Abolish the Ministry of National Identity: as the debate launched by the Minister of Immigration, Eric Besson, stalls, the call launched on December 4, 2009, by about twenty researchers in the humanities is expanding. "It is time today to publicly reaffirm, against this nationalist hijacking of the idea of nation, the universalist ideals that are the foundation of our Republic," says the call, launched notably by Etienne Balibar, Eric Fassin, Françoise Héritier, Laurent Mucchielli, Pap Ndiaye, Gérard Noiriel, and Patrick Weil.

Posted online on January 7, the petition has gathered more than 20,000 signatures. It is supported by a dozen associations including the Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN), the Human Rights League (LDH), SOS-Racisme and is endorsed by all left-wing parties - from the NPA to the PS through the PRG - as well as by the MoDem.

"The creation of this ministry is based on an approach that confines national identity to criteria of belonging and thus exclusion. France's identity should not be subject to norms defined by the State: it is built every day within the social body. The debate (...) staged by the government only amplifies the risk of identity confinement," notes Sandrine Mazetier, in charge of immigration at the PS.

At a press conference organized on Monday, January 11 at the National Assembly by the collective of researchers, M^me Mazetier was to recall the PS's opposition to the creation of a Ministry of Immigration and National Identity as soon as Nicolas Sarkozy launched the idea during the presidential campaign in 2007.

"We all have multiple identities: European, national, regional, cultural, religious... With the creation of this ministry, the government clings to the impossible definition of a singular national identity, supports Jean-Luc Benhamias, vice-president of the MoDem. It is essential to return to a humanistic management of the right of asylum, questions that have absolutely nothing to do with national identity."

By launching this call, the researchers wanted to reverse the perspective of the debate. "Instead of debating the content of national identity, it is about challenging the policy pursued and questioning the very existence of this ministry," explains sociologist Eric Fassin. "It is not about denying that immigration policies are necessary. But to contest the fact that immigration, integration, are related to national identity and inscribed as a problem for France," supports anthropologist Michel Agier.