Sarkozy Admits Failure

Here are the highlights of Nicolas Sarkozy's speech last night (Thursday February 11, 2011). The moderator asked him to comment on whether or not multiculturalism in France had failed, and cited both Angela Merkel and David Cameron as having admitted failure in their respective countries:

- Do you not find, Mr. President, that multiculturalism is a failure and that it is the cause of many problems in our society?

- My answer is clearly yes. It is a failure. The problem was that in all our democracies, we were too concerned about the identity of those who arrived and not enough about the identity of the country welcoming them. Let me explain. Of course we have to respect differences - that's normal. But we do not want, at any rate it is not France's intention, to have communities that co-exist next to each other. When you live in France you have to agree to meld into one community - the national community. And if you don't agree to that you cannot be welcomed in France. Countries like England or the United States who sought to develop multiculturalism community by community, strengthened the extremists, and each one, forgetting that he belonged to a national community, developed defenses against the others. We do not want that, we do not want that.

And these things are perfectly clear. This raises the question - let's not obfuscate the issue - of Islam and of our Muslim compatriots. And to refuse to say this, on the pretext that extremists on all sides may seize on it would be an error. You can't resolve a problem by refusing to talk about it. There is clearly a problem.

My position is that our Muslim compatriots must be able to live practicing their religion, like any other citizen - Jew, Protestant, Catholic, but it must be an Islam OF France, and not an Islam IN France. This is why I had the law against the burka passed. We do not want women wearing a total covering in France. We do not want people to pray ostentatiously in the streets of France. But we say that in France it is perfectly normal that mosques exist so that our Muslim compatriots can practice their faith. France is a secular ("laïque") country with separation of religions from the State, prayers do not offend anybody, but we do not want on French territory aggressive religious proselytizing…

- Whatever it may be?

- Naturally, whatever it may be. And I believe it is a terribly hypocritical thing not to recognize certain realities that are in front of you. I say it, though I have always been opposed to zero immigration (which has no meaning), though I find that some speeches by extremist leaders are shameful, I say I am the Head of State of all my compatriots whatever their faith, or if they have no religion, BUT if you live in France, you bring your identity to the national community, you respect the national community. The French national community does not want to change its life style, or its equality between men and women, we don't want to change that, the freedom of little girls to go to school, we don't want imams to preach violence, we don't want that. We don't want to change the calendar, we believe that religion - which is perfectly respectable - is part of the private domain, not part of the public domain.

H/T: François Desouche

The evening before he answered questions on television, Nicolas Sarkozy was the honored guest at a dinner organized by CRIF - the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France. According to Le Parisien:

Every year the Tout-Paris both of the Left and the Right (note: this means the Establishment Right, not the Front National), is invited to the CRIF dinner. The French president wanted to reassure his audience that "the demonstrators in Tunisia and Egypt had not cried 'down with the West, down with America or down with Israel'. They did not advocate a return to a mythical Islamic golden age. They did not attack any minority," he stressed to his listeners who fear the rise of Islamists to power in Egypt and the return of war against Israel.

Before dignitaries of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions, gathered in the Bois de Boulogne, Nicolas Sarkozy and Richard Prasquier, president of CRIF, welcomed the mobilization for democracy both in Cairo and Tunis. "This beginning of a springtime for the people is encouraging because it is positive and authentic," but "I will refrain from making hasty judgments. Who can say what will happen next? We already had so much trouble understanding what went before! Who can rule out brutal or totalitarian trends? Nobody."

(…) Nicolas Sarkozy wanted to send a strong signal when he stressed "the Jewish roots of France" to the same degree as the "Christian roots". "The presence of Judaism is attested in France even before France was France, even before she was Christianized," he emphasized.

Note: Nicolas Sarkozy is unofficially campaigning for reelection in 2012. His statements on television about multiculturalism and his flattering comments to CRIF must be viewed in this context. CRIF is anti-Marine Le Pen, hence Sarkozy views the organization as a potential ally, which it probably is. CRIF and its current president follow a policy of appeasement towards the Muslims of France, and have in the past advocated "métissage", the mixing of races. This is contrary to the more traditionalist view of many Jews, in particular, the current leadership of Israel.

As for multiculturalism, Sarkozy implies that ethnic communities have to be fully integrated, which in turn implies eventual mixed marriages. He rightly refuses the idea of separate communities living as nations within the nation, but he never acknowledges that the situation never should have happened in the first place or that he was instrumental in the inculcation of "diversity". Above all he does not consider what France would be like if the separate ethnic groups should become totally assimilated. When he says that those who cannot accept French life are not welcome in France, he does not say how he would get rid of them, nor does he recognize that Islam cannot, by its nature, be a "private" religion.

Despite these reservations, Sarkozy at least expressed some doubts about the situation in Egypt, and for the first time that I know of acknowledged the importance of the identity of France.

Marine Le Pen said of his television interview:

"He reiterated a certain number of lies, notably on his desire to fight against multiculturalism and separate communities, when he has been in fact the promoter of these trends for years."

A reminder, though, that Marine Le Pen herself has spoken of the "nation" and the "State" as being the common identity of all who live in France. She too has said that there must be no communities within the nation, only the nation itself.