Thursday 12 October 2017

Date 6, More investigations

Questionnaire In Opposing Part Of Paris

Today we thought it would be a good idea to conduct the same interviews but in a predominantly white part of Paris, to see the difference of opinion amongst different groups. The outcome was very interesting! The group was met with indifference to the problems in Paris, denial about any discrimination existing and in some cases blatant Islamophobia! 

Ameera met an 8 year old boy from Bosnia who approached her begging for money. Assuming he was Arab, she began speaking to him in Arabic but he quickly explained to her his parents were Bosnian but he was born in France. She asked why he wasn’t at school and he said that when his parents came to France they were refugees and were homeless, so he was born on the streets and never received any official paperwork from the government confirming he can attend school (or that he even exists!). She then asked him if he attended  nursery and he said ‘what is nursery?’. She asked if he knew about Palestine and he said ‘What is Palestine?’ As Ameera asked more and more questions the boy began to get suspicious and ran across the river to his family who were also begging for money.  Ameera then attempted to ask other people to answer questions but had no luck in talking to anyone else. 

Ali attempted to speak to many French people but he said no one had any interest in talking to him. Finally he managed to meet a 45 year old man from Tunisia who works in a local supermarket and happened to be on his lunch break. When asked if he thought there was discrimination in France he said yes, due to the fact that there is a lot of different cultures living here. He said outside of this country, France is presented as a land of opportunities and dreams to do and be whatever you want. As a result many people come and become faced with a very different reality. He thinks it's good that France is very welcoming to refugees, because they are in danger in their own countries so as a privileged country France has a right to help these people. But the problem he sees is that France welcomes people in, and then doesn’t offer them any support when they get here.  He explained to Ali how he wanted to change the idea that France is full of opportunity because it's not fair for people to turn up here and become instantly homeless and hungry. He says it's no wonder that the French people think all foreigners are unemployed and live off the government when there is literally no one employing them! His goal was to leave France and move to London to pursue a better life, as he believes life in London is better.

Ali reflected on his conversation with the man by saying to the rest of the group he found it interesting how the man was so vocal about how everyone wrongly believed France was so amazing and yet he believes the same about London. 'Everyone needs to dream’, he concluded. 

Anas spoke to a man whose father was Tunisian and mother was Italian.  He said he believed he was in a great position because if Arabs ask where he is from he says Tunisia and when French people ask he says Italy so he is immediately accepted by two different groups of people. He began to tell Anas about the different kinds of discrimination he sees especially towards African and Arab communities and how he becomes almost immune to it all by being mixed race. He said he doesn’t think discrimination is increasing or decreasing. 

Afnan’s experience in Paris was incredibly unpleasant today. She managed to find a white, French woman who was happy to answer questions. When asked if there was any discrimination in France the woman said simply no, never. She believes it is a great country, with no racism where everyone is treated equally. When Afnan got to the questions regarding Muslims, the woman became very shocked. ‘I was talking about black people!’ she exclaimed. She tried to explain to Afnan how black and white people are treated equally but not Muslims because ‘they are all terrorists’. Afnan, managing to remain calm and relaxed
replied to the woman by saying ‘and what about me? Am I a terrorist?’. Obviously taken aback by where the conversation had gone, the woman went on to her explain her theory of categorising Muslims. She said how all Muslims were terrorists because ISIS are all muslims and they are all terrorists, all muslims that wear black are definitely terrorists, but Afnan was okay because she was wearing colours. Logistically her argument was quite a mess, before you even get to the moral implications of her beliefs but Afnan handled the conversation with total professionalism and didn’t let the woman’s views phase her.

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