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Why has a former French Prime Minister suggested flattening Marseille?

President Emmanuel Macron is on a visit to France's second city to unveil a huge spending plan - but the headlines have been grabbed by a former Prime Minister who has suggested instead razing parts of the city to the ground. So why did he say this and what does it reveal about Marseille's sometimes complicated relationship with Paris?

Published: 1 September 2021 17:12 CEST
Why has a former French Prime Minister suggested flattening Marseille?
Manuel Valls' solution to the problems in Marseille? Flatten the poorest neighbourhoods. (Photo by ERIC FEFERBERG / AFP)

Former French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, has made quite the debut as a broadcast news commentator.

Describing the suburbs of Marseille on French radio station RMC he said: “We must flatten all of it. We must reconstruct everything. We must repopulate these neighbourhoods differently.”

His comments come as President Macron and seven cabinet ministers visit France’s third largest city, which saw a surge in gang-related killings over the summer.

READ ALSO What are Marseille’s problems and what does Macron plan to do about them?

Valls’ words triggered outrage online. One Twitter user suggested that it was ‘TV panels that we should flatten and populate differently’.

Journalist and activist, Taha Bouhafs, likened the words to those that Christopher Columbus may have uttered when he first arrived in the Americas.

Meanwhile Cédric Mas, a military historian and president of the Institut Action Resilience tweeted: “This morning on RMC, Valls proposes to ‘flatten Marseille’ like Hitler & [Vichy France leader] Pétain did in January 1943.”

Back when Valls was still Prime Minister, he too put in place an investment plan worth hundreds of millions of euros to help develop infrastructure in the struggling city. So why the change of heart?

Shock jock

The 59-year-old served as Prime Minister under François Hollande, but quit ahead of the 2017 presidential election, in which he hoped to stand as the candidate for the socialist party (he lost the primary to Benoit Hamon).

He retired from French politics in 2018, setting his sights on the municipal elections in Barcelona – Valls was born in the northern Spanish city. He failed to win the mayoral race but was elected as a councillor. He stood down at the end of August to become a full-time political commentator on RMC and BFMTV.

Both RMC and BFMTV are considered right-leaning broadcasters in France. Fulfilling the role of the contrarian ‘shock jock’ could be the former Prime Minister’s best strategy for ensuring a long and successful career in the business.

Manuel Valls stepped down as a municipal councillor for Barcelona last month (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)

But the fact that he chose Marseille for his incendiary comments was probably not an accident.

Problems in Marseille

During his three-day visit, Macron is expected to announce a ‘Marseille plan’ worth billions of euros to help deal with long-standing problems including crime, poverty and poor infrastructure.

But he is not the first French leader to make such overtures to the city.

Back in 1999, then-president President Jacques Chirac visited Marseille, also pledging huge investments to turn things around.

But the city remains plagued by crumbling infrastructure, inadequate housing, and sub-standard public services.

Then there is the gang violence. In the space of two months over the summer, 12 people died in shootings – including a 14-year-old boy. In August one victim of gang violence was burned alive.

A woman walks in a street in the “Les marronniers” neighbourhood of Marseille. The graffiti behind her reads reads ‘The state lets us down’ (Photo by Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)

So perhaps it is out of sheer exasperation that the situation hasn’t improved after close to two decades of massive public investment that Valls is calling for a re-set.

Culture clash

France’s two largest cities – Marseille and Paris – have a frequently spiky relationship, and not just when it comes to football.

The people of Marseille would say that the Paris-based government is aloof and arrogant, alternatively neglectful and dictatorial when it comes to Marseille.

Paris, on the other hand, might point to the frequent protests and rebellions in Marseille as a sign that the city is never happy.

Gilles Pinson, a professor in political science at the Sciences Po University in Bordeaux, previously told The Local: “Marseille is a city that has a special relationship with the French state.”

To read the full feature on that ‘special relationship’ – click HERE.

Valls also singled out the suburbs of Marseille for his comments and, just like Paris, the suburbs have significant populations of newly-arrived migrants and people of colour. These are the areas that Valls suggests should be “repopulated differently”.

His comments echo then-president Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2005 call to clear the racaille (scum) out of Paris suburbs.

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TECH

How France plans to protect kids from too much screen time

From TV bans for toddlers to blocking access to Instagram for under 18s, a commission of French experts has presented their report on the risks to children of spending too much time of screens, with recommendations for new laws on the topic.

Published: 30 April 2024 10:28 CEST
How France plans to protect kids from too much screen time

Experts across the world have been sounding the alarm on childhood screen time – from its addictive nature to the effects on mental health as well as issues with sleep and concentration.

In France, children under six spend on average more than 850 hours a year on screens (ie TVs, smartphones, tablets, and games consoles) according to a 2022 Ipsos study.

Meanwhile, a survey by French public health authorities (Santé Publique France) revealed in April that two-year-olds in France spend about an hour a day in front of a screen. 

French President Emmanuel Macron announced in January that he would set up a task force to investigate further by commissioning 10 experts in addiction, education, neurology, law and psychology, epidemiology and digital technology to come up with a report, assessing existing mechanisms and recommending further policy changes.

The experts will present their findings to the president on Tuesday, which could pave the way for legislation that would restrict access to technology and the internet for young people.

What does the report say?

Leaked to several of local newspapers in France on Monday, the experts reportedly found “a very clear consensus on the negative effects – both indirect and direct – of screens”, according to La Voix du Nord.

