International Courant
BBC
Menka Gomis leaves his family and friends in France as a result of he thinks he’ll get extra alternatives in Senegal
Menka Gomis was born in France, however has determined his future lies in Senegal, the place his mother and father had been born.
The 39-year-old is a part of a rising variety of French Africans leaving France, blaming the rise in racism, discrimination and nationalism.
BBC Africa Eye has investigated this phenomenon – dubbed a “silent exodus” – to seek out out why individuals like Mr Gomis are disillusioned with life in France.
The Parisian has based a small journey company providing packages primarily to Africa, geared toward individuals trying to reconnect with their ancestral roots, and now has an workplace in Senegal.
“I used to be born in France. I grew up in France, and now we have sure realities. There was a variety of racism. I used to be six and in school I used to be known as the N-word. Daily,” mentioned Mr. Gomis, who to high school within the southern port metropolis of Marseille, says the BBC World Service.
“I could also be French, however I am additionally from elsewhere.”
Mr Gomis’ mom moved to France when she was only a child and can’t perceive his motivation for leaving household and buddies to go to Senegal.
“I’m not leaving for this African dream alone,” he explains, including that it’s a combination of duty he feels in direction of his mother and father’ homeland and in addition alternative.
“Africa is rather like America on the time of… the gold rush. I feel that is the continent of the long run. There’s nonetheless all the pieces to be constructed and developed right here.”
Ties between France and Senegal – a predominantly Muslim nation and former French colony, as soon as a serious hub within the transatlantic slave commerce – are lengthy and complicated.
A current BBC Africa Eye investigation launched migrants in Senegal prepared to threat their lives throughout harmful sea crossings to achieve Europe.
Lots of them find yourself in France, the place a document variety of asylum seekers utilized for asylum final 12 months, in response to the French Workplace for the Safety of Refugees and Stateless Individuals (OFPRA).
In whole, round 142,500 individuals utilized and round a 3rd of all purposes for defense had been accepted.
It’s not clear how many individuals will select to make the reverse journey to Africa, as French regulation prohibits the gathering of knowledge on race, faith and ethnicity.
However analysis exhibits that extremely certified French residents with a Muslim background, usually kids of immigrants, are emigrating quietly.
These we met advised us that attitudes in direction of immigration in France had been hardening, the place right-wing events exert extra affect.
Since their appointment final month, Prime Minister Michel Barnier and Inside Minister Bruno Retailleau have pledged to crack down on immigration, each authorized and unlawful, by pushing for authorized adjustments at nationwide and European degree.
AFP
Final 12 months, riots broke out in France after a young person of Algerian descent was shot at shut vary by police
Fanta Guirassy has lived in France all her life and has her personal nursing observe in Villemomble, a suburb of Paris, however she additionally plans to maneuver to Senegal, her mom’s birthplace.
“Sadly, now we have felt much less and fewer protected in France for numerous years. It is a disgrace to say it, however that’s the actuality,” says the 34-year-old says the BBC.
“As a single mom and with a fifteen-year-old teenager, you at all times have a bit of knot in your abdomen. You are at all times afraid.”
Her wake-up name got here when her son was lately stopped and searched by police whereas chatting together with his buddies on the road.
“As a mom it is fairly traumatic. You see what’s occurring on TV and also you see it occurring to others.”
In June final 12 months, riots broke out throughout France the deadly capturing of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk – a French citizen of Algerian descent who was shot by police.
The case continues to be below investigation, however the riots shocked the nation and mirrored an undercurrent of anger that has been constructing for years over the way in which ethnic minorities are handled in France.
A current survey of black individuals in France discovered that 91% of respondents had been victims of racial discrimination.
Within the aftermath of the riots, the UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) known as on France to handle “problems with racial discrimination inside its regulation enforcement companies.”
The French Overseas Ministry rejected the criticism, saying: “Any accusation of systemic racism or discrimination by the police in France is totally unfounded. France and its police struggle resolutely in opposition to racism and all types of discrimination.”
