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It should not be surprising that someone who preaches from a bath of rose petals is out of touch with the real world, yet, on the 23rd of March 2020, Madonna felt it necessary to tell the world how Covid-19 ‘has made us all equal’. Seven weeks later, there are fewer celebrities creating patronising videos from their mansions, fewer people claiming we are all in the same boat. It is only after seven weeks of lockdown, that we are beginning to see this situation for what it really is. People are beginning to take stock of their privileged circumstances and of the importance of gratitude. The protests in America, however, demonstrate the narrow-mindedness of many people who still believe they are being unfairly treated. This is a virus that catalyses social inequality and should be making wealth and privilege disparity impossible to ignore. So why is that not the case?
We have seen communities come together, and we have seen those that have been torn apart by this virus. The French banlieues is one of those communities that has suffered immeasurably, and it has resulted in unrest. The inherent socio-economic disadvantages of France’s major cities are starkly obvious when you drive out of the centre of Paris, beyond the périphérique (ring road), to the suburbs, or banlieues. These areas comprise high-rise housing projects, low incomes, high crime rates, and high rates of unemployment, and are well-known within France for being dangerous, impoverished areas, with a largely immigrant population. The incidents seen in April 2020, when violence broke out in some outskirts of major cities in response to perceived police targeting and harassment, are not unique. The incident itself incurred when a motorbike crashed into an unmarked police car, and it is alleged that the bike was targeted intentionally, with some reports claiming the car door had been opened at a red light. The particulars are less relevant, as seemingly minimal events like this are simply the catalyst. Tensions between police and residents have been fraught for years since the early 1970s, with social unrest culminating in widescale riots in 2005, which resulted in Jacques Chirac declaring a state of emergency. The issues raised by the rioters have not gone away, these areas still feel targeted by police, and they feel that the French police have a certain level of impunity, and so employ heavy handed treatment with no threat of being held accountable.
The French media response to this violence is extremely telling of the mainstream attitude to these areas, there is much more focus on the violence and delinquency of the banlieue residents than on the reasons behind such violence. For example, Le Figaro outlined on the 6th May exactly how many instances of urban violence have targeted the police, but have placed much less emphasis on police treatment that sparks these incidents. This is indicative of French responses to this type of violence for decades; in 2005 Nicholas Sarkosy promised to clean up the banlieue with a ‘high-pressure cleaner’, and was quoted as referring to the young people of the banlieue as ‘racaille’ and ‘voyous’ (translating to ‘scum’ and ‘riff-raff’ or ‘thugs’). There is no doubt that the frustration is felt by many, but only acted upon by few. It is unfair to consistently tar an entire geographical area with the same brush, and ignore the multitude of factors that contribute to this poverty, and its ensuing effects.
France’s strict lockdown measures to stem the effects of Covid-19 provide no exception to that sentiment. With increased powers, the police have been accused of abusing newly bestowed authority and disproportionately targeting the banlieue. This is not just perceived increased harassment either; French interior minister Christopher Castaner has estimated that Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb northeast of Paris, saw more than double the national average of police stops. Lockdown seems to provide an opportunity for French police to get away with racial profiling and unfair sanctions placed on ethnically diverse communities. A veiled woman, for example, reported to a national discrimination hotline that she had been fined for not wearing a facemask, despite attempting to reason that her veil provided adequate protection. There was little explanation given for the stricter measures, residents were not warned of the dangers or informed about how the virus spreads, but instead simply ordered to stay home, which was then followed by strict enforcement of that order.
Increased police harassment is not Covid-19’s only impact on these disadvantaged areas; the health risks are also significantly higher in the banlieue than in the rest of France. This is true of many areas with high population density and high poverty proportions, as many of these health risks are linked to economic disadvantage. These include obesity, cancer, diabetes and asthma. To compound this, departments like Seine-Saint-Denis have fewer numbers of doctors per head than others. This already places many banlieue residents as vulnerable to Covid-19, but to exacerbate it, social distancing and other hygiene measures are much more complex when you may have a family of 12 living in two rooms.
There is also a dearth of supermarkets and food shops in the banlieues, with one shop serving 21,000 people in Northern Bondy, for example. Many of the people who live in these districts work in lower-paid or menial jobs, jobs that are either almost impossible to do from home, or jobs that are now considered front-line (supermarket workers, bus drivers, hospital cleaners). This places these residents at higher risk of either contracting the virus, or suffering irreparable economic damages due to loss of work. Many of these workers have to continue to travel into the city centre and work in jobs with a high exposure rate.
"These communities are consistently targeted and scapegoated to avoid confronting the socio-economic disparities that place them in vulnerable positions"
As a result, The Guardian reported that the death rate in Seine-Saint-Denis is up 62% from last year as a result of Covid-19. The Financial Times reported on 24th April that, of the 13,500 deaths recorded in French hospitals, 752 of those occurred in the suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, this number has now risen to 870. According to Le Figaro, Seine-Saint-Denis has seen ‘an exceptional rate of deaths’. Moreover, with the inevitable economic crisis that is looming, these insecure workers are also likely to be hit the hardest. Some publications, however, are asserting that the higher death rates in these areas are simply down to an obvious flouting of lockdown rules, demonstrating again where the blame is placed when it comes to events in the banlieue. Le Parisien, for example, referred to the ‘indiscipline’ of residents and cited this as the reason for the record number of fines and increased police presence. These communities are consistently targeted and scapegoated to avoid confronting the socio-economic disparities that place them in vulnerable positions financially, socially, and now they are vulnerable to considerable health risks. The mainstream French community would prefer to absolve themselves of any complicity in extending such social exclusion and economic deprivation than recognise the people suffering daily within these communities.
Covid-19 is not the great equaliser, it should be the great eye opener to the vast array of disadvantages that are rendering certain people more at risk to this disease. It should be making governments take stock of the fact that some lives are being treated as disposable, and some people are suffering disproportionately yet again because of arbitrary factors such as race, religion, economic status, gender, and so on. Covid-19 is highlighting the deep rifts within society, and although the virus may not be discriminatory, the racial and social inequalities caused by state policies are, and these are placing certain groups at excessive and unjust risk.
Author: Phoebe Landers
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