Post-War French Immigration

Immigration in Post-War France 1

According to 2010 census, over 5.5 million immigrants resided in France at the time.

63% of these were non-European.

Most Popular Nationalities:European                      Non-European- Portugal (588, 276)      - Algeria (729, 814)- Italy (303, 324)            - Morocco (671, 225)- Spain (248, 324)          - Turkey (245, 714)                                        - Tunisia (241, 904)

Late 19th century to mid 1940s: low birth rate

France in need of reconstruction after WWII

In need of temporary labour migration, ie: immigrants would undertake jobs whilst population replenished itself & then return to country of origin

1945: Ordinance (Durable immigration policy concerning family regrouping and integration) + Office national d'immigration (providing residences of one, five and ten years) set up

First ONIs established in Italy with limited success (Italy was already doing well economically)

1956: la SONACOTRAL (accomodated Algerians despite lack of housing)

1958: le Fonds d'action sociale (taxing employers and employees to help Algerian immigrants 

According to Jean-Marcel Jeanneny, le Ministre des affaires sociaux in 1966, illegal immigration not necessarily useless, as they were desperate for labour.

1947: Algerian Statute (call for Algerian Assembly with one house representing Europeans and 'meritorious' Muslims and another representing all other Muslims. Yet many abstained or voted against statute.

1962: Accords d'Evian (ended Algerian war with formal ceasefire & formalised co-operative exchanges between Algeria and France. Led to Algeria's independence 4 months later

Various bilateral trade agreements:- 1961: Spain- 1963: Morocco, Tunisia, Mali and Mauritania- 1964: Senegal

While the number of European immigrants fell, the number of African immigrants rose sharply

Whilst the proportion of female immigrants rose for all nationalities, this was most evident amongst the African population

Une immigration incontrolée? Was orginally encouraged in response to economic need as temporary immigration de travail with projet de retour intended later on

SONACOTRAL in place, but Algerians would still fall victim to marchands de sommeil (dodgy landlords) and in larger cities often ended up in bidonvilles (shanty towns)

Immigration de travail -> Immigration de peuplement

Early 1970s: End of trente glorieuses (three prosperous decades following end of WWII), first oil crisis, low growth, rising unemployment

1974: Suspension of immigration

The idea of un projet de retour came to an end. Immigrants concerned with le regroupement familial

1977: Lionel Stoléru's aide au retour of 10,000 francs + other attempts to limit regroupement familial

1978: Conseil d'Etat rules le regroupement familial a legal right

Immigration in Post-War France 2

Immigration as a political/social problem:

- Visibility - housing/ education/ health services- 2nd generation less passive (?) than parents- Immigrants easy scape goat in recession- Focus on Maghrebian/ Sub-Saharan immigrants- Perceived as unintegrated- Banlieue lawless, non-French space

Housing for immigrants:Bidonvilles -> Cités de transit/ 'transition estates' -> habitations à loyer modéré (HLMs)/ 'rent controlled housing'  

Banlieues chaudes/ cités HLM around Lyon, Paris and Strasbourg presented by media as having high % immigrant population, high unemployment, crime and delinquency.Periodic rioting through 80s, 90s, 2005 and 2007, normally spurred on by 'les bavures policières' (acts of police brutality)

1975: 2/3 of 'foreign' workers in industrial jobs, 1/4 in construction

Foreign population concentrated: 59% in Ile de France, Rhone-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'AzurSignificant concentrations in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Alsace and Lorraine.

1975: Jobs began to disappear- De-industrialisation- Tertiarisation (shift away from primary sector [raw materials] and secondary sector [manufacturing] towards service industry)- RobotisationNon-European immigrants generally unskilledPockets of '(sub)urban' deprivation

1990:20% unemployment amongst 'foreigners' vs. 10% amongst French nationals19% unemployment amongst 22 year old men nationwideBy origin of head of household: - 12% Portugese unemployed- 23% Spanish unemployed- 39% Moroccan unemployed- 51% Algerian unemployed

VS

2011:French male unemployment: 8.8%Non- European male unemployment: 22.2%

Are Europeans easier to integrate than non-Europeans?Lower academic attainment, discrimination in employment

Political Mobilisation: - 'La Marche pour l'égalité et contre le racisme'/ 'La Marche des Beurs' -> Oct-Dec 1983, Marseille to Paris- 1984: Creation of SOS Racisme- 2005: Les Indigènes de la Republiques- Nov 2005: Le CRAN (Conseil représentatif des associations noires) set up

Beur Culture:France 2nd largest market for hip-hop in the world. Thus rappers such as MC Solaar made massive impact.1980s - 1990s: Litterature beur- Mehdi Charef, Le Thé au harem d'Archi Ahmed (1983)- Azouz Begag, Le Gone du Chaaba (1986), Béni ou le paradis privé (1989)- Soraya Nini, Ils disent que je suis une beurette, (1993)

Immigration 1

IMMIGRATION 2