A few days before Christmas, a disgusting pantomime took place in the French National Assembly, with the adoption of a new law against immigrants co-sponsored by Macron, Ciotti and Le Pen1. It's a fundamentally anti-working-class piece of legislation, because attacking immigrants means first and foremost attacking workers.
It means attacking housekeepers, construction workers, cooks, warehousemen, deliverymen, home helps... It means attacking workers who get up early to earn their living in the most arduous and poorly-paid jobs.
When you belong to the world of labour, you know the price of this exploitation. So to call these workers profiteers, or even a threat, is revolting.
The Immigration Act is a slap in the face for undocumented workers currently working on Olympic Games construction sites and in the catering industry, who believed in Interior Minister Darmanin’s promises of regularization. Those hopes have now been dashed by even more restrictive criteria.
It's a slap in the face for legal immigrants, who will no longer have the same rights to housing benefits or family allowance.
It's a slap in the face for all those immigrants who have lived in France for a long time, since the Act abolishes the automatic acquisition of nationality for their children born in the country. And it's also a slap in the face for those who, having been naturalized, having acquired full citizenship, thought they were protected, since the “forfeiture of nationality” is back on the agenda2.
Macron is de facto implementing the “national preference” championed by the right and the extreme right.
For a long time, these demagogues have been repeating over and over that "native French" workers must come first. But taking the APL3 away from immigrant workers won't increase it for those with French papers! Denying state medical aid to undocumented migrants won't create more hospital beds!
Taking rights away from one group of workers has never given others more. Quite the opposite: governments always start by attacking the most precarious workers and then go on to attack all workers. This can be seen in the workplace, where employers first attack temps, contract workers and subcontractors, before going on to attack those with permanent contracts.
The millions saved on the backs of certain working-class families are always used to increase the handouts to big business. How could things be otherwise? Politicians, whatever their label, are focused on serving the capitalist class.
Immigration laws4 serve to make people forget the attacks against the whole of the working class, and to mask the incapacity of politicians to prevent crises, inequalities and wars.
So let's not fall into the trap of national preference! Let's refuse a division between "French" and "foreign" workers! We need to fight together to impose decent living conditions, we need to confront the only real profiteers in this society: the big shareholders who do nothing but twiddle their thumbs and prosper on our backs, whatever our skin color!
This law shows just how useless Macron and his clique are. In 2017 and 2022 they presented themselves as barriers to the right and extreme right. That was the promise that got Macron elected twice – and today, he's rolling out the red carpet for Marine Le Pen!
When it comes to pandering to xenophobic prejudices in the hunt for votes, politicians jostle for position! And the latest episode shows just how quickly they change their minds and resort to petty political tricks – not caring that it might have serious consequences for millions of people. By taking the ignominious step of voting in favor of the Immigration Bill, they have shown that they will have no qualms about making other nefarious moves.
The Left bears a crushing responsibility for this reactionary trend. It has itself betrayed its great promise to give foreigners the right to vote5. Above all, it has demoralized the most sincere and combative militants by surrendering to the bosses’ dictatorship.
But the working class is alive and kicking, and it is here to stay! Those who spew their hatred on TV are not the people constructing buildings, maintaining the roads and running the hospitals. We – the workers – do that, wherever we come from! This role gives us the ability to fight for our interests and a better society. No one can take that away from us if we become aware of our strength, and if we organize on the basis of our class interests as proletarians.
Nathalie Arthaud
1The bill presented by the Macron-Borne-Darmanin government secured a majority of votes, thanks to support from : all RN (Rassemblement national) MPs, a huge majority of LR (les Républicains) MPs, plus three quarters of Renaissance (ex-LREM) MPs.
2Immigrants may now lose their citizenship if they are found guilty, for example, of killing a policeman.
3The APL (‘aides personnelles au logement’) are a form of housing benefit that can amount to hundreds of euros per month, meant to help people with a low income to pay their rent.
4There have been at least a dozen of them in France since the 1970s.
5It was part of Mitterrand’s 110 proposals when he was elected President in 1981.