Read more  "Going in search of the common interest", this widely desired pious wish, implies a shared vision of what binds us, our values ​​and our history. However, the many debates in society reveal a fractured French society and this "we" that we use to unite, to feel the strength of the collective does not cover the same periphery in everyone's mouths. We went to ask the decolonial activist and essayist Houria Bouteldja to explain to us who she is talking about when she says "we".
A divided political “we”The “we” referred to in Houria Bouteldja’s book Beaufs et barbares is a political “we”.
“It refers to a community to be built with the aim of transforming the balance of power in the interests of the working classes.” Houria Bouteldja
The essayist starts from the idea that there is a split in France within the working classes, divided into two social blocs. On one side, there are the white populations, who are characterized either by a certain resignation in the political field, or by an increasingly marked attraction to the extreme right. On the other, there are those living in working-class neighborhoods, mostly non-white, from colonial history and currently living in France under the regime of structural racism.
This is an observation that could be made during the yellow vest demonstrations, in which people living in working-class neighborhoods did not take part for the most part. Similarly, during the last elections, a significant portion of these populations returned to the polls to vote for Mélenchon, while a large portion of the yellow vest battalions either abstained or voted for the far right.
Towards a possible convergence? For Houria Bouteldja, it is first a question of understanding the reasons for this factual division, even though these two populations share common class interests. According to the essayist, this disunity prevents the balance of power from being reversed. Also, understanding the reasons for this separation allows the decolonial activist to reflect on the conditions for a possible convergence.
Drawing on the notion of the “integral state” coined by the philosopher and political theorist Antonio Gramsci, Houria Bouteldja explains that to understand the mechanisms of domination, it is necessary to open the definition of the State to its extra-institutional components.
“The state dominated by the bourgeoisie only functions because there is an objective alliance between the state, political society and civil society.” Houria Bouteldja
In short, domination is made possible by an alliance based on the common interests of the ruling classes, and is maintained by the consent of civil society. The thesis defended by the essayist Houria Bouteldja is that it is possible to understand structural racism as the product of a consent of this same type.
Therefore, if the notion of collective utopia seems largely devalued today, becoming aware of the mechanisms on which the maintenance of domination is based would at least open the way to a recomposition of collective forces.
News: The book Beaufs et barbares, by Houria Bouteldja, has been published by La fabrique. 

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