When I arrived here from Spain for the first time two months ago, with the idea of getting work experience in an anglophone country, many people asked me ‘Why Ireland?’
I answered that this country seemed to me the best and the easiest choice in matters of procedure (no visa, same currency) but it was especially the experience of some friends that encouraged me to settle down here.
Despite the economic downturn, I still kept in my mind the image of Ireland as a country that welcomes immigrants and where talent and effort are more important than your origin or your creed. And I think it might have been the same image for other migrants who chose Ireland before me.
My first impression of Dublin was a multicultural city with a wide diversity of communities coming from all over the world. Asians, Africans, Europeans and South Americans seem to be involved naturally in Irish society.
Before deciding to move here, I lived and worked for two years in France, and I’ve since quickly realised the enormous difference between our countries with regard to integration of minority communities.
In France there are almost six million Muslims, mostly of North African or Maghribian origin (Moroccans, Algerians and Tunisians). A large number of them also have French nationality, so they are technically French citizens. However, they have been neglected by France both economically and socially for years, and the French government is still reluctant to accept cultural differences and to establish real policies of integration for these ethnic minorities.
The constant discrimination and marginalisation they suffered was bound to explode sooner or later – and in 2005 it did just that. Much of France was burning after the riots that came in the wake of growing civil unrest in the impoverished suburbs where the Arab community is predominant.
The wave of violence was triggered by the accidental death of two teenagers in a suburb of Paris while being chased by the police. Most of the rioters were second or third-generation immigrants frustrated with the lack of opportunities, unemployment and the continuous police harassment they felt they experienced.
Yet the question remains: why is the French immigration experience so different from the Irish one? The colonialist past of France, the strong and historical defence of the republic, and constant politics of firmly reasserting national values could be the main reasons. But the virtual isolation of minority communities is the bigger part of the problem.
The ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity that the republic of France insists on preaching is becoming more and more a fantasy. The government demands that its citizens adapt themselves to a French identity without bearing their diversity in mind.
The last example of this obsession was an initiative by Eric Besson, Minister for Immigration and National Identity, who launched a public debate on what it means to be French. The aim of this campaign was “to reaffirm the values of national identity and pride in being French”. But instead of creating debates that only aggravate the problem, the first and immediate action should be something along the lines of a change of the education system, with more mixed schools, to provide equal opportunities to both native French and immigrants.
The reality of the ghettos cannot be ignored either, but for the moment, any small step in the right direction would be appreciated.
Nadia Mattar is currently on an internship with Metro Éireann
