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Everything you always wanted to know about France |
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Red Sky at Night in France
The riots of the last two weeks have affected us all, towns and villages less than 10 miles from our home here in Languedoc have had incidents. The current explosion of anger from young descendants of Arab-African immigrants in France raises the fundamental issue of assimilation in multicultural societies. France has been a strong proponent of one variety of assimilation : generous welfare funding by a staunchly secular state, with insistence on affiliation to defined symbols of nationhood, with affirmative action programmes frowned upon. The ongoing wave of violence, however, gives food for thought on its effectiveness. The record of state care in France is good: healthcare and education are free, rentals are well-subsidised and there is a generous dole. The problem clearly goes well beyond state-funding. The aggrieved immigrants quote their jobless rate of 30%, three times the national average, and of discrimination in housing and job applications. The answers are not clear or easy for policy-makers. Nor is it clear that Afro-Arab immigrants would feel as much a part of France as someone of the native culture if there was full employment. The interior minister, Nicholas Sarkozy (Sarko) is reported of calling the rioters "scum". This word does not exist in Franch - the quot |