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| Integration Disintegration |
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Producing a cohesive society takes more than stirring speeches about values. It is rather the experience of people sharing life together that gives the rhetoric a reality. It is in this sense that France is suffering.The fact is that the high levels of unemployment and discrimination affecting immigrant youth are the result of widespread prejudice.The persistent and growing popularity of the Front National, led by the infamous Jean-Marie Le Pen, is a testament to this hostility.
This prejudice is present in the indigenous community, which it is often claimed feels it values and identity are under threat. It seems however that the talk of upholding, republican secular values is a convenient proxy for protecting a national identity framed in ethnic and religious terms, which will never accept the Muslim minority.
Back to Multiculturalism?
In the UK, many supporters of a multiculturalism have seen the events in France as a grim vindication of their approach. Frankly, they have been on the ropes in the last few years as multiculturalism was derided for its perceived failures. Many even spoke of the death of multiculturalism.
Much of the analysis in the wake of the riots, in the British media at least, has thus claimed that, while it has its faults, multiculturalism could offer France a way out of the crisis, an opportunity to strengthen its civil society with more inclusive policies reflecting the needs of its diverse communities. Apparently, the UK has been more successful in its attempts at integration, because the riots that have occurred on British streets have been much smaller than those in France.
Though some in the UK would like to portray Britain as a model for others, the fact is that problems of racism and discrimination affect community relations here as well.We can see similar differences in rates of employment for example.The national unemployment rate for white people in 2003 stood at 5.8%, compared with 13% for ethnic minorities as a whole, and 20% and 23% for people of Pakistani and Bangladeshi descent, respectively. [3]
In the Netherlands as well, there has been a big movement away from the multicultural approach that the country was famous for, towards a much more stringent emphasis on liberal values and restrictions on immigration. One of the main complaints of Dutch critics of multiculturalism was that so much has been given, in terms of funds and cultural recognition, to Muslims at the expense of the majority. In return, it is claimed, Muslims have been ungrateful for the privileges they have received, and have been hostile and dismissive of the host culture in return.
Again however, as in the UK and France, unemployment among immigrants is significantly higher than in the indigenous population; in 2002 the unemployment rate for North Africans at 10% was twice that of the indigenous Dutch. Even if we adjust for differences in education, the disparity in employment levels does not disappear. Unemployment among North Africans without secondary level qualifications is 22%, but among native Dutch with a similar educational level the rate is only 10%. [4]
An International Labour Organisation (ILO) study conducted in 2000 that focused on France, Germany, The Netherlands and the UK found that discrimination was a serious obstacle for ethnic minorities in all of them. Job applicants from minority groups were discriminated against in approximately one in three cases. [5] The figures seem to indicate that there is a common reality of discrimination and a comparative lack of opportunities in the different countries of Europe.
Unemployment is only one facet of relations between Europe and its minorities; however it does serve as an indicator of the state of relations between groups from different backgrounds.The issue of integration is commonly presented nowadays as problem of adapting minorities to a dominant national culture. In the case of Muslims in particular, this is related to adopting secular values and a modern conception of national allegiance. However, the hostility that manifests in the form of discrimination on racial or religious grounds points to the existence of a problem in the indigenous community. Notions of nationhood grounded in tradition, and race, still hold ground for many. Whether in countries that embrace multiculturalism, or dismiss it as a liberal indulgence, issues of minorities and immigration are viewed through the prism of a natural, 'true' nation based on ancestry and blood. In this context, abstract notions of citizenship, while earnestly embraced by the intelligentsia, only seem to serve as a way to create hoops for minorities to jump through.
If national identity in European countries is still linked to religion or race, rather than a set of civic values, this presents a serious problem to the integration agenda. This would imply that even if the Muslim community were to integrate, in the manner desired, to 'national values' and institutions, the problems of discrimination would still exist. If the general public uses a yardstick of colour of skin or religion when hiring an employee, or choosing a neighbourhood to live in, values don't come into the equation.This does not bode well for the prospects of building the cohesive society so sincerely desired, and presents a troubling image of Europe's future. If this endeavour is not successful, it will lead many to question the official values of which Europe is so proud.The Muslim minority will be disillusioned, but also the majority community will feel that their elite have betrayed them. It will also cast serious doubts on the claims of secularists that their values can actually produce social harmony between differing communities in the manner that they desire.
Reference- Ethnic Minorities in the Labour Market: Comparative Policy Approaches (Western Europe): Andrew Geddes, Liverpool University/European University Institute. P.18
- BBC News website;Thursday, 24 November 2005, 15:42 GMT
- Measures of Integration; Randall Hansen, Connections Magazine 2003
- European Outlook 2: Destination Europe, Immigration and Integration in the European Union, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
- European Outlook 2: Destination Europe, Immigration and Integration in the European Union, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. P.70
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