The Crescent and the Tricolor,
Christopher Caldwell, The Atlantic Monthly
Islam has passed Protestantism and Judaism to become the second
religion in France. Not since 15th-century Spain has any Western
European country had so substantial a Muslim population as France
has now. But what effect is the Islamic immigration having on
France, a country well known for percolating racial tensions?
Surprisingly, writes Christopher Caldwell in The Atlantic
Monthly, things in France might be changing. Caldwell
covers a history of tension and discrimination between native-born
whites, who call themselves francáis de souche--that is, 'root
French'--and the mostly Arab and African Muslims. However, he
frames his article with an inspiring anecdote that points to better
times ahead. In 1998, the French soccer team, a motley crew that
included players born in Ghana, Guadeloupe, and Algeria, upset the
Brazilians to win the World Cup. To celebrate, a million people
poured out onto the Champs-Elysées to stage an impromptu parade,
and it became abundantly clear what a multiracial society France
had become. Blacks celebrated with Asians who celebrated with Arabs
who celebrated with native-born whites. 'Within days,' Caldwell
writes, 'it had become a cliché to call it the most important
demonstration since the liberation of Paris from the Germans in
1944. It was a celebration less of French sports than of French
society--and of immigration's role in that society.'
--Anjula
Razdan
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