FOR MANY American liberals, the grass may seem greener on the other side of the Atlantic -- a land with free health care, few SUVs and even fewer Republicans. But the fantasy of France as the liberal paradise is one that can only exist in people who have either never been there or have spent all of their time in chic city centers without ever venturing into the impoverished suburbs of large French cities. There, life is far from idyllic. France's burgeoning minority population languishes in poorly planned,high-density high rises with few chances for employment or acceptance by mainstream society.
Many people say the riots in France show a failure of multiculturalism. But in order for there to be a viable alternative to multiculturalism, the mainstream culture cannot be one that marginalizes newcomers. Americans should be able to recognize the current situation in France from our own a century ago when hundreds of thousands of tempest-tossed immigrants entered the country past the world's most famous French statue. These immigrants were blamed for a myriad of social and economic problems, leading to immigration being slashed by the close of the 1920s, despite this massive influx of people turning the United States into the strong nation it is today.
The fact that problems in northeastern cities are no longer blamed on Irish and Eastern European immigrants speaks to two factors: America's dynamic culture and free market economy capable of assimilating newcomers and delivering increases in opportunity and living quality. Both of these are largely missing in Western Europe, especially in France.
In 2001, President Bush said, "America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals, ... and every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American."
Not that America is perfect, because anti-immigrant rhetoric here often carries an overtly xenophobic tone. But European notions of identity are even more closely tied to ethnicity. Europeans may be willing to tolerate immigration for the cheap labor, but often see their cultures as a diluting influence rather than an enriching one. The European media dramatize the rare news of honor killings or terrorist cells as a sign that immigrant culture is incompatible with European civilization. The extremist French politician Jean Marie Le Pen summed up a popular undercurrent when he said in January "we do not hate the Turks, we love them, but in their country." Indeed, Germany's new chancellor Angela Merkel spent much of her election campaign demagoguing Turkey's bid to join the European Union, and Denmark's government rose to new popularity after introducing draconian immigration restrictions.
The European Union has made some efforts to craft a non-ethnic vision of European identity based on human rights and secular democracy. But most of this rhetoric comes from detached elites dithering away in Brussels, and doesn't represent a broad consensus, as shown by the stunning rebukes of the European Union constitution in May.
Indeed, much of the lack of good solutions to European integration stems from an aloof elitism in European politics; policy is imposed from the top down, leaving voters alienated and the ruling elite oblivious to problems on the ground. Rather than address the root causes of integration problems, they try quick fixes like hastily built housing projects and welfare handouts. But, at a "teach-in" on the riots last Friday, University French Prof. Roland Simon reminded the audience that getting a welfare handout is not the same as "being able to accomplish what you want." Simon added, "France suffers from a basic lack of democratic dialogue," and needs to "reinvent itself."
France is famous for reinventing itself, and this time they should take a cue from their own busty French woman smirking at the huddled masses, yearning to breathe free -- a statue that itself shows this country's ability to embrace something foreign as its own.
The French need something French are good at, and car-torching youth in the suburbs of Paris have a rough idea what it is.
Vive la révolution?
Herb Ladley is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at hladley@cavalierdaily.com.
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