Quebec bashing

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Québec bashing is a form of vilification of Québec and especially of the Francophones and supporters of independence there. This attitude manifests itself primarily in Anglo-Canada, but also among certain - mostly Anglophone - federalists within the province.

The defamation can take several forms. In the sharpest version, these are personal attacks that denigrate the Québecans, at least in part, as Nazis , Taliban , terrorists or other extremists . In general, sociological assumptions and paradigms are invoked, which seek to bring the emphasis on collective social interests of the Québecans into the vicinity of fanaticism , fundamentalism or sectarianism . A peculiarity is that these tones became quieter before the two referendums in 1980 and 1995 and only reappeared and continued after they were held.

Definition and foundation

The phenomenon could also be synonymous as the systematic denigration of Québec and its inhabitants or as “Québecophobia”, with “Québec bashing ” being used in both French and Anglophone spelling in Canada . In an article first published in 1999, the sociologist Maryse Potvin points out four “racist derailments” recorded between 1995 and 1998. She initially points out that all national representations have two foundations. On the one hand they are based on “a certain degree of universalism , based on rationality and a social contract ”, and on the other hand on “a pinch of ethnicism, even [sic] tribalism ”, again based on a common history and culture.

According to Potvin, Quebecers and Canadian nationalism are in competition, which creates tension. The parallel development of two national perspectives has shaped political relations within Québec and the province with the rest of Canada in the style of a “We and the Others”.

Once in a relationship of economic, social and political dominance, the relationship between the Franco Catholic minority, who mainly lives in Québec, and the Anglo Protestant majority have developed into a competitive relationship with the growth of Québec's independence movement from around 1960. Since then, the political evolution of both cultural areas has brought about "political competition between the two universalistic ambitions, in which the universal ideals are often neglected in an ideological and ethnicizing discourse".

Drawing on Albert Memmi's work on contemporary racism , in her study she elaborates a characteristic series of these "folkish derailments" from four incidents:

  • Use of “universal” arguments with the aim of delegitimizing the other side;
  • their racial application in discourse;
  • Use of “classic” racist mechanisms, ie the demonization and essentialization of the counterpart;
  • Accusation of conspiracy against the entire population;
  • the naturalization of these (real or perceived) differences in language, culture or way of life;
  • the legitimation and justification of one's own status quo, one's own situation, rejections or even aggression.

Recurring motifs

The topics of Québec bashing can be roughly divided into these categories:

  • In Québec, there is a strong rejection of the Anglophone minority, the autochthons and minorities, since the French charter is the provincial government decreeing French as the lingua franca . The Office québecois de la langue française , which is responsible for compliance with the Charter, is slandered as a “language police ” and condemned for its alleged “oppression” of the Anglophone and allophone minorities.
  • Some authors even claim that Québec was strongly anti-Semitic in the first half of the 20th century and that this brought about the current socio-political situation. These allegations are mostly based on an amalgam of the writings of the Catholic priest and nationalist historian Lionel Groulx and the fascist Adrien Arcand from the 1920s and 1930s. Building on this, Québec society, its government and the independence movement are portrayed in a distorted way as a form of ethnic and even National Socialism .
  • Others cite the alleged superiority of the English language Canadians over Québec society or allegedly Anglo-Saxon conceptions such as democracy, individual freedom or multiculturalism . Québec is sometimes slandered as an economically backward society with endemic corruption and nepotism as a result of excessive state interventionism and active striving for independence.
  • Still other allegations concern the reputation or integrity of the leadership of the pro-independence parties and question their honesty. In the same breath, the deportation of Québecers who are for independence is demanded if they were born abroad.

There is also no shrinking from unreasonably associating independence and language policy with such diverse and sometimes very serious aspects as the emigration of the Montréal Expos or even the suicide rate in Québec; it has also had an impact on tourism in the province.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Le livre noir du Canada anglais by Normand Lester, McClelland & Stewart, 2002, ISBN 2-89448-160-8 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Les dérapages racistes à l'égard du Québec au Canada anglais depuis 1995 ( Memento of March 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) by Maryse Potvin. In: Politiques et Sociétés, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, 1999, pp. 101-132.
  3. ↑ "Une loi injuste parce qu'elle renforce cette perception d'une majorité francophone intolérante qui viendrait opprimer les anglophones. »(“ An unjust law because it reinforces the perception of an intolerant Francophone majority who oppress the Anglophones ”) in: Debates in the National Assembly of Monday, June 7, 1993, vol. 32, no. 107 ( French ).
  4. ↑ Robert Dutrisac: Dérapages Racistes anglais au Canada. In: Le Devoir, Montréal, November 24, 2001.
  5. ↑ Stéphane Baillargeon: La corruption au Québec, la faute aux séparatistes. In: Le Devoir , Montréal, September 25, 2010.
  6. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 4, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dianefrancis.com
  7. ↑ Jonathan Kay: Separatism killed the Expos. In: The National Post, October 23, 2002.
  8. ↑ David Stonehouse: Quebec's suicide rate blamed on separatist tension in new book, in: Ottawa Citizen, September 27, 1999, accessed September 7, 2015.
  9. ^ Pierre O'Neill: Bertrand compare the "dictature" péquiste à celle du IIIe Reich, in: Le Devoir, December 3, 1997.