T
his unresolved question is fundamental for French society, and for the left in particular. How can the cohabitation of increasingly diverse populations, who are attached to asserting their own histories and less and less tolerant of persistent discrimination, be encouraged? The path forward must avoid two pitfalls: On one side, the ritual invocation of republican egalitarian ideals without concrete progress; on the other, community-based division, which sows the seeds of conflict.
This question is anything but new. Between the 1980s and 2000s, a semblance of political consensus emerged around the idea of "integration," which was halfway between an "assimilation" forgetful of origins and isolation within closed "communities." This approach has since become trapped. On one side, the right and far right, clinging to the myth of an immutable national identity, now find "integration" far too generous because it recognizes both equality and attachment to one's origins. In a context intensified by the rise in identity-based claims and the memory of multiple terrorist attacks, political figures from right-wing Bruno Retailleau to far-right Marine Le Pen have pressed to leave only two options: assimilation or exclusion from the national community. This is a segregating, unrealistic, and impoverishing dichotomy.
