The Crescent and the Tricolor

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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