The museum of immigration was a very moving and eye opening experience. I did not realize how vast the extent of the French colonial empire was prior to going to this museum. There were many countries and regions that I didn’t realize were colonized by France. The most interesting thing to me was the amount of Muslim regions that were colonized by France and how they impacted state policy. One example of this was how the countries of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria were colonized and collectively referred to as the Maghreb. Many of these people who are from diaspora communities now participate in their own social movements, and many of the colonies had their own revolutions to gain independence from France. One such social movement that was heavily influenced by diaspora or immigrant communities was the one about an unfair courts system. Many people who were either killed by police brutality or due to racism never got proper justice because of their race. Race is still a taboo topic in French political discussion by some. The families of these victims , sometimes even kids , still continue to hold protests and put up posters for them that talk about getting justice for them. It seems that the government is turning a blind eye to these groups of people in France. There were many posters displayed in the museum of immigration that discussed these topics.
Another story that I found very interesting was that when France needed people to fight in World War 2 ,they brought over people from their colonies, and many of these people were from the region referred to as the Maghreb. Many of these soldiers died in battle and after they died , the government of France built the Grand Mosque to honor them because a majority of these people were Muslim. I had visited the grand mosque before but I did not know the reasoning behind why it was made and visiting it again after knowing this background made the experience very different. France’s relationship with Muslim people is very interesting as these immigrants were vital for development and labor in France. At the same time that France honors the sacrifices that people made for the colonial empire, it continues to mistreat its immigrant groups through discriminatory laws, policies, and unfair justice systems. Due to republicanism and secularity the discussion of race is deemed to be a very leftist political issue that is taboo in mainstream discussions. There are also similarities for the social movements occurring in France and America relating to police brutality. Police brutality is an issue in the United States as well and it affects people of color disproportionately.
Revolutionary Cities 