers — many of whom come from the same countries as the deportees. Cabin crew have reacted strongly - some have refused to work on flights of this type."
This and other local actions are building momentum for the national day of action on 28 September. This meeting will demand not only an end to the expulsions, but abolition of the laws which transform legal immigrants into undocumented, "paperless" ones. *