MRAP (French NGO)

MRAP stands for "Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples" (Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples), and is an anti-racist French NGO, created in 1949 [http://www.mrap.fr/] . It is currently headed by Mouloud Aounit, who became in 1989 its first leader not to belong to the French Communist Party (PCF).

Creation

The "Mouvement national contre le racisme" (National Movement Against Racism) was created in 1941 by several Resisters who believed that a specific struggle against racism had to be fought in the context of France's liberation from German occupation. A primary goal was to save as many Jewish children as possible from deportation, and the movement coordinated its actions with the Protestant and Catholic Church. Two clandestine newspapers, "J'accuse" in the North zone and "Fraternité" in the South zone, were charged with countering the Nazis' and Vichy's racist ideology.

The MRAP was created on May 22, 1949 around former MNCR members and various personalities, such as the painter Marc Chagall or the Social Catholic leader Marc Sangnier. It took the name of "Mouvement contre le racisme, l'antisémitisme et pour la paix" (Movement Against Racism, Anti-Semitism and for Peace) in a period during which the dominant questions were neo-nazism, anti-Semitism and the Cold War.

Post-World War

The colonial wars and the French economy's dependence on immigrant labour during the "Trente Glorieuses", extending from 1945 to 1974, changed the positions of the struggle against a racism that began to take various forms. The MRAP supported anti-colonialism and was opposed to the Algerian War (1954-62). It was one of the rare organizations to condemn the methods of the police prefect Maurice Papon and the October 17, 1961 massacre in Paris.

The MRAP obtained the vote of the Pleven Act on July 1, 1972, which condemns incitations to racial hate and permits anti-racist associations to depose courtsuits against those who commit such hate speech.

It became the "Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l'Amitié entre les Peuples" in 1972, its current and present name.

The MRAP is also engaged in international issues. It was active against apartheid in South Africa and now struggles against racism in the United States (in particular by defending Black Panthers member Mumia Abu-Jamal).

Today

It continues to be engaged against anti-Semitism (despite dropping the term from its name in 1972), defends the right of immigrants, Gypsies ("gens du voyage") and more generally all forms of racism. It is also engaged in anti-fascist actions against the far right, as well as the right wing. In some cases, it has also criticized the Socialist Party, criticizing Ségolène Royal, the Socialist contender for the 2007 presidential election, when she released her program on security issues, stating that she was engaging in the "most dangerous kind of populism". [ [http://www.mrap.asso.fr/communiques/sarkolene MRAP press release] , June 1, 2006 (URL accessed on July 12, 2006) ]

The MRAP was engaged in the creation of the alter-globalization NGO ATTAC in 1998. Currently, it concentrates its action against immigration-restricting laws and in favor of immigrants' rights, as well as denounciation of racism on the internet and against historical revisionism (courtsuit deposed against Bruno Gollnisch, member of the Front National). [ [http://www.commission-droits-homme.fr/travauxCncdh/InternetRaciste.html National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, "Racist Internet in French Language"] ] .

References

Official site: [http://www.mrap.fr]

See also

*France in the twentieth century
*Human rights in France