Have the dramatic events that swept through some of the main French cities over the last few weeks cast doubt on the viability of the French model, asks Mohamed Sid-Ahmed Over the last three weeks, France has been rocked by the wave of violence that erupted in the immigrant ghettos surrounding Paris and other major cities. Although since the 1980s sporadic rioting has been breaking out among the disenchanted youth living on the fringes of French society, the current unrest is the worst social crisis experienced by the country since the student protests in 1968. And although the French students' uprising was marred by a degree of violence, it was an inspiration to young people throughout the world, particularly their slogan "Let imagination come to power". A defining characteristic of French society has always been its ability to stand at the forefront of the major historical transformations of our time, to open up new vistas and set many of the standards that have become part and parcel of our value system today. For example, the French Revolution, which raised the slogan of liberty, equality and fraternity, ushered in the modern age, while its Declaration of the Rights of Man laid the groundwork for democracy and human rights as we know them today. Is France now moving in the opposite direction? Are the traditionally forward- looking French now lagging behind the movement of history? True, history does not proceed in a straight line and, indeed, its erratic course indicates that the general law governing its movement is not necessarily a forward progression. The comfortable assumption that the human race is programmed to move forward, that history can only unfold in a linear progression, was rudely shaken by the events of 11 September, 2001 and the emergence of anger, frustration and the will to destroy as prime movers of events in the world of today. These emotions ran rampant in the riots that engulfed the run-down housing projects surrounding France's cities. Thousands of cars were torched, buses were attacked and fires set by pupils to their schools. How to explain such incidents in one of the most civilised and democratic societies in the world? The perpetrators of these violent acts come mainly from the second and third generations of immigrants, young men of North African and Sub-Saharan African descent. Crowded into run- down housing projects in the suburban slums, they form an underclass that feels cut off from the rest of France in more ways than one. In the purely French quarters, the percentage of success at the French baccalaureat, for instance, is between 80 and 90 per cent. Indeed, many immigrants do not master the French language and speak in a patois all their own. Job discrimination against ethnic minorities raises unemployment rates in the suburbs to 30 per cent, more than three times the national average. The conditions in which the French-born children of immigrants live can only feed their sense of alienation and perpetuate the mood of hopelessness and despair that erupted in the recent violence. The rioting has highlighted France's failure to provide equality of opportunity for all its citizens and to heal the social divisions renting it apart, and it is to be hoped that serious measures will be taken to remedy what has become a dangerous and unacceptable situation. For the second- and third-generation French citizens who inhabit the suburbs, France is the only country they have known and they would like to be looked upon as part of the French nation. Instead, they feel excluded, marginalised and discriminated against. They feel there is no room for them in society. France opened the door to immigration in 1945 when manual labour was in short supply after World War II. The first wave of immigrants came mainly from Portugal and Spain, but in the 1960s there was a huge influx from the French colonies in Africa, especially from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Successive waves followed from Sub-Saharan Africa and from Asia. The inhabitants of the predominantly Muslim suburbs often carry Muslim names, a fact that creates barriers between them and their Christian compatriots and adversely affects their job prospects. Employers are wary of hiring employees hailing from the suburbs and, in the absence of affirmative action standards, are free to indulge their discrimination to the full. Young Muslims are exposed to both social and racial discrimination, deepening their sense of alienation. Though born and raised in France, they are looked upon as foreigners and deprived of many of the advantages other French citizens take for granted. French society has evolved. It is becoming a multi-cultural, multi-belief society that cannot afford to keep a substantial segment of the population marginalised. There are some five million French Muslims today, with immigrants' children accounting for 14 per cent of all births in France, a proportion far exceeding their percentage of the population. Ending discrimination requires enormous financial resources, but Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has pledged to allocate considerable sums of money for the associations concerned with the problems of ethnic suburbs. It has become imperative to express a clear political line and a strong political will to actually apply the required reforms. Over and above the despair and anger that erupted in the worst spate of urban violence ever seen in France, the common trait shared by the perpetrators of violence is their rejection of the French model (despite their attachment to France) because it has not fulfilled its obligations towards them. These young people, aged between 12 and 25, have no ideological or cultural frame of reference. They are motivated by negative feelings provoked by what they see around them. They are French because they were born and bred in France, but they derive few if any of the advantages associated with French citizenship. These children and grandchildren of immigrant workers live in grim and overcrowded housing estate on the outskirts of thriving cities, often in conditions of extreme poverty. Healthcare and schooling on the estates are far below national levels. It is no accident that angry arsonists targeted so many schools. They have no hope that education will improve their lives. Those among them who have made it out of the cycle of poverty and violence and who have gone on to earn university degrees still find it hard to integrate, still face racial and social discrimination. The death of hope in a better life has turned many of the youth in the ethnic suburbs into petty criminals, members of a marginalised community that is generating suspicion and fear. Is it possible to remedy the situation or is it condemned to become still worse?
