In the south of the commune, during the 1950s and 1960s, vast housing estates were built in order to accommodatepieds-noirs (French settlers from Algeria) and Jews who had leftAlgeria due toits war of independence. A few Jews from Egypt settled there after theSuez crisis, and Jews fromTunisia andMorocco settled in Sarcelles after unrest and riots against Jews due to theSix-Day War and theYom Kippur War. TheHôtel de Ville was built as a private house and was completed in 1885.[3]
A substantial number of inhabitants of the town arepieds-noirs fromNorthwest Africa who immigrated to France in the 1960s. Sarcelles is also home to a vibrant Jewish community and the largest concentration ofAssyrians in France.[7]
Rahsaan Maxwell, author ofEthnic Minority Migrants in Britain and France: Integration Trade-Offs, stated that compared with other French communities, the ethnic minorities in Sarcelles have more influence, so therefore "Sarcelles should not be considered representative of cities acrossmetropolitan France".[8] Residents believe that there is a "Sarcelles identity," meaning any ethnic group can be a part of the city, and they believe it lowers levels of crime and violence.[9]
Compared with other parts of France, ethnic minorities in Sarcelles gained political power at a faster rate, with gains made in the 1980s instead of the 1990s and 2000s. Many politicians responded to minority demands sooner as many immigrants, especially Caribbeans and Sephardic Jews, hadFrench citizenship.François Pupponi, themayor in the 2000s dedicated monuments commemorating the histories of ethnic groups,[9] authorised funding of organisations supporting specific ethnic groups such as running Arabic and Hindi language classes[8] and permitted the use of public facilities for religious events.[10] Pupponi argued that this style is the best method of giving many ethnic groups one sense of community.[8] Critics argued that funding groups catering to specific ethnic groups promotes segregation.[9]
1 This group is made up largely of former French settlers, such aspieds-noirs inNorthwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), as well as to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. A foreign country is understood as a country not part of France in 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics.
2 An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. An immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.
By the 1970s, Afro-Caribbeans became more interested in changing politics. By the 1980s, Guy Guyoubli, a local activist, organised an almost all-Caribbean protest list. Maxwell wrote that this demonstrated that Caribbeans had serious intentions of participating in the political system, even though there were no representatives elected from the lists.[12] At the time, ethnic minorities acrossMetropolitan France were increasingly trying to influence the political system.[12] The city's first ever two Caribbean councillors were elected in 1989. Around 1989, Raymond Lamontagne, the mayor, opened Metropolitan France's first ever Caribbean-orientated, council-funded community centre.[9]
In the 1950s and 1960s,Maghrebians began to arrive in Sarcelles. They developed political organisation in subsequent decades. Originally, the Muslims worshipped in converted makeshift areas, but, later, they built mosques for their community.
In the 1990s, Maghrebians were first elected to the commune council. Maxwell wrote that Maghrebians did not begin to obtain "key positions" until about 2012, as they had had "low turnout and weak community organisations".[13]
During the 1960s, manyMaghrebi Jews migrated to France, settling in Sarcelles. They were chiefly from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. Today, most of the Jewish residents haveFrench citizenship.[9]
During the peak immigration of Maghrebi Jews, they subscribed to a belief in assimilation and secularism. They had the North African belief of whatMichel Wieviorka and Philippe Bataille, authors ofThe Lure of Anti-Semitism: Hatred of Jews in Present-Day France, describe as "a structuring role" that "does not cover all aspects of social life".[14] Beginning in the 1980s, religion became more public and important. Wieviorka and Bataille stated that the previous North African practice is "becoming mixed up with the neo-Orthodox practices of the 'young people' for whom religion controls everything."[14]
In 1983, a wave of councillors were elected who were Sephardic Jews from North Africa.[9]
In 2012, Maxwell stated that "petty crime" and vandalism had become consistent issues. He said that "violent confrontations" among black migrants, Maghrebians, and Jews was "a recurring theme".[9] He added that, by 2012, the commune had "developed a reputation as one of the more dangerous Paris suburbs."[9] Maxwell wrote that local residents told him that the reputation was overblown.[9]
Maxwell wrote that, during the2005 French riots, a report concluded that the damage to buildings in Sarcelles was "relatively moderate". A later report concluded that, compared with most cities, Sarcelles had fewer days of severe riots.[9] He also said that local residents characterised the damage as "not as bad as elsewhere and not as bad as one might have expected given Sarcelles's economic and ethnic profile."[9]
The commune has 19 publicécoles maternelles (pre-schools/nurseries),[17] 21 publicécoles primaires (primary schools),[18] six publiccollèges (junior high schools), two publiclycées (senior high schools/sixth-form colleges), and two other educational institutions.[19]
Collèges: Chantereine, Anatole-France, Évariste-Galois, Jean-Lurçat, Victor Hugo, and Voltaire
Others: I.U.T (Institut universitaire de technologie), C.I.O (Centre d'information et d'orientation)
TheBibliothèque intercommunale Anna Langfus is located in Sarcelles.[20] This library has over 60,000 items and is divided between an adults' section and a children's section.[21] In addition theEspace Musique Mel Bonis is in Sarcelles.[22]
^"Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved5 October 2022.
^Wieviorka and Bataille, p. 166-167. "The ChaldoAssyrian Community What saved Sarcelles and rid it of the reputation associated with 'Sarcel-litis was undoubtedly due to its Jewish population which, unaware of the drawbacks of concrete urbanisation, emphasised the positive[....]"
^abcdMaxwell,Ethnic Minority Migrants in Britain and France: Integration Trade-Offs, p.171.
^abcdefghijklMaxwell,Ethnic Minority Migrants in Britain and France: Integration Trade-Offs, p.170.
^Maxwell,Ethnic Minority Migrants in Britain and France: Integration Trade-Offs, p.170-171.
^Maxwell, Rahsaan Daniel.Tensions and Tradeoffs: Ethnic Minority Migrant Integration in Britain and France.ProQuest, 2008. p.197.ISBN0549874585, 9780549874584.
^abMaxwell,Ethnic Minority Migrants in Britain and France: Integration Trade-Offs, p.172.
^Maxwell,Ethnic Minority Migrants in Britain and France: Integration Trade-Offs, p.179.
^"Bibliothèque Anna LangfusArchived 6 June 2014 at theWayback Machine." Val de France. Retrieved on 3 June 2014. "Bibliothèque Intercommunale Anna Langfus 37 boulevard Henri Bergson (2ème étage) 95200 Sarcelles"
^"Espace Musique Mel BonisArchived 6 June 2014 at theWayback Machine." Val de France Intercommunal Libraries. Retrieved on June 3, 2014. "Espace musique Mel Bonis à Sarcelles 1, Place de Navarre, Les Flanades 95200 Sarcelles"
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