Macron bets on the anti-Blanquer to deepen the case of National Education

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Photo credits: Martin BUREAU/AFP

“Everything has to change so that nothing changes”… This is what Emmanuel Macron seems to have understood well when he tackles the heavy task of finding a successor to Jean-Michel Blanquer. Hated by teachers, the previous minister distinguished himself not only by the acceleration of austerity policies applied to schools and the catastrophic management of the health crisis, but also by authoritarianism and the hunt for “Islamo-leftists » and « wokists ». So much so that on January 13, more than 70% of teachers deserted their classes during an unprecedented strike in National Education…

In this context, the appointment of Pap Ndiaye aims to make believe in a radical change for this new five-year term of Emmanuel Macron, by giving pledges to his left while the pressure of the NUPES is felt for the legislative elections, while trying to conciliate the personnel of the National Education, very largely hostile to the previous ministry. But if the government changes the packaging, the gift remains poisoned for the teachers.

Pap Ndiaye, a figure of academic anti-racism integrated into the seraglio of Emmanuel Macron

The appointment of Pap Ndiaye in the same government as Gérald Darmanin surprised, and for good reason. The historian is a figure of university anti-racism, author in particular of the book The black condition, published in 2009, in which he analyzes the experience and perception of black people in France. Considering, in his work, the systemic nature of racism in France and the United States, he also takes a position several times. On France Inter, June 4, 2020, he recognizes the reality of police violencereferring to: “The attitude of denial about police violence in France [qui] is classic”and, in 2021, he reacts to the government’s offensive against “Islamo-leftists” at the university : “This term of Islamo-leftism does not designate any reality at the university. What strikes me above all is the degree of ignorance of the political world of the research that is carried out at the university in the social sciences and the humanities. »

Positions that do not prevent him from being “rated” with politicians, “reassured by his side detached from the struggle of races and the struggle of classes”, as underlined by The world. Close to power, Pap Ndiaye has followed the “classic” course of the academic well integrated into the bourgeois “elites” : preparatory class for Henri IV, ENS, aggregation, thesis in the United States, lecturer at EHESS, etc. A career which, combined with the conciliatory character of the new minister, made him a left-wing guarantor for governments which needed to give themselves a progressive veneer at little cost. He is thus one of the co-creators of the CRAN (Representative Council of Black Associations), founded in 2005 and whose action was welcomed by the entire political class at the time, in particular on the right under the Sarkozy presidency where the CRAN advises government on “diversity” issues. He was notably appointed, in 2021, director of the French National Museum of the History of Immigration by Emmanuel Macron.

Who is Pap Ndiaye the new Minister of Education? Thread about a progressive intellectual known for his anti-racist positions who will have to pursue the case of public education ⬇️ 1/8

— Gabriel Ichen (@g_ichen) May 20, 2022

A “radical” change of profile which aims to better pass future reforms

The profile of the new minister thus contrasts with that of his predecessor, who was the advanced point of state Islamophobia and widely contested for his authoritarianism. The appointment of Pap Ndiaye, who wants to be the counterpoint of Blanquer, aims to meet the expectations of teachers, but above all, as underlined The echoes, trade unions, with which the new government wants to recreate “social dialogue” in order to be able to pursue more serenely its program of destruction of National Education. For Sophie Vénétitay, secretary general of the SNES-FSU, it was thus necessary « romp[r]e with the method of Jean-Michel Blanquer which is unanimously decried, [marquée par] lack of consultation, contempt, refusal to hear the contradiction”. ” Soft voice “, “media”, “peacemaker”having the spirit of conciliation, Pap Ndiaye thus wants to be the exact opposite of a Blanquer “brutal in his method”.

A communication strategy that aims to get the pill out of the hands of National Education teachers and staff. Because Pap Ndiaye’s mission remains the same as that of Blanquer: to deepen the counter-reforms desired by Emmanuel Macron, which aim to make ever more savings on the backs of students and staff, by degrading and making ever more precarious the Education sector.

The first task of the new minister will thus be to manage the current recruitment crisis, which is only the consequence of the new competition reform imposed by Blanquer, and the deterioration of working conditions and salaries within Education. national. Degradations that have increased under the Blanquer ministry, whatever the minister may have claimed: it was under the Blanquer ministry that the salary of new teachers reached a historic low, representing only 1.1 times the minimum wage. Above all, the new minister will have to apply the “pact” imposed on teachers by Emmanuel Macron, in the form of “working more to earn (not much) more”, with the announced objective of 30% acceptance among teachers already in post – who, unlike future newcomers to the profession, will have the choice of whether or not to be imposed tasks and overtime. All against the background of the announced return of pension reform, even though the first round was marked by a significant mobilization of National Education personnel.

Blanquer or Ndiaye: same Macron, same fight against the breakage of National Education!

If the appointment of a figure of anti-racism can arouse hope, we must not forget that Emmanuel Macron is not afraid of big differences: at the same time, Darmanin is again Minister of the Interior, and the debate on the burkini resurfaces within the government, while the repression of the teachers of the Pasteur school, accused of transforming their school into a “self-managed bastion” sic. follows its course. Close to Emmanuel Macron, conciliatory, the new Minister of National Education will only apply the directives of his government.

Contrary to what the government would have us believe, the appointment of Ndiaye is far from constituting hope for teachers and education personnel. It is the result of a calculation that is both electoral and a strategy to smoothly pass reforms which will not be easy.

The horizon, for teachers and National Education staff, thus remains that of increased precariousness in their profession, a deterioration in working conditions and the application, at school, of authoritarian, managerial and repressive methods, in a dynamic that joins the methods already applied to France Telecom and the SNCF – with the consequences that we know.

Far from giving in to “social dialogue” by asking for “strong acts” from the minister, as the FSU did as soon as the appointment of Pap Ndiaye was announced, it is the “third social round” that we must impose on the government, by preparing our mobilizations, in the street and in our establishments. There is no doubt that Macron II will only be the continuation of Macron I, with, in addition, an economic crisis and inflation that will only deepen. And the new minister, whatever his academic positions, will in no way be a bulwark against the reality of the violence of the Emmanuel Macron regime, always harder for the working world, always softer for big business.

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