France’s Annual Report on Racism Says That France Is Slightly More Tolerant — Despite More Racist Incidents

France's annual report on racism has revealed that after a four-year downward trend, the country's "tolerance index" has shown "a slight progression towards more tolerance."

The shift, says the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH), is rather puzzling, given the context of a country that recently experienced its deadliest terror attack in several decades.

But according to the report, which was published Thursday by the CNCDH, a government organization, the overall improvement of France's levels of tolerance does not spare certain minorities, who remain a target of entrenched prejudice and racism.

Muslims, for example, have been subject to higher levels of intolerance since the January 2015 terror attacks that left 20 people dead — including three gunmen — in and around Paris. There were more recorded attacks against Muslims in January 2015, says the report, than in the whole of 2014.

Speaking to VICE News on Friday, a spokesperson for the CNCDH said the increase could in part be explained by raised levels of public awareness following the movement of national unity that followed the attacks.

In short, more people are likely to have reported racist incidents post-Charlie Hebdo — spurred on by the spirit of national unity — than would have in the past.

According to the CNCDH, the post-Charlie Hebdo demonstrations have had a somewhat positive effect on France's overall levels of racism, and have helped "defuse xenophobic tensions." Thirty percent of those interviewed for the survey said they had taken part in one of the many unity marches across France in the wake of the shootings. A further 35 percent said they were unable to take part but wished they had.

The report — which puts education at the front line of the fight against racism — was initially meant to provide an overview of 2014, and interviews for the survey were carried out in Fall 2014, shortly after Islamic State (IS) militants killed French hiker Hervé Gourdel in Algeria.

But instead of releasing their findings in early 2015, as planned, CNCDH researchers decided to test French opinion again in January, so that results would take into account the public mood in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

The "flash survey" conducted over 10 days in January confirmed that overall, the tragic events had "strengthened respect and tolerance of minorities" — not made French people more racist.

Following the attacks, tolerance of people of color went up by 4 points, and tolerance of Muslims and people of North African descent went up by 1.6 points. Meanwhile, tolerance of Jewish people — a community that was specifically targeted on January 9, when gunman Amédy Coulibaly held and killed hostages at a Paris kosher supermarket — went up by 3.7 points.

CNDCH president Christine Lazerges told French weekly Journal du Dimanche, "In the face of these tragic events, social ties have strengthened, rather than weakened."

The paradox of French intolerance
So can tolerance and racist incidents both be on the up? Speaking to French daily Libération on Thursday, Lazerges explained that France's propensity for intolerance could have just reached a "threshold."

The report also notes, "There is no absolute symmetry between racist opinions and racist actions," adding that the country's general attitude to racism cannot be confused with racist attacks "which could be attributed to particularly violent minorities."

This hint of optimism will perhaps not reassure France's Jewish population, which has experienced a surge in anti-Semitic incidents over the past 12 months. CNCDH president Lazerges told French daily Libération, "The vast majority of people consider Jews to be just like any other French people, but there are also prejudices over power, money. The concerns of the Jewish community - urged by Benjamin Netanyahu to 'return to Israel' — are not completely unfounded."

A report published in 2015 by the French Jewish Community Protection Services (SPCJ) claims that anti-Semitic attacks in France more than doubled between 2013 and 2014. The report also says that 51% of racist attacks carried out in France in 2014 were against Jews, despite Jews representing less than 1% of the French population.

Researchers also recorded a peak in anti-Semitic incidents carried out in the months of June, July, and August, during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict.

Despite the increase in anti-Semitic incidents, the French Jewish community is still — on the whole — more tolerated than France's Muslims.

Forty-five percent of those interviewed by the CNCDH said they had a negative view of Islam, and four out of 10 people saw not consuming pork or alcohol as an obstacle to societal integration.

Some of those interviewed said they would like to see France's prized tradition of secularism act as a "bulwark" against Islam. "Secularism is no longer used to resolve conflicts," said Lazerges, "but serves as a pretext to reject [cultural] differences."

The report also notes the worrying rise of anti-Roma sentiment, fueled by anti-immigrant hostility. The French government's harsh policy of forced evictions, says the CNCDH, has encouraged the "institutionalization" of anti-Roma prejudice.

Related: French Mayor Accused of Refusing to Allow Roma Family to Bury Dead Infant in Public Cemetery. Read more here.

Speaking to Libération on Thursday, Lazerges drew the links between the intolerance and the 2008 recession, saying, "With xenophobia, there is the fear that the Other will take what little you possess. […] If tomorrow, we no longer have 10 percent unemployment, there could be fewer manifestations of racism."

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