Science in conscience

It is not a question of reducing the migration crisis, which is first and foremost a crisis in the reception of migrants, to a mere question of racism. Nor can racism be seen as merely a refusal to offer hospitality to foreigners. Racism has deep roots which are reactivated in periods of economic, social, and political crisis and can be linked to an overall crisis of values. Based on stereotypes and prejudices that are easy to reactivate in a time of destabilization, racism driven by propaganda and language manipulation, can lead to a simplification of the world and a binarization of the population: us vs them, normal vs abnormal, useful vs useless, pure vs impure, human vs nonhuman, and ultimately living vs dead.

The work carried out by the Camp des MIlles team for many years was carried out at the request of former resistance fighters and deportees who were not prepared to let racist, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic ideologies triumph. They were convinced that the process that led to genocidal tragedies in Asia, Europe, and Africa throughout the twentieth century can happen again. And that is indeed what is happening.

The rise of nationalism, the violent action by Islamic extremists, and the tragic indifference to the drama of migrants in the Mediterranean are the indicators and the instigators of mechanisms that could once again induce the worst scenario. Resistance must come from all levels of society and mobilize every social community. Some options have already been mentioned: associations and NGOs, which are highly mobilized but divided and are searching for markers; the law, through its words and the delicate balancing of liberty and security; and again researchers, who can encourage vigilance or legitimize extreme thought. They have a special responsibility. The biological interpretation of race still offers an ideological base that can easily be reactivated and colors its use in non-racist discrimination. Anti-Semitism is evidence of this sedimentation of the rejection of Jews, by rehabilitating the ‘changing figures of long-standing hatred’ (Chouraqui 2015). Islamophobia is following along the same path by targeting Muslims in France in particular and Europe in general as we saw with anti-Arab and anti-Maghreb racism in the 1970s and 1980s. It has merely taken on new

Against the expansion of racism 37 clothing. Scientists have already shown that they are capable of breaching -in the name of reason - the limits of what is reasonable. While some researchers appear to be returning in this direction, and others do not see the danger, there is no reason for them to refuse an examination of conscience by evoking the freedom to carry out research.

We must not underestimate the recurrent processes that, based on racism, rejection of foreigners, and extremism, may trigger a spiral towards mass violence, or even genocide, as the researchers at the Camp des Milles have discovered.

The model proposed by the Camp des Milles Foundation is obviously not the only one possible in this fight. It can provide food for thought for all stakeholders, from researchers and educators to decision-makers and politicians. This model begins with a place of memory that provides a strong local and European reference point. It articulates memory and history, the sensitive approach, and the scientific approach of the past. It is based on a close and constant link between research, training, and dissemination. The mobilization of the human and social sciences makes it possible to identify a recurrent and universal process that can lead a society towards the worst tragedies. It is on the basis of this scientific analysis that a discourse of education is constructed: education to combat discrimination and racism and xenophobia, that links the past, present and future. This discourse is not only about fear. It involves the appropriation, or re-appropriation, of values: the values of democracy.

The strength of this model lies in the commitment and diversity of a team that works with all publics: education, urban policy (disadvantaged areas), justice, minors and adults, army, police officers, elected officials, and politicians. Each audience has its own values, but they are aware that they are working in a place that addresses everyone with the same foundation. In return, these exchanges reactivate scientific and didactic contents almost permanently thanks to a team of researchers in direct contact with the trainers, with the flexibility allowed by an institutional place that works, in part, as an association of public utility. This model can inspire other institutions and encourage them to create synergies between research, training, and socio-cultural actors. This is the path that the University of Aix-Marseille seems to be taking with the creation of an Institute in human and social sciences in which the Foundation of the Camp des Milles should be a partner and in connection with the creation of a European Civic University (CIVIS).

The gamble of values education based on the convergence of memories will overcome is far from won: it deserves to continue and be shared.

Notes

1 As the arguments of the historian Annette Wieviorka put forward during her presentation at the seminar of the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (CRIF - Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions) on the theme ‘Mémoire des genocides: un regard vers le futur,' 2019, Camp des Milles.

• 2 According to the name of the seminar programme, bringing together the Museums of Buchenwald, Sarajevo, and the Camp des Milles (2019) under the aegis of the Office franco-allemand pour la Jeunesse (Franco-German Youth Office).
• 3 Anti-Semitism is defined as ‘an ensemble of hostile ideas and behaviours towards Jews for their religion, their pretended ‘race’ and/or the social, cultural and political group that they are thought to constitute. It includes a racist dimension at the end of the 19th century.’ This definition brings out the specificities of anti-Semitism for which the foundations are multiple and cumulative and the distinct forms in the present.
• 4 The Qenomic Challenge to the Social Construction of Race. Shiao and his colleagues defended an analysis by bunches which would define relatively identifiable human groups according to thoroughly entangled biological and sociological criteria that legitimize the term of race/ethnicity.
• 5 According to the jurisprudence put forward by the Prosecutor C. Akayesu to the ICT for Rwanda, an ethnic group is defined by a common language and culture; or which can be distinguished as such or recognized as such, including by the authors of crimes; a racial group is based on hereditary physical traits, often identified with a geographical region, independently of linguistic, cultural, national or religious factors (1998-1999).
• 6 With regard to injuries and defamation on grounds of racism and discrimination: ‘an infraction committed towards a person or a group of persons because of their origin or their affiliation or non-affiliation, real or supposed, to an ethnicity, a national, a supposed or a specific religion.' ‘Supposed’ was added in 2017 in a law passed in 1992.
• 7 Across all disciplines, we have identified 229 doctoral theses in France for which the description includes the word ‘race’ between 2008 and 2012, 614 between 2013 and 2017 (using the official database ‘thèses.fr’).

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