Finns det plats för mångkultur i den franska enigheten?: En kvalitativ undersökning om hur ett förbud mot utländska flaggor i Frankrike kan förklaras med nationalistisk och postkolonialistisk teori.

Abstract

When the Algerian national team in June 2014 won their first game in the Men’s World Cup in football since 1982, Algerians all over the world celebrated the victory. In several French cities large masses of people defiled on the street with Algerian flags and shirts, in some cases causing violence and public disorder. This made the Mayor of Nice, put a temporary ban on “ostentatious use of foreign flags in the city-centre”. However, due to protests from different organizations, the administrative court of Nice evaluated the ban and consequently suspended it. The aim of my essay has been to understand why this ban was created, by applying nationalist and post-colonialist theo-ries. By interviewing local politicians in Nice and analyse their responses I conclude that nationalist rhetoric is frequently used, independently of ideological belonging. The French nationalism is char-acterised by the republican state and its constitution; the political citizenship, the indivisible repub-lican unity and the principle of laïcitet. All these characteristics contributes to explain why foreign flags are by some considered to disturb or weaken the national identity. Another possible explana-tion consists of the post-colonial discourse that is still manifested in the French society. Since the period of colonialism the French society house a significant north-African diaspora, which accord-ing to several findings are still alienated and discriminated by public society. This ban manifests an example of how these citizens are constructed as an uncivilized and violent group that consequently needs to be controlled by special laws.