France's Problem

Just about a month ago Paris experienced a race riot. I have not seen this reported in any major news outlets, yet what undeniably occurred should be a serious wake-up call to France. But judging from the way it has been swept under the rug, not just in the US press, but also in France, seems to show that France has no intention of confronting the most serious problem the country has faced since being overrun by the Nazis.

Olivier Guitta in the Weekly Standard describes what happened.

On March 8, tens of thousands of high school students marched through central Paris to protest education reforms announced by the government. Repeatedly, peaceful demonstrators were attacked by bands of black and Arab youths--about 1,000 in all, according to police estimates. The eyewitness accounts of victims, teachers, and most interestingly the attackers themselves gathered by the left-wing daily Le Monde confirm the motivation: racism.

Some of the attackers openly expressed their hatred of "little French people." One 18-year-old named Heikel, a dual citizen of France and Tunisia, was proud of his actions. He explained that he had joined in just to "beat people up," especially "little Frenchmen who look like victims." He added with a satisfied smile that he had "a pleasant memory" of repeatedly kicking a student, already defenseless on the ground.

Another attacker explained the violence by saying that "little whites" don't know how to fight and "are afraid because they are cowards." Rachid, an Arab attacker, added that even an Arab can be considered a "little white" if he "has a French mindset." The general sentiment was a desire to "take revenge on whites."

So if this really happened as described, why is no one talking about it? Most left wing organizations attributed these attacks to economics - an expression of a class struggle. Interestingly, the same people that downplayed and made excuses for anti-Semitic attacks are the same ones now trying to minimize the significance of these events. More and more it should be strikingly obvious to all but the willfully blind that France has a serious problem with its immigrant population - most of whom are Arab or North African, Muslim, unassimilated and oftentimes unassimilable. As the writer points out, these ethnic tensions are most evident in schools. In a study done for the inspector general of education, many of these issues are clear.

Obin discusses the attitudes of Muslim students, some as young as first graders. He reports, for instance, that Muslim students, asked their nationality, answer, "Muslim." When they are told that this is not a nationality and they are French, some insist that they can't be French since they are Muslim. This should come as no surprise. The presidential commission that examined the issue of secularism in 2003 reported that "extremist groups are working to test the Republic's strength and push some young people to reject France and her values."

Reading this after reading the recent interview with Bat Ye'or should be a wake-up call to everyone in the West that if something is not done, and soon, Europe will be lost.