Affecting France's Identity Within Europe Today - Article Example

Responding To The Recent Riots In France - An Assessment Of Some Of The Major Issues Affecting France's Identity Within Europe Today 's Name] [Course Name] [Instructor's Name] [Date] ABSTRACT This report aims to investigate into the major issues in the spectrum of the recent riots that took place in France, also affecting its identity within the Europe. These issues appearing to have a religious or ethnic end, also sharpen one's approach to several other factors perpetuating the simmering agitation among the minorities concerning their individual, social and religious rights. The report, in an endeavour to examine the issues igniting the recent riots in France, highlights major dimensions that are scathing France's identity as a secular and unified social model. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction ------------ 4-5 1.1. Background Of The Report ------------ 4 1.2. Terms Of Reference ------------ 4 1.3. Sources And Methodology ------------ 4-5 1.4. Problems/Limitations Of The Report ------------ 5 1.5. Report Structure ------------ 5 2. Issues Affecting The Identity Of France Within Europe Today ------------ 5-8 2.1. Issue On Religious Identity ------------ 6-7 2.2. Issue On Immigration ------------ 7-8 2.3. Issue On Discrimination, Diversity And Exclusion ------------ 8 3. Conclusions ------------ 9 4. Recommendations ------------ 10 5. Bibliography ------------ 11 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Of The Report The foundations of French society is said to be resting on the principles of secularism and social unity. Evident from the vehement situation observed in France last year, the country senses the cornerstones of secularism and equality to be shaken vigorously. The identity of France as a secular and united state with common and unbiased rights to people also seems to have shattered as the French citizen themselves feel downtrodden by the law for setting restrictions to their freedom of individual choice. This situation poses great threats to the French ethos of unified nation building as well as induces concerns on the efficiency of government's efforts to tie people in the French social bond. 1.2 Terms Of Reference The report strives to inquire into the major issues behind the recent riots in France The issue of religious identity of minorities, immigration policy, discrimination, diversity and social exclusion tend to be interlinked with each other in the context of these riots The riots are not and should not be taken into consideration as pure religious or fundamentalism issues The socio economic distinction among French nationals is also worth some attention 1.3 Sources And Methodology The major sources taken for this report are: Websites Internet Articles Newspapers and Interviews 1.4 Problems/Limitations Of The Report The major problem and limitation of the report lie in the fact that the report has been devised and written based upon research consisting of various sources mentioned above. Due to distance, this report has not been composed on the grounds of personal observation or experience of the incidents and riots that actually took place in the country. 1.5 Report Structure The report has been broken down into several sections, consisting the main text of the report, conclusions and recommendations. The main text discusses the core object of the report and highlights several issues based upon research. 2. ISSUES AFFECTING THE IDENTITY OF FRANCE WITHIN EUROPE TODAY The French Republican model strives to keep the French people undivided on the basis of differences in religion, cast, gender and ideology, and allows them to enjoy equal rights as citizens of France, apart from any discrimination (Gazsi, 2005). This happens to be the essence of French history, where the society as traditonally stood up against favouritism and prejudice on the basis of religion, while the government regards it as the private affair of citizens rather than a social one. 2.1 Issue On Religious Identity French government endeavours to tie its people with the bond of unity, equality and French social values irrespective of their origin and ideologies. In this process of shaping a unified French society, the government has imposed restriction on wearing 'conspicuous religious symbols' within the state schools. The stance of French government is quite evident from the speech of President Chirac who stressed emphatically on the equality of opportunities for the youth in France. The president also confirmed his opinion on the issue by referring to racism as "poison" for French nation building (BBC, 2005). d'Appollonia (2002) reports on violence against Jewish community in France referring to the traditional anti-Semitism in France and calling the country as "the most fertile ground in Western Europe for racism and for far right extremism". Such and similar evidences on ferocity against individuals from various social groups on the basis of religion are claimed to have been the factors associated with recent riots in France, racism or religion being the crux of the issue (BBC, 2005). The government's action of banning obvious religious dress code has been to testify the secularist view of Republic. It is because they reject the idea of discriminating among people on the basis of religion (Gazsi, 2005). While this step has been taken by the government to promote the approach of anti-racism, its citizens are viewing such actions as rather being anti-religion or hurting their distinct religious identity in the name of integrated nation building. Weil (2004) clarifies that the government's decree to inhibit Muslim girls from wearing headscarves was not to subdue their religious faith; rather it was supposed to curtail discrimination among students on the basis of religion. The author also portrays the law to be supporting the rights of those people, even including Muslim girls, who do not opt to wear it. However he too acknowledges that this law would deprive those of their freedom of choice who want to wear it freely. Report on Human Rights Practices In France (2004) states that the law of banning "religious conspicuous symbols" was approved by the European Court Of Human Rights, as not being against the right of religious freedom. 2.2 Issue On Immigration The step of government to adopt a stern immigration policy of integration has been due to the fact that it considers the immigrants to be the root cause of soaring level of criminal activities in the country. However many regard this rising stringency in immigrating policies to be inhuman to those coming to live in the country and an attack on their individual cultural identity (Zappi, 2003). Too much emphasis on integration and assimilation of migrants into a single French society on the part of the Republican model ignores the special attention to be paid to the individual cultures and religions (Weiler, 2006). "France is one vast construction site of integration" (Nair, 2000), however the recent riots in the country do not demonstrate such a notion. Weiler (2006) propounds that the recent riots in France have not been ensuant by the religious impatience or violence; rather it is the ignorance of government concerning the surging cultural diversity in the country and the rising insecurities on the part of minorities stimulating such riots. 