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This article focuses on the evolution of the interaction between Chinese migrant workers in France and the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), France’s second largest labor union. My central question is: what can the case of Chinese migrants in France tell us about the relationship among trade unions, migrant workers, and their respective ethnic economies? Analyzing the CGT’s changing strategies for mobilizing Chinese workers demonstrates the main tensions between the organization strategies and the employment relationship in family-based small-medium enterprises. This article will show the importance of intersectional analysis in the study of the structure of ethnic economies and how, in this case, the employer–employee relationship is a source of domination rather than a mechanism for mobilization. Moreover, while it is possible to include legislative change as a union movements’ goal, it also demonstrates how a political goal, in this case the legalization of workers, can undermine the traditional goal of pursuing improvement to working conditions.
Abstract
This article compares various collective actions carried out by ethnic Chinese residents against violence in their communities, and the negotiations these residents initiated with local authorities on this issue, in two suburbs of Paris, Aubervilliers and La Courneuve. Although French national policy toward immigrant minorities has been guided by the principle of “color-blindness,” some municipalities in the Paris region have gradually recognized the increasing diversity of their populations, and have incorporated the vocabulary of multiculturalism in their local governance. Consequently, the municipalities’ different approaches to identifying and coping with violence against Chinese residents vary according to how they perceive the diversity of local residents, and according to inter-ethnic relations in those areas. We consider that the different degrees of recognition with regard to Chinese communities within the two municipalities have affected the consequences of the Chinese residents’ collective actions, and their sense of inclusion in the cities where they live. Beyond the appearance of inter-ethnic conflicts, our comparative study demonstrates the intersectional cause of violence against the Chinese population—especially with regard to the disparities, both social and spatial, among Chinese residents themselves.
Abstract
Since 2010, Chinese residents and Chinese French citizens have denounced unequal treatment in French society, especially focusing on the lack of preventative measures taken against racially targeted violent robberies. In 2016, a major demonstration brought together around 30,000 people, marking a turning point in the activists’ cause. The second generation took a clearly more active role in this protest and (re)framed the demonstrators’ claims to emphasize the structural racism that lies behind the violence aimed at their communities. Since then, the descendants of Asian migrants have developed initiatives to fight against stereotypes and related acts of violence. Based on qualitative research into different forms of collective action, this article highlights how some have engaged in online campaigns to highlight the stereotypes and everyday racism associated with Asian populations, and others have engaged with the legal process to see that petty crimes are recognized as acts of racism.