White Niggers of America

Book Review: Vallieres, Pierre (Joan Pinkham, trans.). White Niggers of America. Montreal: Editions Parti Pris, 1968. Prepared by: Sarah Weingarten

PART ONE: ARGUMENT AND THEMATIC SUMMARY

In White Niggers of America, Pierre Vallieres presents a two-pronged argument which is at once simple and extremely controversial.

Firstly, he argues that the workers of Quebec (a group that he claims makes up more than 90% of its French population) can rightly be called white niggers of America.

For Vallieres, it is as if the working class of Quebec is living as a colonized people, subject to exploitation by ruling classes, which include a Quebecois elite, a Canadian elite, and a broader international economic elite in which the United States figures prominently.

Secondly, Vallieres argues that action, and furthermore drastic, and militant action, is necessary to change the situation in which the workers of Quebec find themselves.

In addressing his main arguments, Vallieres creates a work which in many ways mirrors the complexity and chaotic quality of politics in Quebec in 1968 (the year in which White Niggers of America was first published.)

A number of issues relevant to the theme of colonialism emerge from this multifaceted discussion. I will deal in turn with Vallieres treatment of several such key themes.

Firstly, Vallieres considers what it means for the workers of Quebec to be white niggers, or in broader terms, what it means to be a subjugated group within a given society. The use of the word nigger implies a parallel to black people, particularly under conditions of slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War.

Vallieres explicitly develops this parallel, focusing in particular on the assumed inferiority and social denigration of the nigger. He also draws from this parallel the idea that the nigger is typically imported to provide a base of cheap, slave-like labor from which a ruling class can sustain itself.

Another key identifying feature involves power relations; the nigger lacks any kind of control over the structures of political and economic power in his society, yet cannot escape their tremendous influence.

Secondly, Vallieres deals with the role of history in the development of a subjugated class. He discusses the history of Quebec (even before it came to be known as such) at considerable length, and presents historical events as significant factors with lasting effects on working class Quebecers. Two key points should be noted.

Firstly, Vallieres states that the working class in Quebec (or New France at that time) started from a position of disadvantage, particularly those who came from France seeking an escape from the limited possibilities that they faced in that country.

Secondly, he argues that from this unenviable position, a number of events occurred to further weaken the working class in Quebec. Therefore Vallieres suggests that both historical origins and historical events occurring over time play a major role in creating advantaged and disadvantaged classes.

Thirdly, Vallieres addresses the deliberately self-perpetuating nature of power hierarchies, often through the lens of his own experience. He argues that a relationship of exploitation, once established, permeates every aspect of society (down to the level of the family and the individual), and therefore becomes very resistant to change. This process is not random, but rather designed by the ruling class to consolidate their power.

Fourthly, Vallieres considers the question of how a colonized people should best undertake to deal with the system that exploits them. He chronicles his own struggle as a member of the class of Quebecois white niggers, identifying a number of the strategies that he himself attempted as ultimately ineffective or insufficient to initiate meaningful change.

Ultimately, Vallieres concludes that education, theory, ideology, law, and anything else that is part of (or a product of) existing societal structures will fail to rectify unfair subjugation. Therefore, the only way to change the circumstances of the white niggers of Quebec is to overthrow the system that exploits them, eliminating in particular the economic, administrative, political, subjective and intellectual conditions that it imposes.

Quebec Nationalism

It is sometimes hard for English Canadians to grasp how deeply many French Canadians feel the loss of control over their identity.

A generation ago, it was summed up in a book by FLQ philosopher Pierre Vallieres, who compared the plight of Quebecers to the oppression of blacks in the United States in his book White Niggers of America.

In his manifesto, Vallieres discussed the determination of the workers in Quebec to put an end to three centuries of exploitation, of injustices borne in silence, of sacrifices accepted in vain; to bear witness to their new and increasingly energetic determination to take control of their economic, political, and social affairs (1971).

Although most French Canadians do not see themselves as victims of slavery, most do believe they and their culture have been subjected by oppression at the hands of English Canada.

Quebec nationalism finds its roots in a nation's struggle to protect its culture, its language, and ultimately its identity.

In the eyes of nationalists, the term province serves to equate Quebec with Canadas other territorial units when in fact, for many francophones, Quebec is not just a province with a difference, it is a nation and deserving of recognition.

---Whether or not anyone agrees with Vallieres is not the issue, the issue is to read about Quebec History and understand how and why Nationalism occurs in some countries.

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