Nevertheless, in response to statistics from the French Ministry of the Inside, racist crimes elevated by a 3rd final 12 months, with greater than 15,000 incidents recorded based mostly on race, faith or ethnicity.
For trainer Audrey Monzemba, who’s of Congolese descent, such social adjustments have develop into “very scary.”
Early one morning we be part of her on her journey by way of a multicultural working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris.
She travels by bus and prepare together with her younger daughter, however when she approaches the college the place she works, she discreetly takes off her headband below the hood of her coat.
In secular France, the carrying of a hijab has develop into vastly controversial and twenty years in the past it was banned in all state colleges. It is among the the reason why Ms Monzemba desires to depart France to maneuver to Senegal, the place she has connections.
“I am not saying that France is not for me. I am simply saying that I need to have the ability to thrive in an setting that respects my religion and my values. I need to go to work with out having to depart my veil,” says the 35 12 months previous.
A current survey of greater than a thousand French Muslims who’ve left France to settle overseas exhibits that it is a rising pattern.
It follows a spike in Islamophobia within the wake of the 2015 assaults when Islamist gunmen killed 130 individuals in a number of places in Paris.
Ethical panic round secularism and discrimination within the labor market “are on the coronary heart of this silent flight,” Olivier Esteves, one of many authors of the report France, You Love It However You Go away It, advised the BBC.
“In the end, this emigration from France represents an actual mind drain, as a result of it’s primarily extremely educated French Muslims who resolve to depart,” he says.
Abdoul Sylla is worried about his sister Fatoumata’s determination to maneuver to Senegal
Take for instance Fatoumata Sylla, 34, whose mother and father are from Senegal.
“When my father left Africa to return right here, he was searching for a greater high quality of life for his household in Africa. He at all times mentioned to us, ‘Remember the place you come from.’”
The tourism software program developer, who strikes to Senegal subsequent month, says that by establishing a enterprise in West Africa she is displaying she has not forgotten her heritage – though her brother Abdoul, who like her was born in Paris, that is not. satisfied.
“I am anxious about her. I hope she’s okay, however I do not really feel the necessity to reconnect with something,” he advised the BBC.
“My tradition and my household are right here. Africa is the continent of our ancestors. Nevertheless it’s probably not ours as a result of we weren’t there.
“I do not assume you may discover an ancestral tradition or an imaginary Wakanda,” he says, referring to the technologically superior society featured within the Black Panther movies and comedian books.
In Dakar we met Salamata Konte, who co-founded the journey company with Mr. Gomis, to seek out out what awaits French Africans like her who select to settle in Senegal.
Ms Konte exchanged a well-paid banking job in Paris for the Senegalese capital.
“Once I arrived in Senegal three years in the past, I used to be shocked to listen to they known as me ‘Frenchie’,” says the 35-year-old.
“I mentioned to myself, ‘Okay, sure, certainly, I used to be born in France, however I’m Senegalese such as you.’ So at first we really feel like we’re saying to ourselves, ‘Rattling, I acquired rejected in France, and now I come right here and I get rejected right here too.'”
However her recommendation is, “You need to come right here with humility, and I did that.”
As for her expertise as a businesswoman, she says it has been “very tough.”
“I usually inform those that Senegalese males are misogynistic. They do not like to listen to that, however I feel it is true.
“They discover it tough to just accept {that a} lady may be CEO of an organization, {that a} lady can typically give ‘orders’ to sure individuals, that as a lady I can say to a driver who’s late: ‘No, it isn’t regular that you just’re late.’
“I feel now we have to show ourselves a bit of extra.”
However, Mr Gomis is excitedly awaiting his Senegalese citizenship.
The journey company is doing effectively and he says he’s already engaged on his subsequent enterprise: a relationship app for Senegal.
Extra from BBC Africa Eye:
Getty Photographs/BBC
