International Platform on Racism and Antisemitism (PIRA)

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Overview

In March 2018, the Ministers of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, and National Education and Youth inaugurated the PIRA platform in the presence of a large audience and its partners: the Interministerial Delegation for the Fight against Racism, Anti-Semitism and Anti-LGBT Hatred (DILCRAH), the MGEN, the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion, the Lilian Thuram Foundation for Education against Racism, the Canopé network, and the Rectorate of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté academic region. Created and directed by sociologists Michel Wieviorka (then president of the FMSH) and Philippe Portier (then vice-president of the EPHE - PSL), backed by a Steering Committee of about twenty members, PIRA has fully developed its first three-year program, coordinated by the anthropologist Régis Meyran, despite a tense social context (movement against pensions of December 2019-2020), and especially despite the Covid 19 health crisis and the lockdown.

2020-2022 report

Seminar

Over the past two years, the seminar has welcomed scholars from all over the world on the topic of racism and anti-Semitism.

• Academic year 2020-2021
François Dubet (University of Bordeaux), Olivier Dutour (EPHE - PSL), Béatrice Madiot (University of Picardie Jules Verne), Céline Masson (University of Picardie Jules Verne), Tariq Modood (University of Bristol), Philippe Portier (EPHE - PSL), Michel Veuille (EPHE - PSL), Michel Wieviorka (FMSH).

• Academic year 2021-2022
François Jouen (EPHE - PSL), Judit Bokser Liwerant (National Autonomous University of Mexico), André Langanay (UNIGE), Sylvie Laurent (Sciences-Po, Harvard University), Liviu Matei (Central European University), Paola Rebughini (University of Milan), John Solomos (University of Warwick), Alexandra Minna Stern (University of Michigan), Benjamin Stora (University of Paris XIII), Tom Sugrue (New York University), Davis Sulmont (Pontifical Catholic University of Peru), Lilian Thuram (Foundation Education against Racism, for Equality).

International symposia

• "Exposing racism and antisemitism", in partnership with the National Museum of the History of Immigration (MNHI), international online conference, 6-7 May 2021 https://www.histoire-immigration.fr/agenda/2021-04/exposer-le-racisme-et-l-antisemitisme.
• "Racism and anti-Semitism: universalism in the storm", international and multidisciplinary conference in Arc-et-Senans, 27-29 June 2022, with Pap Ndiaye, Elisabeth Roudinesco, Lilian Thuram, François Dubet, Philippe Portier, Joh, Solomos, Tariq Modood, etc.

Research Reports and Surveys

• Report by Séraphin Alava (University Professor of Educational Sciences, University of Toulouse II) on the fight against antisemitism in schools (June 2021).
• Interim report by Foued Nasri (post-doctoral fellow in sociology, Max Weber Centre) on the state of play of anti-racist associations in France (April 2022).
• Report by Aurélien Aramini (professor seconded to the Rectorat of Besançon, PIRA) on racism in schools ("Racism and young people", part 1, June 2021).
• Report by Aurélien Aramini and Chloé Santoro (PhD student, PIRA) on racism in schools ("The universal to the test of the territory", part 2, July 2022).

Partnerships and interventions in conferences

• International conference "Multicultural citizenship, 25 years later" (University of Paris 1-Sorbonne, PIRA), 19-20 November 2020.
• Speech by Michel Wieviorka, January 13, 2022, "Antisemitism. A Global Phenomenon, Regional Perspectives / Antisemitismo: Un Fenómeno Global, Perspectivas Regionales" (The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, online).
• Speech by Michel Wieviorka at the Global Studies Colloquium of the University of California-Santa Barbara, Wednesday, September 29, 2021: "Racism, antisemitism and anti-racism in France".
• Intervention by Régis Meyran at the International Colloquium of the French Society for the History of Human Sciences, September 15 and 16, 2021, Campus Condorcet, Aubervilliers: "Ethnology and biotypology in the interwar years", Symposium "Type and biotype in French ethnology" coordinated by Anaïs Mauurin and Camille Joseph.
• Study day: "Acting against racism and anti-Semitism" Tuesday, October 5, 2021 – Lycée Pergaud – BESANCON, speech by Michel Wieviorka; speech by Jean-François Chanet (Rector of the Academy of Besançon, PIRA partner); Intervention by Aurélien Aramini (PIRA/Académie de Besançon).

