Constructions et mutations de l'antiracisme en France

This article presents an analysis of changes in the field of anti-racism in France from the mid-1980s, focusing on the involvement of the association SOS-Racisme in the movement from a 'moral' anti-racism to action against 'racial' discrimination. On the one hand, the emergence of a 'moral' conception of anti-racism is situated in the context of the displacement of Third-Worldism by the ideology of humanitarianism; on the other, the appearance of the theme of action against discrimination is viewed as part of a more general trend towards the constitution of social and political subjects as 'victims'. What is involved, in both cases, is not only a de-socialised construction of the individual ('pal', 'victim') but also a depoliticisation of anti-racism (through down-playing the importance of state racism, in particular). This analysis leads, finally, to emphasising the important role which French anti-racist associations such as SOS-Racisme seem to play in contemporary processes of globalisation