On October 17th, the Institute of European Studies hosted Professor Eric Fassin for a lecture co-sponsored by the Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry, the Center of Excellence in French and Francophone Studies, the Department of French, the French Embassy, the Townsend Center for the Humanities, and the Center for Right-Wing Studies. Professor Fassin teaches sociology at Paris 8, and is a researcher at the Laboratory of Gender and Sexuality Studies. His lecture focused on the neo-fascist moment of neoliberalism and delved into free-speech in France, the politicization of racial identity, the contemporary reality of neo-facism, and immigration. The presentation was attended by about 57 people and was followed by a lively Q&A session.
Professor Fassin opened by addressing the trend towards repression of free speech in the form of protests in France, with the examples of protests against police violence and manifestations related to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas being repressed. Fassin then pointed out that France is not the only democratic country whose recent actions and policies have showcased an authoritarian drift. Neo-fascism, according to Fassin, is linked to neoliberalism and the actions of European leaders, such as former French president Nicholas Sarkozy. During Sarkozy’s presidency, the 2015 immigration crisis and subsequent nationalism sparked a redefinition of Europe and of Europeans. Fassin explained how France’s national and foreign policy became focused on exclusion, citing Sarkozy’s creation of a separate category outside nationality to separate the Roma population for the purpose of denying them rights.
Fassin then touched upon the complicated politics of race in France, including how simply talking about and using the word race is often conflated with being racist. During and post the 2015 immigration crisis, the police were ordered to verify citizenship. According to Fassin, this led to the systemic separation and targeting of Black people in France. This nationalistic approach, Fassin claims, resulted in an authoritarian drift of the police, which began to affect everyone, including people outside of the banlieue of Paris. Fassin then turned to the concepts of populism and left/right political categories, insisting upon the political function of the word “neo facism.”
In his conclusion, he briefly addressed gender ideologies/studies, anti-intellectualism, and French secularism, topics that are explored in depth in his publications co-edited with Salima Amari and Caroline Ibos.