PIRA or PIRA-supported publications

• Aurélien Aramini, Du racisme et des jeunes. Témoignages de profs, paroles d’élèves, La Tour d’Aigues, Editions de l’Aube, 2022.
• Mathias Dreyfuss et Régis Meyran (dir.), « Exposer le racisme et l’antisémitisme », Hommes & Migrations, n°1334, juillet-septembre 2021.
• Smaïn Laacher, Juger la terreur. Le procès des attentats de décembre 2015, La Tour d’Aigues, Editions de l’Aube, 2022 (livre soutenu par PIRA).
• Régis Meyran, Obsessions identitaires, Paris, Textuel, 2022.
• Michel Wieviorka, Racisme, antisémitisme, antiracisme. Apologie pour la recherche, Paris, La Boîte à Pandore, 2021.

2022-2024 Program

PIRA's partnerships with MGEN, the Interministerial Delegation for the Fight against Racism, Anti-Semitism and Anti-LGBT Hatred (DILCRAH), and the Lilian Thuram Foundation for Education against Racism should continue, which implies taking into account the expectations of these partners, expectations themselves often dictated by the general developments in society and its debates. For the second phase of its existence, PIRA is innovating. At the request of the MGEN, it opens up to the themes of the end of life and old age from the perspective of discrimination and inequality.

Steering Committee

To better address new themes, the PIRA platform has evolved and strengthened its Steering Committee. Previously made up exclusively of specialists in issues of racism and anti-Semitism, this committee now welcomes well-known personalities on the issues of old age, old age and the end of life. This Steering Committee meets two to three times a year, and whose members may be asked by PIRA to give their opinion on an investigation, to evaluate a report, etc.

Committee Membership

• Aurélien Aramini, philosopher, associate professor and doctor, academic project manager in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
• Ahmed Boubeker, sociologist, University Professor, Saint-Etienne
• Manuel Boucher, sociologist, University Professor, Perpignan
• Frédéric Callens, Director of Resources at the National Museum of Immigration
• François Dubet, sociologist, Professor Emeritus of Universities, Bordeaux, Director of Studies at the EHESS
• Véronique Fournier, physician, former President of the Strategic Orientation Council of the National Centre for Palliative and End-of-Life Care
• Anne-Marie Guillemard, sociologist, professor emeritus, University of Paris Descartes
• Danièle Joly, sociologist, professor, University of Warwick
• François Jouen, researcher in cognitive sciences, Director of Studies at the EPHE - PSL
• Smaïn Laacher, sociologist, University Professor, Strasbourg
• Stéphanie Laithier, historian and sociologist, PRAG at the EPHE - PSL
• Hervé Le Bras, demographer, Director of Studies at the EHESS
• Régis Meyran, anthropologist, scientific coordinator of PIRA
• Philippe Portier, sociologist, Director of Studies at the EPHE - PSL
• Simon Ridley, sociologist, post-doctoral fellow, University of Paris Nanterre
• Didier Sicard, doctor and professor of medicine, former president of the National Consultative Ethics Committee
• Odile Quintin, former DG at the European Commission
• Nelson Vallejo-Gomez, Inspector General, former Secretary General of the Scientific Council to the Minister of National Education
• Jean-Michel Verdier, biochemist and neurobiologist, Director of Studies at the EPHE - PSL, President of the EPHE - PSL
• Kursheed Wadia, Sociologist, Professor, University of Warwick
• Annette Wieviorka, historian, Director of Research at the CNRS
• Michel Wieviorka, sociologist, Director of Studies at the EHESS

2022-2023 Program

For the 2022-2023 academic year, the PIRA program will include:

has. The seminar

The seminar systematically takes place between 6:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. at 54 boulevard Raspail, Paris VI^e, room 9 in the basement of the building, free admission. The themes of some of the presentations will be specified at a later date.

