Activist Mother Exposes Racism and Violence Against Immigrant Families in French Suburbs

Born in Morocco, Fatima Ouassak arrived in France with her parents at the age of one. The violence and discrimination she experienced as the daughter of immigrant and working-class parents, and then as an Arab and Muslim mother in the Paris suburbs, led her to co-found the Front des mères (Mothers’ Front) in 2016 with other women, an organization that demands equal treatment and respect for the dignity of children from French working-class neighborhoods, especially in schools. In 2020, she published the book "The Power of Mothers: Towards a Revolutionary Subject", in which she invites mothers raising their children in disadvantaged neighborhoods to fight for a more egalitarian system.

In an interview with La Vanguardia, she confides that the most difficult experience she has had as a mother was at the hospital. "I suffered what is called obstetric violence. My pain was minimized at the hospital, the place where you go for health and where there is not supposed to be any racism, and at a moment that should be sacred for me: during childbirth," she says. The political scientist denounces what she calls the "de-infantilization" of racialized children. "For example, Arab children are not treated like children: they are treated like adult Arabs. This is also the case for Palestinian children, who are no longer treated as children but as ’collateral damage’ or ’potential troublemakers’." The de-infantilization of racialized children is also reflected in crimes against children. In France, the majority of rape victims are girls," she explains.

According to the activist, parents must organize politically to defend the rights of their children. "As parents, we must fight, mobilize so that our children do not have to do it and can live their childhood." The Franco-Moroccan woman will add: "History shows that mothers have enormous political power. [...] This is what Palestinian mothers do when they educate their children for the liberation of Palestine. I am convinced that Ukrainian, Congolese and Sudanese mothers are doing exactly the same thing. It is important to recognize that this is a feminist struggle."