France is part of Western civilization and though I sometimes despair of them acting like it instead of just trying to jam sticks in our spokes, I retain hope they will act like an ally one day. I want them to control these rioters and hopefully build a better society in the aftermath.
What I do take some guilty delight in is the clear refutation that such riots provide to the charge that America has caused the West's problems with Moslems due to Iraq or the current President.
The cited article has several points that I want to highlight.
First, amazingly enough, France's problems were neither caused by the election of George Bush in 2000 nor has France's policy to suck up to dictators in Moslem-majority countries immunized them from Islamic anger:
Right-wing French lawmaker Philippe de Villiers, who has said he wants to "stop the Islamization of France," told RTL radio that the problem stemmed from the "failure of a policy of massive and uncontrolled immigration."
Minister of Social Cohesion Jean-Louis Borloo said the government had to react "firmly" but added that France must also acknowledge its failure to have dealt with anger simmering in poor suburbs for decades."We cannot hide the truth: that for 30 years we have not done enough," he told France-2 television.
The French right thinks Islam is trying to absorb France while the government believes that three decades of domestic policies have failed to integrate France's Moslem population. That would apply whether this is a religious or economic and social issue. But the key is a timeframe that reaches back to the mid-1970s, so you'd have to blame American Presidentss from Jimmy Carter on up if you don't want to accept that the French screwed this up.
Second, if this is radical Islam rising in France, the radical Moslems picked a poor first target. Sweden might back down. Britain might appease. The Belgians would just convert en masse and be done with the surrender. But the French--say whatever else you want to about them--are ruthless when they perceive their national interests at stake. The French will do what it takes:
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called a string of emergency meetings with Cabinet ministers throughout the day. He told the Senate the government "will not give in" to violence in the troubled suburbs.
"Order and justice will be the final word in our country," Villepin said. "The return to calm and the restoration of public order are the priority — our absolute priority."
Finally, are they serious with a Minister of Social Cohesion? Do they have departments in this Ministry for accents, mimes, and Jerry Lewis appreciation? I'd say he failed miserably. Just calling them "Le Muslims" or making them wear berets have not made them feel part of France. Really, it appears that the French have policies that annoy Moslems by trying to make them look and act French while denying them any opportunity to join French society to actually be French. I'd love to see the master plan on how that combination promotes cohesion.
As an aside, while I feel we have done a much better job here of assimilating Moslem immigrants, I don't think we are immune to problems. It only takes a few fanatics to sow fear and suspicion of Moslems here, and I don't want that to happen. I just hope we can quietly target radicals without disturbing the wider Moslem community here by appearing to pick on their religion.
France shows how you can alienate an entire minority community. Don't do that here. No matter how sophisticated they claim their policies are.
As an afterthought that goes with this post, let me just repeat that I wish France the best in this situation. I really don't hate the French, though I delight in Al Bundy's anti-French attitude. And certainly, the government of France continually annoys me to no end. I've always believed that my real beef is with the Paris-centered government, media, and revolving society. I don't even really think little of the French military, which is actually a potent and well-rounded power projection force.
So I was delighted to read this following three anecdotes about pro-US people in France(via Instpaundit):
Three examples do not necessarily tell the whole story, but the fact that all three of these things happened spontaneously and most unexpectedly, when combined with my total experience in France, tell me that the notorious French anti-Americanism is centered in the incestuous mindset of the bureaucrats who all came out of the same school and in the media, who here, just as in the U.S., have a symbiotic relationship with the political left.
So when I let off a "cheese-eating surrender monkey" type comment--and knowing France, I will--I'm not really blasting all of France. I'm talking of the government and media elites that portray and project "France's opinion" to America. I've assumed there were elements of French society that like us. This gives me some hope that it may be greater than I'd hoped.
Ok, I better stop now. I'm getting dizzy with this lovefest.
UPDATE: Via Mad Minerva, this piece on the failure of the well-educated French elite to use their world-weary sophistication to bring Moslems into French society:
The French used to flatter themselves for the success of their policy of assimilation, which was supposed to turn immigrants from any background into "proper Frenchmen" within a generation at most.
How is this possible, when I assume the annual reports of the Social Cohesion Minister reported glowing success?
And this:
President Jacques Chirac and Premier de Villepin are especially sore because they had believed that their opposition to the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003 would give France a heroic image in the Muslim community.
When any little thing can set the radicals off, why on Earth would the French think they could buy any good will by siding with Saddam? So they pissed us off by double dealing and all they got were riots in their own country. Wow. Hard to screw up better than that.
Sophistication? I don't think that word means what they think it does.
