Curing the French malady

What started as a "local problem" in Paris has acquired continental dimensions. The rioting spread to Berlin, Brussels and Rome -- highlighting the fact that similar, if less intense, disaffection exists all over Western Europe.

I was briefly in Paris during the unrest. What struck me was both the strength of the shock the rioting produced, and the concerns it generated among the thinking public about national identity, cultural diversity, and democracy in France.

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The immediate cause of the rioting in Clichy-sous-Bois, a Paris suburb, was the "war without mercy" on suburban violence declared on October 19 by France's Hard-Right Home Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. Following this, the police tightened identity checks.

In Clichy-sous-Bois, two terrified North African youths, who thought they were being chased by the police, hid in an electrical sub-station and got electrocuted. Angry protests followed, especially after Mr Sarkozy called the protestors "scum" who must be crushed.

At the root of the violence is exclusion, frustration and hopelessness among the minorities, in particular those from the Maghreb -- North African countries like Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. They have long been targets of overt violence and covert discrimination.

Over the past decade, says sociologist Alain Touraine, the minorities' isolation has worsened and produced ghettoisation. Since September 11, they face even greater suspicion, discrimination and abuse. Joblessness among them often runs at 40 percent, much higher than the national rate of 11 percent.

A North African name often invites rejection on the job market. A study found last year that a man with a typical French name applying for 100 jobs will get 75 interview calls. A man with an Algerian name, but with the same qualifications, will get just 14.

This exclusion has been called the collapse of the "social escalator." It's compounded by the terribly fraught state of low-cost housing estates called HLM, in which the minorities typically live, which are ghettos full of frustrated young men with no future.

In France, exclusion is further aggravated by a centralised police, which typically excludes the non-ethnic French. There's no community-based "friendly" policing either -- unlike, say, in Germany or Britain. There's an adversarial relationship between the police and underprivileged communities.

"All this is a recipe for frustration and desperation," argues Ms Susan George, the eminent writer-activist, and my colleague at the Transnational Institute, Amsterdam. "The fact that there's little recognition of the importance of ethnic diversity and multiculturalism makes things worse."

HLMs are sites of poverty, frustration, denied opportunities, injustices -- and crime. Today, more than half the French prison population comprises immigrants. The criminal justice system, based on the institution of the investigating magistrate with police powers, magnifies the anti-minority social bias. Last week, scores of people were sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment on scanty evidence presented in just 15 minutes to magistrates.

Going by numerous reports, many French South Asian migrants have taken sides against the North Africans. This expresses their racist bias and the Right's success in dividing the immigrant community along regional and ethnic lines.

France presents a picture of political strife, economic stagnation and severe cutbacks in social spending. But France's worst problem lies in its "Republican model of integration" which holds that everyone is indistinguishable in the eyes of the state. All citizens are identical in their Frenchness -- irrespective of ethnic identity, religious belief, or colour of skin.

This might sound like a lofty principle. But it's not. It suppresses cultural differences and recognises only one notion of Frenchness. France, with its 60 million people, 5 million of whom are Muslim, ought to welcome different, multiple notions of identity and Frenchness -- in language, custom, dress, cuisine, and religion. It should be relaxed and multicultural.

Here lies France's greatest failure, according to leading sociologists like Touraine. Refusal to recognise ethnic-cultural diversity imposes an artificial uniformity upon society. It tells the ethnic minorities that they don't exist -- when they face discrimination on that very count.

France recently banned the wearing in schools of head-scarves or any other symbols of religious belief. This drew protests from Muslims, Sikhs and other minorities, and created strife in place of accord. In other countries like the UK, Canada or the US, such differences are tolerated and seen as essential to a proud multicultural identity. That's why one sees so many Asian and Caribbean faces on, say, BBC-World.

France's second great failure is its rejection of affirmative action for the underprivileged --something that societies as diverse as India and the US practise. This means the disadvantaged in France don't enjoy equal opportunity.

President Chirac took 11 days before reacting to the violence. Rivalry between Mr Sarkozy and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin muddied the official response.

The French government has belatedly announced measures like reducing the age of apprenticeship from 16 to 14 years, creation of an anti-discrimination agency, 20,000 state-paid jobs in poor suburbs, 100 million Euros for associations working there, and the establishment of 15 new special economic zones. Such measures are welcome. Yet, they shouldn't be ad hoc, but part of a well-considered, institutionalised policy.

At stake here is not just the fate of Western Europe's minorities, including 12 million Muslims, but the future of pluralist societies everywhere, which are based on multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious identities.

Today's world is based upon greater interaction between different ethnic groups, with respect for diversity and its intrinsic value. This must be reflected in official policy and mainstream values.

European societies must integrate immigrants by transforming themselves and evolving a pluralist self-identity. This is the larger agenda of developing healthy models of integration, and overcoming ill-informed and parochial attitudes towards "others."

Praful Bidwai is an eminent Indian columnist.