SSC Film Studies

Failure of French assimilation.

Immigration is slowly becoming a major issue in the French political debate, but it is at the same time extremely difficult to discuss in a rational manner.

First, no one know how many immigrants live in France. In fact, no one really knows who is or isn’t an immigrant. There are now third generation immigrants who are French citizens born to French parents and for whom “the French” are the white people from neighboring cities.

Secondly, it has been nearly impossible to criticize the immigration policy without being called a racist, even though the immigration issue has never been about race.

Third, as the demographics of France are being transformed, the political elite adapts accordingly. In the eye of a politician, immigrants are neither a problem nor an opportunity for France, but essentially new voters. So the political debate about immigration mutates at the same time as the French population does.

In France, immigrant communities are usually located in relatively isolated suburbs. It’s easy to ignore them. Most of the time, someone who lives in a suburb near Paris may not have anything to do with the well-off part of Paris. Conversely, native French can live their life without ever putting a foot in an immigrant neighborhood.

The first casualty of immigration is the rule of law, and the current situation only shows how fragile an edifice the western democratic state is. European legislations are usually the product of centuries of struggles and compromises, and immigration makes part of it look like a joke. Secularism is undermined, and so are freedom of expression or immigration laws, among other things.

The French immigration policy remains the same, which seems likely, it is to be hoped that immigration’s second casualty will not be civil peace. Explosions like the 2005 riots or the recent London riots can be described as insurgencies without a political content. Islam might fill the void someday, or not. No one knows. But what can be said is that the situation is not getting better.