Written in March 2007, at a time when Nicolas Sarkozy was announcing the creation of a Ministry of Immigration and National Identity, this text by Fernand Tiburce Fortuné serves as a warning today. Drawing on The Caretakers In his book, Jonathan Littell examines the mechanism that, in the name of security and the defense of a supposedly threatened identity, begins by distinguishing, then classifying, labeling, and excluding. At a time when immigration is once again at the center of the political debate and some people from the French West Indies believe themselves to be permanently protected by their French nationality, he reminds us of an uncomfortable truth: once we begin to rank origins and affiliations, no one can be certain of remaining permanently on the «right side» of the border.
THE CARING ONES
(Jonathan LITTELL, Goncourt Prize and Prize of the Académie française – 2006
From the book *Les Bienveillantes* to the «Ministry of Immigration and National Identity»
Taking advantage of the time on planes, before and after naps, and on the train as well, during a recent trip to Mali, I read the entire—and I mean the very first to the very last page—of Jonathan Littell’s monumental book, *Les Bienveillantes*, winner of the Prix Goncourt and the Académie Française Prize.
You have to hang in there and see it through to the end, because this book—which is an excellent novel (the author knows how to tell a story, how to build momentum, how to sustain suspense, how to surprise, and how to use the plot)—is also a terrifying read. The protagonist—undoubtedly schizophrenic, likely insane, a demonic pervert—is cynical, repulsive in many ways, despicable, selfish, full of smugness and arrogance, driven by an insatiable ambition that tramples over others to satisfy his ego—always obedient, submissive, and devoid of compassion. And the immense musical and literary culture he possesses—while it may elicit a smile, for the mind cannot help but rejoice—if only for the blink of an eye—at sharing the same intellectual spaces— will never succeed in dispelling the putrid stench that pervades and fouls the work.
In fact, in this book about Hitler’s war, it is not so much the anti-Semitism that surprises us, nor is it so much the “Final Solution” and the death camps that capture our attention: this harrowing history is well known and recounted every day on the radio, in newspapers, online, on TV, and every month in a book. What is repugnant is the systematic nature of the affair and the attempts—pushing the matter to the point of absurdity—to justify it. For example, ambiguously circumventing Kant’s categorical imperative—with references to *Critique of Pure Reason* and *Critique of Practical Reason*—and his moral values to turn them into a theoretical foundation for the Final Solution. This may also mean that, faced with doubt—does doubt here define man, in spite of himself?—it was necessary to ensure that philosophy could help, or even soothe, the troubled mind and free it from its reservations, even if it meant cheating with philosophy itself.
What also catches the eye is the gradual, inexorable rise of the bureaucracy that manages German national identity. On this point, the book is well-written and precise. Who is a “good German,” who belongs to the chosen people, this Deutsches Volk? For in order to define a “good German,”, an ethnic German, one must exclude others and invent even the most ridiculous criteria, trace the most tangled lineages, create the category of “subhumans” to stigmatize them, study and understand mixed-race heritage in order to revile and exacerbate it, measure the degrees of these very same mixed-race relationships to better humiliate them, trace their ancestry to better degrade and reject them, transport and deport them en masse to belittle them, and rely on facial features or other physical criteria to murder them indiscriminately. And all the ethnologists, historians, anthropologists, scholars, and journalists—whether German, French, or from other peoples subjugated by the Führer—were enlisted to exclude, sort, verify, justify, hunt down, and provide the scientific basis for the Final Solution.
For the perpetrators of these vile acts to fulfill their duty to the Deutschesvolk and the Führer, there must be a set of specifications, precise regulations, ethnic statistics, administrative channels, figures to cross-check and analyze, and productivity. If a Jew, a Gypsy, a Communist, a Negro, a homosexual, or a disabled person is killed, it will be done according to the rules and without a second thought. This shows just how much an administration like that, with its sprawling ramifications, occupied people’s minds on a daily basis, permeating day after day the entire German society—and even the army, Prussian to the core—and its command, which was initially reluctant at the start of the war.
Mutatis mutandis, I thought about all this when N. Sarkozy announced his Ministry of Immigration and French Identity. This is no trivial matter. The consequences will be incalculable for the Republic and for us, the “visible minority”—the telltale sign. There will be a subtle, gradual, and inevitable shift toward an omnipresent bureaucracy that will seek to be effective in hunting down minorities, using forceful arguments and restrictions on civil liberties, because a distinction will have to be made between:
– native French-speaking people of European descent or other European or non-European descent, whether legally residing in the country or not
– for visible minorities: Black people from the French West Indies, Black people from sub-Saharan Africa, foreign Black people with legal status and naturalized citizens, undocumented Black people, etc.
– French Arab, regularized Arab, naturalized Arab… Harki
– etc…
I’m thinking of a work of fiction like George Orwell’s *1984*: So we’ll have to reach for the stars. I mean, to paraphrase the debate over the headscarf and secularism, to wear a conspicuous symbol of «mi-no-ri-ta-bi-li-ty,», whether or not to attain the status of a respectable member of French society.
Some people (I’m thinking of certain people from the Caribbean and French Guiana) will even insist on wearing this star so they can be clearly distinguished from the Others. Because we are always someone’s “Other.”.
But it's just fiction: so it will never happen.
Polls show that a large majority of French people, on the one hand, openly identify as racist and, on the other hand, agree that they should protect themselves from foreigners and will follow Count Nicolaï Sarkozy of Nagy-Bocsa down that path. But history has shown that when things go haywire and spiral out of control, no one will ever have approved of the idea of this “super ministry”—just as, after World War II, no one had approved of the armistice, and no one had supported Marshal Pétain. Everyone was a Gaullist as of June 18.
All right, it’s true, and fortunately this serves to honor the memory and honor of those who died at Valmy—there were many members of the Resistance and a few Righteous Among the Nations, good French people with common sense, and there will always be true republicans who will always be our friends.
Fernand Tiburce FORTUNE
Ducos, March 19, 2007
Martinique (Caribbean)
