France: trains to deport immigrants
01 July 2003
The French government announced in July their intention to charter trains to send immigrants back to their country of origin. This is the brainchild of Interior Minister Charles Pasqua who had demonstrated his hardline attitude to non-whites in France during the riots that shook Paris and Lyon just ten days after the national elections last April.
It is planned to repatriate those immigrants who fall foul of the new nationality code and immigration laws that were passed by the French parliament at the end of June. Pasqua said he intended to commandeer three carriages per train this summer to transport people to Marseille, from where they would be put on boats to North Africa.
He ordered Jacques Fournier, the chief of the SNCF, the French state railway company, to study the logistics of the operation and to carry out feasibility studies. Fournier, however, has made clear that he is opposed to the measures. In a letter to the anti-racist organisation MRAP, he said: "this subject touches on fundamental guarantees of the person". But he went on to point out that the requisitioning was covered by law and that SNCF had a legal obligation to carry out these orders.
Opposition to the charter trains has also come from virtually the entire staff of SNCF, whose trade unions have announced that they will use every means possible to prevent the trains leaving. Pasqua has not set a specific date for the trains to start departing with the transportees, but the unions say they will publicise the dates as soon as they know them, to enable demonstrations in the Gare de Lyon in Paris.
One of the problems that the union faces is the possibility of mass sackings. Drivers and other staff who refuse to comply with the requisition orders can be forced to do so under an old French law which is basically equivalent to martial law. Those railworkers refusing to work under this law will lose their jobs, and have no right to an industrial tribunal.
If this situation were to occur, however, the government would be in the unfortunate position of having to get immigrants forcibly placed on the trains and physically try and get the drivers to cooperate.
The whole scenario has been likened to the situation in France during the Second World War, when the collaborationist Vichy government requisitioned trains to transport French Jews to Nazi Germany. This has led to widespread opposition with people expressing their horror at a return to the fascist tactics of yesteryear.
A large demonstration took place outside the Gare de Lyon on 12 July, where railworkers, anti-racist groups and others made it clear that they would physically block the departure of the trains, by standing on the track if necessary. "No to the trains of shame" was the call accompanied by a loud chorus of "On the tracks, on the tracks!". Given the level of opposition, it remains to be seen whether the French government can execute their plan without incurring the wrath of not just French citizens, but the rest of Europe too.
Reflex, Paris.