“France is proudly mono-cultural, insisting that its residents shed all their identities and ‘be French’…. Yet, when facing social problems, the French attribute them to their pluralism. To a lesser degree, Germany and others do the same. ‘Multiculturalism has failed, big time’, said Angela Merkel, on her way to becoming chancellor. But Germany never had a policy of recognizing all cultures. What it has is an immigrant population that long ago ceased to be only white and Christian. That’s what she was complaining about. So was former chancellor Helmut Schmidt, 85, saying of the 2.6 million Turkish Germans, that it had been a big mistake to have let them in.
“Immigration was fine until the wretched Muslims came!
“A second theme coursing through public debate concerns the adaptability or otherwise of immigrants/Muslims: ‘They do not integrate.’ ‘They do not fit in; they cannot fit in.’ ‘They live in France but are not of France’ (or Germany, Holland, Belgium, etc.). ‘They don’t consider themselves French’ (or German, Dutch, etc.). But it is the French, the Germans and others who deny jobs to Arabs/Turks/Muslims because of who they are, while the latter cry out to be treated as the French/German/Dutch citizens and long-time residents that they are.
“This is a neat trick. You won’t let them forget their ethnic/religious identity but blame them for keeping it. You won’t give them jobs but blame them for not having any. You build barriers to integration but blame them for not integrating. You pursue policies of social and economic segregation that produce poor, crime-riddled ghettoes, but you accuse them of domestic Balkanization.”
Haroon Siddiqui in the Toronto Star, 13 November 2005
French problem affects rest of Europe as well
Haroon Siddiqui urges continent to come to terms with immigration, Islam
Toronto Star, 13 November 2005
When the Parti Québécois lost the referendum on separation, Jacques Parizeau blamed “the ethnics.” When France burns, right wingers blame immigration/multiculturalism and the Islamophobes pick on Islam.
The latter two are as absurd as Parizeau was. But — and this is the tragedy — their point of view is considered respectable.
Two pathologies are at work, not just in France but across Europe, in varying degrees:
The instinct to scapegoat immigrants, which Canadians and Americans have downgraded to idle chatter, with little or no impact on public policy, still permeates official Europe.
The prejudice against and fear of Muslims, especially since 9/11 — but which predates it, back to the Christian Crusades (1098-1291) — is widely held.
The two forces have come together in a toxic mix, because immigrants and Muslims are one and the same in Europe.
At about 15 million, Muslims are the largest and most visible immigrant group. Even when they are not immigrants — two in five have been born in Europe — they are treated as foreigners.
That, in part, explains the half-truths and distortions that dominate the public discourse.
France is proudly mono-cultural, insisting that its residents shed all their identities and “be French.” (Like the possessive husband who insists his wife forget being a daughter or sister or mother and be his alone). Yet, when facing social problems, the French attribute them to their pluralism.
To a lesser degree, Germany and others do the same.
“Multiculturalism has failed, big time,” said Angela Merkel, on her way to becoming chancellor. But Germany never had a policy of recognizing all cultures. What it has is an immigrant population that long ago ceased to be only white and Christian. That’s what she was complaining about.
So was former chancellor Helmut Schmidt, 85, saying of the 2.6 million Turkish Germans, that it had been a big mistake to have let them in.
Immigration was fine until the wretched Muslims came!
A second theme coursing through public debate concerns the adaptability or otherwise of immigrants/Muslims:
“They do not integrate.” “They do not fit in; they cannot fit in.” “They live in France but are not of France” (or Germany, Holland, Belgium, etc.). “They don’t consider themselves French” (or German, Dutch, etc.).
But it is the French, the Germans and others who deny jobs to Arabs/Turks/Muslims because of who they are, while the latter cry out to be treated as the French/German/Dutch citizens and long-time residents that they are.
This is a neat trick. You won’t let them forget their ethnic/religious identity but blame them for keeping it. You won’t give them jobs but blame them for not having any. You build barriers to integration but blame them for not integrating. You pursue policies of social and economic segregation that produce poor, crime-riddled ghettoes, but you accuse them of domestic Balkanization.
A poll by the U.S. State Department, no less, released in May showed that only 1 per cent of French Muslims do not want to integrate, while almost all very much want to. Two-thirds speak French at home. Six in 10 do not mind inter-marriages, even in the case of their daughters.
Yet the myth of self-inflicted insularity persists. Every incident of a wife or daughter wronged is flashed from the front pages as though it were the norm for all Turks/Arabs. Even the respected German historian Heinrich August Winkler says, “the political culture of many Muslims is very different from the political culture of Europe.”
The culture of most immigrants is different than that of the country they come to, but evolves with time, even as it changes the values of the host society — the secret of the dynamism of North America. Cultures that don’t evolve, die.
As it turns out, immigrants in Europe, and their European-born children, do not want to change Europe but are highly desirous of belonging to it, only to be spurned at every turn.
This is a dangerous dynamic. Europe needs to come to terms with immigration and Islam, notwithstanding its history of hostility with Arabs and Turks. This means making peace with immigrants and Muslims. They are there to stay.