The Arab workers' movement (1970–1976)

sociology of a new political generation

Abdellali Hajjat

pp. 109-121

in: Julian Jackson, Anna-Louise Milne, James Williams (eds), May 68, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

Abstract

Following periods like the 1880s and 1930s, when immigration had been an important political issue, the "May 68 years' saw the "immigrant question" emerge again in new ways in public debate. Immigration turned political as a result of state initiatives (the development of an administration to monitor immigration and manage social security matters), of the associated "pro-immigrant" movement which supported immigrant mobilization, and of the actions of immigrants themselves who became political players in their own right. It was politicized in at least two ways: both as a "problem" that had to be resolved by putting a suitable migration policy into operation, and as a struggle for equal rights between foreigners and nationals.