• Wednesday 9 November: Michel Wieviorka (Director of Studies at the EHESS), "Racism and Anti-Semitism: Universalism in the Storm".
• Wednesday, November 30: Anne-Marie Guillemard (University Professor, University of Paris Descartes).
• Wednesday, December 14: Pierre Birnbaum (University Professor, University of Paris 1 and IEP Paris), on anti-Semitism in the United States from the 1930s to the present day.
• Wednesday 4 January: Odile Quintin (former DG at the European Commission), on the EU's institutional policies in the fight against racism and discrimination.
• Wednesday 18 January: Véronique Fournier (doctor, former President of the Strategic Orientation Council of the National Centre for Palliative and End-of-Life Care).
• Wednesday, February 8: Annette Wieviorka (Director of Research at the CNRS).
• Wednesday, March 8: Anne Cheng (Professor at the Collège de France), on racism and discrimination in China.
• Wednesday 22 March: Patrick Lozès, former and new president of CRAN (2005-2011, 2022-), on the past, present and future of CRAN.
• Wednesday 12 April: François Dubet (University Professor, University of Bordeaux).
• Wednesday, May 10: Benjamin Stora (University Professor, University of Paris XIII), on the Stora report and its follow-up.
• Wednesday 31 May: Konstanty Gebert (Polish intellectual, former member of Solidarnosc).
• Wednesday, June 14: Laure Murat (University Professor, UCLA).

b. Work on the theme: end of life, old age and discrimination

A survey will consist of studying this issue based in particular on field observations collected from departmental sections of the MGEN. Cooperation is also envisaged with the Transdisciplinary Institute for the Study of Ageing (ITEV) of the EPHE - PSL, with the association La Vie Vieille, the CNAV (self-proclaimed National Council for Old Age), and other partners. In essence, it is a question of taking the measure of the discrimination (social, territorial, racial, ethnic, or other) at work when it comes to active assistance at the end of life (access to information, to the help itself in the situation), ageing (isolation, support, territorial injustices, digital divide for example), and death. It may also be a question of analysing public policies in this area, as well as various private initiatives or proposals, particularly those of associations.

Work already accomplished:

• The PIRA team has already delivered a first preliminary report to the MGEN, entitled: End of life and old age: what values? Equality, justice, health democracy and the rejection of discrimination: working document (22 March 2022).
• A second document was submitted to the MGEN: a report entitled "The end of life. Analysis of the feedback from the discussions within the local sections of the MGEN, grouped at the departmental level". This report analyses the exchanges of activists in the local MGEN branches. It highlights the desire of a very large majority of them to generalize access to care throughout France and for all, to bring the debate on the end of life and assisted dying into the public space, to lobby politicians, and is in favor of a law authorizing euthanasia and assisted suicide in France, to develop the training of healthcare staff and to raise awareness among the relatives of people at the end of life, and finally to defend the end of life at home.

A PIRA survey on old age and the end of life will focus both on the discrimination experienced by certain actors, and on the theme of the subjectivity and autonomy of actors in the context of aging and the end of life, focusing the latter point on the evolution of the subjectivity of actors: Who changes their mind and why, when choices arise, and the disease evolves? What evolution of the Subject in the end-of-life pathway?

c. Work on recent developments in racism and anti-Semitism, with a strong focus on the "field"

• Aurélien Aramini's investigation into racism in schools, particularly in the Doubs and Jura regions, will continue to be carried out by the platform in 2022-2023
• A survey on sensitivity to conspiracy theories at universities and in INSPs could be launched.
• Two calls for tenders on racism and anti-Semitism will be launched in 2023, including one on the circulation of far-right ideas between Europe and the United States.
• Historical Synthesis: The History of the Race in the World, 1930s
The question of race sparked an impressive ideological ferment in the interwar period, before culminating in Nazism. This is a publication project on the scientific and legal meaning of the notion of race, and its applications in various societies in connection with nationalism, colonialism, and eugenics.
• A major international conference
Finally, the main lesson of the Arc-et-Senans conference is that the initiative deserves to be perpetuated and expanded. It is a question of reflecting on the modalities that could make it possible, on the one hand, to strengthen the link between research and education, by inviting researchers and educators in the same space-time, and by ensuring that an important place is given to exchanges between them; and on the other hand, to mobilize other academic regions, to give the meeting a truly national dimension. PIRA could devote itself to this in 2023-2024.

PIRA Platform - Information and contact: Régis Meyran