French Leaders Believe American Politics a Danger to France
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Emmanuel Macron believes America’s “woke” liberal ideals have the potential to devastate France politically, and he’s not alone — prominent French politicians and scholars fear the impact identity politics could have on France’s national identity. Historically, the French Republic has prided itself on its commitment to republican ideals like secularism. Now faced with the rapid spread of imported social theories, France finds itself struggling to reconcile its fundamental principles with new ideas that often contradict.
As America’s pop culture becomes increasingly popular in France, so too do its modern democratic ideals. Young people in France are more influenced than ever by social movements in the US, and in turn apply the corresponding political messages to analogous cultural issues in their own country. While the US struggles with racial justice and police brutality, France reckons with religious and ethnic tension. The French Muslim population faces cultural and political discrimination, and the country as a whole appears entrenched in a vicious cycle of terror attacks and increasing Islamophobia, each begetting the other. Macron believes that unification behind republican ideals is the answer — France takes issue not with Muslims, he says, but with the Islamic disconnect from some of the country’s most dearly held political values. Nevertheless, between 42 and 58 percent of French Muslims report that they have experienced discrimination based on their religion, and there appears to be an overlapping element of xenophobia towards Arabs and other minorities that make up the majority of the Muslim population. To minorities in France, racial and religious discrimination are an everyday reality, but their struggle often feels invisible to a government that adamantly avoids the topic of race.
Protesters hold signs at a Black Lives Matter march in Paris, France. (Benoit Tessier | Reuters)
The American conversation about race clashes with the current political and cultural climate in France, where it is currently illegal to collect race-based data. Despite the growing presence of Black Lives Matter protests and involvement among France’s youth, the French Republic remains resistant to accept the growing phenomenon of racial politics on its own soil. According to Macron, “woke” politics and cancel culture imported from the US are promoting a culture of separatism, something he disavows as the antithesis to French ideals. Last October, Macron publicly condemned separatism, emphasizing that France is a nation of citizens, not of individuals. France’s minister of education also made headlines this year for urging resistance against progressive teachings by American universities, and prominent French scholars have gone as far as accusing these institutions of justifying acts of Islamic terror. Despite the state’s resistance to imported progressive ideals, France’s minority groups and their allies are turning to American identity politics out of dissatisfaction with their government’s refusal to acknowledge the racial components of discrimination against Muslims.
The prevalence of America’s modern cultural ideals on social media means that it’s probably too late to stop its influence over French youth. The question is whether or not France’s governing body and more center-leaning population will be able to reconcile with the inevitable impact of identity politics going forward.
