France:
The Looming Battle over Muslim Integration
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Among the long list of
recommendations...the panel says that public schools in France should be
taught in Arabic and African languages rather than in French.
"It would no longer be up to
French immigrants to adopt French culture, but for France to abandon its
own culture, language, history and identity to adapt to other people's
cultures." — Jean-François Copé, UMP Party.
Instead of integration,
"parallel societies are forming that continuously distance themselves
from each other." — Alain Finkielkraut, author of L'identité
malheureuse.
A panel appointed by French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to review
France's integration policies has urged the government to implement a
"new form of secularism" that would raise the profile of Islam in
public life—in order to improve the integration of Muslim immigrants.
Among a long list of recommendations aimed at "recognizing the
richness of multiple identities," the panel says that public schools
in France should begin allowing Muslim pupils to wear headscarves in class
(clothing that has been outlawed since 2004), and that courses should be
taught in Arabic and African languages rather than in French.
The panel also recommends a number of other multicultural changes that
would provide greater recognition to the "Arab-oriental
dimension" of France's national identity. These include changing
street and place names, overhauling the history curriculum taught in
schools and creating a special day to honor the contribution of immigrant
cultures.
More notably, the panel says that authorities and the media should be
prohibited from referring to people's nationality, religion or ethnicity in
public, and that the government should create a new law that would make
"racial harassment" a punishable offense.
The controversial recommendations are contained in a series
of five documents that were discretely posted on the prime minister's
official website in November, but only came to public attention on December
12, after an exposé
by the French daily newspaper, Le Figaro.
Not surprisingly, the proposals to develop an "inclusive
secularism" in France have sparked a firestorm of criticism.
Jean-François Copé, the leader of France's main opposition party, the
conservative UMP, said
in a statement that the proposals are "explosive and
irresponsible" because they replace "the one and indivisible
French Republic with a motley assembly of communities, ethnicities and
groups of all kinds." According to Copé:
"This report is an attempt to make multiculturalism the new model
for France. It would no longer be up to immigrants to adopt French culture,
but for France to abandon its own culture, language, history and identity
to adapt to other people's cultures...I cannot accept that we build a
society where 'responsibilities' are completely replaced by 'rights.'
French voters should know that in this report the word 'responsibility'
appears only 13 times, while the word 'right' is repeated 440 times."
Copé also accused the government of using the report to deliberately
drive voters towards the anti-immigration National Front (FN) party in
order to weaken the UMP.
The leader of the FN, Marine Le Pen—who has attained record-breaking
popularity due to her criticism of runaway immigration—said the
report's recommendations are "a very grave provocation" and
implementing them would be tantamount to "a declaration of war on the
French people."
The negative reaction to the report has put the ruling Socialists on the
defensive.
French President François Hollande—the most unpopular French president
on record, with approval
ratings well below 30%—has distanced himself from some of the more
explosive recommendations contained in the report, which he
says do "not at all represent the government's position."
Hollande also denies that the ban on Islamic veils in schools will be
reversed.
Ayrault, who originally commissioned the report in July 2013 to
recommend ways to "get the republican model of integration working
again because it has broken down," said there are no plans to drop the
headscarf ban. "Just because I receive a report does not make it
government policy," he said.
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A woman in a
headscarf and full-face covering at a demonstration in Paris. (Photo
credit: Ernest Morales)
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Nevertheless, the report's recommendations are supposed to form the
basis of future reforms ostensibly aimed at better integrating Muslim
immigrants. These reforms will eventually be put to a vote in the French
Parliament sometime during 2014.
In the face of public outcry, however, Ayrault cancelled a public
seminar that had been planned to discuss the report's recommendations,
which will now be debated in a closed-door meeting tentatively set for
January 9, 2014.
Other key Socialists have also distanced themselves from the
recommendations, including Thierry
Mandon, the spokesman for the Socialist group in the National Assembly,
the lower house of the French Parliament.
"I do not envision that we will return to the law on the
veil," said Mandon, who compared Hollande and Ayrault to over-eager
students who go too far and end up with "extremist" formulas that
will lead to the "de-Republicanization" of France.
In any event, the report has opened yet another chapter in the
long-running debate over multiculturalism in France, which has the largest
Muslim population in Western Europe.
The debate pits the Socialist supporters of multiculturalism in France
against the Conservative republican camp, which is concerned about the
steady disintegration of French society due to mass immigration, and which
is calling for the return to the traditional values of the French
Republic.
Opinion polls show that a majority of people in France believe that
multiculturalism has gone too far.
According to a poll
published by Le Figaro in October 2012, 60% of French people
believe that Islam has become "too visible and influential" in
France and 43% consider the presence of Muslim immigrants to be a threat to
French national identity, compared to just 17% who say it enriches society.
In addition, 68% of people in France blame the problems associated with
Muslim integration on immigrants who refuse to integrate, and 52% blame it
on cultural differences. The poll also shows a growing resistance to the
symbols of Islam. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of French people say they are
opposed to Muslim women wearing the veil or Islamic headscarves in public,
and only 18% say they support the building of new mosques in France.
France has a long tradition of secularism in public institutions,
especially in public schools where the absence of religion has long been
considered essential to the country's ideals of equality and freedom of
conscience.
In September 2013, the government introduced a "secularism
charter" for schools. The document—which is to appear in a
prominent location in all of the 55,000 public schools in France—would
serve to remind students and teachers of a list of secular principles
underpinning the separation of mosque and state.
Although the initiative has enjoyed a generally positive reception, many
observers say they doubt Hollande has the political will actually to
enforce secular principles in French schools, with or without a charter.
This skepticism stems from the circumstance that Muslim children
constitute an increasingly large proportion of the 10 million students in
the French public school system—and because Muslim parents make up an
increasingly important voting bloc in French politics. Muslims, in fact,
cast the deciding
vote that thrust Hollande into the Elysée Palace in May 2012.
With major municipal elections in France coming up in March 2014 and
European parliamentary ballots in May, speculation is rife that the
flailing Hollande is seeking to leverage the debate over multiculturalism
to further endear himself to Muslim voters.
But the French philosopher and essayist Alain Finkielkraut says
multiculturalism and runway Muslim immigration are responsible for the
destruction of French national identity.
In a politically
incorrect interview with the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel on
December 6 to discuss his latest book, "L'identité
malheureuse" [The Unhappy Identity], Finkielkraut says European
elites have consistently misrepresented multiculturalism as the model for
the future. Instead, he says, "mistrust prevails, communitarianism is
rampant—parallel societies are forming that continuously distance
themselves from each other."
According to Finkielkraut:
"Immigration used to go hand-in-hand with integration into French
culture. That was the rule of the game. Many of the new arrivals no longer
want to play by that rule. If the immigrants are in the majority in their
neighborhoods, how can we integrate them? … Many Muslims in Europe are
re-Islamizing themselves. … The left does not want to accept that there is
a clash of civilizations."
Finkielkraut sums it up: "I am of the opinion that our generation's
task is not to recreate the world, but to prevent its decline. … I become
sad and feel a growing sense of anxiety. Optimism would seem a bit
ridiculous these days. I wish the politicians were able to speak the truth
and look reality in the face. Then, I believe, France would be capable of a
true awakening—of contemplating a policy of civilization."
Soeren Kern is a
Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior
Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos
/ Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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