2.3 Issue On Discrimination, Diversity And Exclusion The French government has consistently been considering rioters to be coming from immigrant families. Roy (2005) reports that the rioters come from lower social class youth with somewhat blended ethnic origins such as Muslims, North Africans, Turks, and Africans etc. These young rioters generally have given up their school education, with desperate or collapse family backgrounds. The author refers to these young guys as socially detested and hence confronting with exclusion. The rioters are also claimed to have been distinguished in the job market on the basis of ethnicity. This feeling of 'exclusion' ensuant of socio-economic and racism crisis in the country happens to lie behind the occurrence of riots rather than the religious or ideological matters of people. The report by France's National Observatory on Poverty & Social Exclusion (2002), also confirm the notion of prevailing distinctly dissimilar conditions in different "employment areas" of France. 3. CONCLUSIONS The French government has always been keen to solidify the conception of French nationality and integration of cultural identities within a single social set up treating every citizen as equal regardless of any discrimination. The Republican model insists that the religion is and should be treated as an individual's private and personal matter, having nothing to do with social patterns and public affairs. In this way, the country offers great security to the individual's personal rights but pays no heed to the religious or cultural rights of its people. The recent riots in France took place as a consequence of seething agitation among the youth being regarded by the government as an ensuant of religious extremism and fundamentalism completely against the French social model concept. No matter how reluctant the French government appears to be in acknowledging the distinct religious identities of minorities, these issues are consistently taking fire in the country within the hearts of young people. The research bears witness that the major issues causing the riots to occur at such a massive scale happen to be discrimination and diversity perpetuating among the people concerning their distinct ethnicity, religion, and living patterns. The socio economic condition of youth associated with the riots also catches attention. Hence, the impoverishment and social exclusion of youth, discrimination at employment levels, family break downs, and insistent ignorance of government regarding the dominating diversity happen to be the hidden yet most obvious factors undermining the France's identity as unified and solidified social model. 4. RECOMMENDATIONS Religion and extremism, all alone, should not be blamed for the occurrence of recent riots in France. The government should realise and acknowledge the diversity prevalent among people on several grounds These riots could only be prevent from recurrence if the government endeavours to improve the socio economic conditions of migrant French youth Rather than banning the 'conspicuous religious symbols' that further exacerbate the issue, the government should emphasise on promoting religious and cultural tolerance among youth on school levels. The immigrants can be best assimilated into French society once their distinctness is honoured. Immigrants are not bad, after all France should always remember that its own origin and national essence is based upon immigrants from north, east and the south (Nair, 2000). Bibliography BBC (2005), "Chirac In New Pledge To End Riots", Article from BBC news on President Chirac's speech on riots in France, 15 November, BBC News Website http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4437206.stm [Accessed 30 July 2006] d'Appollonia A.C. (2002), "The National Front and Anti-Semitism in France", Article by from the US-France Analysis Series, July, The Brookings Institution Website, http://www.brookings.edu/fp/cuse/analysis/dappollonia.htm [Accessed 30 July 2006] France's National Observatory on Poverty & Social Exclusion (2003), Report (in English) on the work of the Observatoire national de la pauvret' et de l'exclusion sociale, http://www.insee.fr/en/ffc/docs_ffc/cs104c.pdf [Accessed 30 July 2006] Gazsi, M. (2005), "One Hundred Years of French Secularism", Article in Label France magazine No.60, Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Website, http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/label_france/60/gb/10.html [Accessed 30 July 2006] Nair, S. (2000), "The Challenges of Immigration", Interview with Sami Nair from Label France magazine, January, Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Website, http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/label_france/English/DOSSIER/2000/07immigration.html [Accessed 30 July 2006] Report on Human Rights Practices in France (2005), US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices in France, 28 February, U.S. Department Of State Website, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41681.htm [Accessed 30 July 2006] Roy, O. (2005), "The Nature of the French Riots", Article on riots in France, 18 November, SSRC Website, http://riotsfrance.ssrc.org/Roy/ [Accessed 30 July 2006] Weil, P. (2005), "A nation in diversity: France, Muslims and the headscarf", Article on the banning of headscarves and other religious symbols in schools in France, 25 March, Open Democracy Website http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-5-57-1811.jsp [Accessed 30 July 2006] Weiler, M. (2006), "Fraternit' Reconsidered", Article on the France and the minority challenge, Summer, The Columbia Current Website, http://www.columbia.edu/cu/current/articles/summer2006/weiler.html [Accessed 30 July 2006] Zappi, S. (2003), " "French Government Revives Assimilation Policy", Article on the French government's assimilation policy for integrating immigrants, 1 October, Migration Information Source Website http://www.migrationinformation.org/feature/display.cfm'ID=165 [Accessed 30 July 2006] If you take information or ideas from the Internet, they should be cited with the name of the author (government report, press release, speech etc.), if available and the date (Blair, 1998). Your bibliography would then include the full reference to this material: Blair, T, 1998, 'Britain's Role in the EU and the Transatlantic Alliance', speech by Prime Minister Tony Blair, to mark the 150th Anniversary of the Associated Press, London, 15 December, FCO Web site http://www.fco.gov.uk. [Accessed: Place the date here] Read More