Can the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie Be Less France-Centric?

The OIF’s Origins and Critiques

This year, from October 4th to 5th, France hosted the 19th Francophonie Summit at Villers-Cotterêts, the first time it has been held in France in 33 years. The summit’s theme was “Making a Better World,” and more than 100 heads of state and government participated, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chadian President Idris Déby. 

The OIF initially started as the Cultural and Technical Cooperation Agency in 1970, which was founded by former Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor, former Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba, former Nigerian President Hamani Diori, and former Prime Minister of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk. In 1998, it became the Intergovernmental Agency of La Francophonie, and in 2005 it became the OIF. 

According to the OIF’s charter, the aim is to promote the French language and cooperation between the member states and governments. Today there are 56 members, includingCanada, Egypt, France, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Morocco, Tunisia, Switzerland, and Vietnam. There are five associated members, which are Kosovo, New Caledonia (part of Overseas France), Qatar, Serbia, and the United Arab Emirates. Last, there are 32 observers, including Argentina, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand, and Ukraine. 

One of the main criticisms of the OIF is that France dominates the organization. As Jeremy Ahearne writes, “From Rivarol’s championing in 1783 of the language’s intrinsic ‘universality’ to de Gaulle’s politics of symbolic ‘grandeur’ in the 1960s, French as a world language had traditionally underpinned France’s claims to world significance.”

Former President Charles de Gaulle supported proposals from various African leaders to create a multilateral French language organization. Former President François Mitterrand expanded the French language beyond a cultural component by developing it into a political tool. Thus, from 1986 on, there were two yearly summits of heads of state and government within the Francophone world. Mitterrand’s successor Jacques Chirac expanded on that agenda and created the OIF as it is known today. 

Macron’s New Approach

A crucial shift in France’s approach to promoting the French language came in 2017 after the election of President Emmanuel Macron. 

Since taking office, Macron’s government has emphasized that the French language is “une nation plus large que la France” (a nation larger than France), essentially seeking to decouple French from France. Part of Macron’s motivation to do so is to counter the growing spread of English in Francophone countries.

However, as University of Lorraine lecturer Christophe Benzitoun emphasized, “Part of the reason why English has spread is that there’s no one policing the language.” For example, many commonly used English words originate from local cultures. The word “cashmere” is derived from the province of Kashmir, and “bungalow” is derived from Bangla (i.e., a Bangla-style house). Additionally, there are spelling variations between British and American English, such as “colour” vs. “color,” “defence” vs. “defense,” and “organise” vs. “organize.” However, “for French there’s a sort of centralization…a myth of ‘proper French’ that’s spoken in Paris [which limits] its spread as a global language,” according to Benzitoun.

Thus, in March 2021, as part of the broader effort to diversify the French language, the Académie Française approved a new French dictionary that would include words spoken in French dialects outside of France. Under this initiative, a word’s definition would be based on an individual’s location. For example, while the word “bâton” means “stick” in French, this new initiative will define it as a golf club for a user in Quebec and as a cigarette for a user in Senegal. 

To put it into perspective, French is the fifth most spoken language in the world, with about 321 million speakers. France’s population is about 68.4 million, representing less than a quarter of all French speakers. On the other hand, people in North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East make up about 61.8 percent of the total number of French speakers. 

This reality makes it imperative that the French language reflects the diversity of the individuals who speak it. 

The French Language’s Colonialist Associations

Despite these efforts, there has been a backlash against the French language, largely due to resentment over France’s colonial history. In July 2022, the Algerian government announced a plan to gradually phase out French in favor of English. A year later, in October 2023, Algiers passed a law demanding that private schools replace their French curriculum with an Arabic one as part of a broader effort to reduce the influence of French in society. In December 2023, Niger withdrew from the OIF, accusing it of serving “French interests.” In August 2023, the Malian government shifted French’s status from that of an official language to that of a working language as a way to ‘decolonize’ the country. 

However, these decisions overlook the French language’s critical role in various anticolonial movements during the 20th century. In June 1919, Ho Chi Minh—under the name Nguyễn Ái Quốc—delivered a French speech to the Versailles Conference titled “Revendications du Peuple Annamite” (Demands of the Annamite People). In this speech, Minh expressed the desire for the Vietnamese people to be independent from the French. Likewise, French-language media outlets like L’Humanité and Le Populaire served as forums for members of the various left-leaning and communist parties to spread their anti-colonial messages. 

During the 1930s, the Négritude movement was started by various contemporary French-speaking African intellectuals. The central element of this movement was Pan-Africanism, and Aimé Césaire’s L’Étudiant Noir was one of the first works seeking to critique the dehumanization that occurred during colonial rule. These examples illustrate how a language can be used to exert colonial authority while also resisting it.

The Future of the OIF

For the OIF to adapt to the geopolitical realities of 2024, the French government should continue its policy of decoupling the French language from France to ensure an inclusive French dictionary and not use the OIF to ‘promote democracy.’ Using the forum to ‘promote democracy’ would deviate from the organization’s original purpose and further add to the narrative that France uses the OIF to promote its interests. For example, while the OIF suspended Mali in August 2020 over its opposition to the military coup, France has maintained a close partnership with an authoritarian government in Chad.

Next, Francophone countries that were former French colonies, such as Nigeria and Vietnam, should take more of an initiative to highlight the French language’s extensive contributions to anticolonial movements rather than remaining stuck in this ‘victimhood mentality.’

Lastly, countries not fully colonized by the French but with a strong historical connection to the French language, such as India, should consider joining this organization, which would help make the OIF less Franco-centric.

As stated above, French is the fifth most spoken language in the world. However, the language should not be dominated by less than a quarter of its speakers.

Author: Sapna Suresh

Managing Editor: Alex Sarchet

Web Editor: Olivia Parker