Violence in the French Suburbs: Examining the Failure of Education and Integration for Children of Immigrant Origin

This is a column by Nurudine Oyewolé, expert-consultant in communication and apolitical analyst, on the violence in the French suburbs following the death of Nahel. For him, this shows the failure of education and integration of children of immigrant origin.

On Tuesday June 27, 2023, Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager was shot dead in Nanterre by a police officer in France, for refusing to comply. The police officer in question was placed in police custody because the video which shows the scene of the crime undermines his version of the facts which speaks of self-defense.

This umpteenth death of a teenager under the bullets of the police in France provoked violence first in Nanterre, which spread through several cities in France.

For our part, such an explosion of violence in a country whose motto is freedom-equality-fraternity forces us to reflect on its underlying reasons. Indeed, by listening to the analysts, we can retain what follows and learn from it ourselves.

Firstly, the young people interviewed in the suburbs, mostly from immigrant parents, mainly say that they do not feel considered by France as full-fledged French people. This is illustrated by untimely police checks, bordering on harassment, as if to tell them that they are not at home. Consequently, the police blunders recorded in recent years are experienced by these young people as racist acts.

As proof, a statement issued by the majority union “Alliance” of peacekeepers and Unsa-police close to the far right affirms: “the time is no longer for union action, but for the fight against harmful “. When a union in a law enforcement corporation calls some of the citizens “harmful,” there are serious inconsistencies and a basic structural problem. This outing has also been condemned by the left, which qualifies it as “sedition”. Moreover, the UN has asked France to “seriously look into the problems of racism and discrimination within its police forces”.

Second, there is the issue of endemic poverty in the suburbs. Young people are quickly dropped out of school and thus reduce their chances of good socio-professional integration. The only way out very often is drug sales channels and the easy greed they offer. In reality, the observation is that inappropriate responses have not been made over several years to this situation which is a time bomb, which ended up bursting. It is urgent that a real policy of training and socio-professional integration be implemented to better take advantage of this suburban youth.

Third, there is the issue of child rearing and parental responsibility. In France, the policy of the “child-king” has weakened the authority of parents, unable to administer reasonable punishments to their offspring, under pain of condemnation or being deprived of custody of them. The result is here today. Children have been used to obeying no one. As a result, they challenge state authority. Here, in Côte d’Ivoire, when students decided to attack the authority of the State with the phenomenon of early leave, the State provided them with the appropriate response by putting them in civic centers to recovery.

It appears here once again the fundamental question of education, training and the role of parents. It is important to let the parents, far from any mistreatment of course, inculcate the basic values ​​of life in their children. Without it, the child becomes a tyrant for them and society. Families and African countries often seduced by imported models should learn from this.

In reality, children of immigrant origin constitute a real opportunity for France. It is up to the French authorities not to give in to the sirens of exclusion and to reflect on their better integration into French society in order to transform them into true agents of peace and development.

NURUDINE OYEWOLE

Expert-consultant en communication

Policy analyst