Opinion: French universalism sidelines ethnic minorities - why that must change

Professor Philippe Marlière Professor Philippe Marliere (UCL European Languages, Culture and Society) argues the universal principles held by the French state fail to act as a safeguard against institutional discrimination in the Conversation and suggest how minorities can become full citizens. French MP Olivier Serva has urged his government to tackle discrimination against people with afro hair. In a recent interview on the national radio station France Info, he reportedly introduced plans to present a cross-party bill to parliament by appealing to the republic's values of "liberty, equality, fraternity". He said: "This is about allowing everyone to be as they are and as they want to be, whether in it's in the workplace or anywhere else". Diversity in the public sphere is not something French republicanism, as it is currently defined, does very well. As opposed to the American and British approach to immigration that has tended to promote multiculturalism, Republican France espouses an "assimilationist" model. There is broad political consensus, from the left to the far right, that what matters is to integrate minorities, culturally, into the national community.