They said that time spent on screens has “consequences for children’s health, development, future, as well as the future of our society and civilisation.”

The experts focused on the ways social media can be a ‘risk factor’ for depression and anxiety, especially if there is a pre-existing vulnerability, and they noted the “alarming” level of exposure children have to pornographic and violent content. 

While they specified that screens do not cause neuro-developmental disorders, they did call for vigilance. 

Screen access – They advised no screens at all – including TV – for children under three years old, and then ‘highly limited’ access between three to six years old, which would involve educational content and the supervision and involvement of an adult.

Mobile phones and social media – The commission recommended only authorising mobile phones from the age of 11 – and even so – phones that do not have access to the internet. They suggested that smartphones only be given from age 13 and onward, without access to social media.

Then, at age 15, they said ‘ethical’ (ie Mastadon or Bluesky) social media consumption could be allowed. They recommended avoiding apps such as Instagram and TikTok before age 18.

Schools and nurseries – The experts recommended that secondary schools create ‘mobile-free’ areas, or even experiment with ‘smartphone-free’ schools in order to assess the impact on school life and bullying.

They also recommended that computers and televisions are banned in nurseries (crèches).

‘Predatory’ practices by tech companies – The experts also called attention to the way tech industries try to hold onto children’s attention, and they recommended efforts to “combat predatory practices such as infinite scrolling or automatic video launch”. 

They said that companies’ algorithms generate addictive behaviour among minors. 

European scale – The experts also said that these recommendations should be taken on board on a European scale, which President Macron has echoed previously, including during his speech last week at the Sorbonne where he argued in favour of instituting an online minimum age of 15 (‘digital majority’).

What could legislation entail?

Legislation may or may not cover the above topics, but the concept of regulating childhood screen-time has already been on the minds of French lawmakers.

Last year, in 2023, members of Macron’s Renaissance party tabled a bill that would create more training on screen time for health professionals and people who work with children, more regulation on the use of screens in nursery and primary schools.

They also sought the creation of a ‘prevention message’ on computers, tablets and phones to warn consumers, in a similar manner to tobacco products, about the dangers for young children. However, this bill still needs to be examined and debated by the Senate.

The right-wing Les Républicains party also tabled a bill at the beginning of April calling for a ban on screen usage in nurseries for children under the age of three. 

What about other steps taken by the French government?

Aside from proposed legislation, lawmakers and health authorities have already taken some steps to regulate screen access and internet usage.

Recommendations from health authorities – French public health authorities had previously issued some recommendations about screen time (PDF).

Their parental guide recommends: No TV before three years old, no video games before six years old, no internet before nine years old and no internet alone (unsupervised) before 12 years old.

On top of that, at the end of May, there will be a national meeting for paediatricians, and according to Le Parisien, some topics on the table will be introducing a mental health check before collège (lower secondary school) and tools to help children sleep better. Both of these will reportedly have screen-related recommendations.

Parental control defaults – Starting in July 2024, all devices that can access the internet will need to have a default parental control. This includes smartphones, computers, TVs and game consoles, and it was part of a 2022 law for protecting children on the internet. 

In practical terms, this will mean that manufacturers looking to sell their internet-enabled devices in France will need to abide by the new rules. The parental controls must be free of charge and available on the device as soon as they are put into service. 

The goal is to help protect kids from pornographic content on the internet by facilitating the use of parental controls.

Manufacturers that fail to comply will risk administrative fines. 

Phones in school – Technically, French law already prohibits mobile phones in nursery, primary and lower secondary school. The country’s Education Code stipulates that pupils are not allowed to use mobile phones “during any teaching activity or any other locations specified in school rules”. 

As a result, kids cannot use their phones during class, but depending on the school they might be able to use their phone during recess on the playground.

Government recommended site – The French government also created the online tools to help both parents and children understand the risks online and with screen-time.

The website jeprotegemonenfant.gouv.fr has a quiz to help parents understand if they are paying close enough attention to their children’s time on screens. It also has a list of technology and social networks that allow parental controls, as well as tips on how to use them.

Social media privacy law – In February, France adopted a law to protect children’s right to privacy on the internet before they are of legal age to access social media. This created the concept of a ‘private life’ for children, requiring that parents protect their children’s ‘image rights’ by taking into account the opinion of the second parent, as well as their child’s feelings depending on their age or maturity.

Parents who ‘violate the child’s dignity’ can lose the right to share photos and videos on social media, with the power to protect the child’s privacy handed off to a third party or a judge. This was provoked by issues with ‘influencer’ parents who use images and videos of their children to make money or gain fame online.

There are also concerns around images of children being taken off of social media accounts and sent around on pornographic websites. 

READ MORE: France’s parliament votes on law to protect childrens’ images online

Cyber-bullying and a minimum social media age – In June 2023, France also passed another law creating a minimum ‘legal age’ of 15 years old to access social networks, unless the child has express parental permission. According to a 2021 survey by CNIL, on average children first sign up for social media aged eight and a half.

It also found that over half of kids aged 10-14 have social media accounts, with 80 percent of parents admitting they “do not know exactly what their children are doing online”.

It will be up to social media companies to verify age using their own techniques, but those that fail to respect the age minimums will be subject to fines. 

The law also included a requirement for the government to submit a report on the consequences of time online on the physical and mental health of young people, with a due date of one year after adoption of the law.

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