Racism and Playing the Race Card

Dewi Anggraeni*

It was a convivial gathering of friends and relatives in a city in Provence, France, but the conversation began to develop a racist edge to it. And it was not initiated by a neo-Nazi redneck, but by a former diplomat with a Southeast Asian wife. After a few glasses of wine, the former diplomat now residing in Marseille, confessed to being disturbed by the current demography of his city. He mentioned the numbers of Algerians, Moroccans, Comorrans, Congolese and other West Africans dominating the population. "We the French have become a minority," he said.