France's dilemma

France’s Dilemma
By Daniel G. Jennings
If there is one group of people in the world today that I feel sorry for it is the ruling classes of France, in particular that republic’s president, Jacques Chirac. For France faces a profound crisis that could determine the fate of that nation and of Europe itself.
The crisis manifested itself last year in the form of deadly and destructive riots when mobs of mostly Islamic young men, the sons of North African and other immigrants, rampaged through the streets of many French cities burning and destroying. These men were rioting because they feel they have no real future, they have little opportunity to get decent jobs, few prospects of starting a business to pull themselves out of the ghetto, and they face cultural, religious and racial discrimination on a daily basis. The French elite prattles on and on about liberty, equality and fraternity and multiculturalism then shows it’s true stripes by relegating Moslem immigrants to sweeping floors and cleaning toilets.
Unlike in the United States the immigrants have neither economic opportunity or any prospect of assimilation into wider society. Racism and French notions of cultural superiority (often cloaked in Neo Marxist rhetoric about multiculturalism) effectively bar nonwhites, non Catholics and non Europeans from participation in French society, French socialism deprives the immigrants of any economic opportunity. In the US a thriving capitalist economy and strong traditions of liberty have effectively thwarted Cultural Marxist attempts to trap immigrants in the multicutlural ghetto in France Cultural and Economic Marxism has worked and effectively trapped large segments of the population in the multicultural ghetto of public housing, welfare and no future.
To this dismal situation we can add an economy that doesn’t function, an aging population and a welfare state that is breaking down. The Islamic youth of France face a double whammy not only are they discriminated against, they face a future of menial labor to support a growing number of French retirees. The idea of bringing all those immigrants into France wasn’t to create a multicultural society it was to provide cheap labor to support the tourism industry and the middle class lifestyle guaranteed to Frenchmen by the welfare state. The immigrants were promised a middle class lifestyle and now face a future of sweeping floors, waiting tables and changing bed pans.
French leaders created this mess now they can’t find their way out. One solution would be to do what the British have done under Maggie Thatcher and Tony Blair effectively dismantle the socialist economy and scale back the welfare state. In other words return to capitalism and let the market loose. In a market economy the hard working immigrants would probably prosper but the Frenchman used to month long vacations and 30 hour work weeks wouldn’t. The French politicians would hear nothing but complaints of why am I riding the bus while the damned Arabs are driving around in their new Mercedes?
This would be an effective solution but it would take decades perhaps generations to work. It would also be politically impossible in France, French intellectuals are too attached to their Marxism, average French to their welfare benefits. They would react violently to such attempts, the rioting mobs of Muslims in the streets would be replaced by rioting mobs of French men.
If the French voters or intellectual elite don’t support or accept needed capitalist reforms one likely outcome is a limited dictatorship like that of Vladimir Putin or Augusto Pinochet in France. Such a dictator would force reforms upon the country at gunpoint and selectively use terror and oppression against radicals. This would mean an end to French democracy but it is in keeping with French traditions remember Charles De Gaulle, Marshal Petain and the two Napoleons. Already ready at least one potential French strongman is on the horizon, the paratrooper turned rabble rouser Masseur Le Pen, however he is probably too old be an effective leader.
Another possible solution would be to try and kick all of those Muslim immigrants out of France. That too would be impossible, France’s new economy now depends upon the cheap labor of all those immigrants. Who do you think changes the beds at all those hotels the American, Japanese and Chinese tourists stay at and cooks the meals and washes the dishes in those four star restaurants? Hint they aren’t French. Unless the French want to return to such tasks themselves this would be impossible. Note even then it might not work the declining birthrate means there might be not be enough French people to fill all those jobs.
Then there’s the South African or Israeli solution, impose some sort of Apartheid style system in which military and police oppression would be used to keep the Muslims in their places. This of course would play right into the hands of Islamic extremists by making Muslim youth angrier and justifying their violence. It would undermine France’s moral authority and wouldn’t work in the long run. It didn’t work in South Africa and in Israel the Jewish state has had to effectively segregate Palestinians into their own “state” (In reality an Indian reservation for Palestinians) to make it work.
Now dictatorship, deportation or Apartheid would only work if the French had the military power to enforce it. So would a change to capitalism order would still have to be maintained for reforms to work. The truth is they don’t, part of the reason the riot got out of control was that France didn’t have enough soldiers or tanks to send into the streets and put down the riots. France’s military was able to protect only a few key locations like central Paris (despite official claims otherwise, news footage from the City of Light clearly shows French soldiers with automatic weapons patrolling the Champs de Elysees).
This brings us to another dilemma: where does France get the soldiers and cops it needs to stop the violence? France’s draft is history and with it the vast armies of conscripts that were the backbone of the French Army since the time of the Revolution. I suppose the French government could bring back the draft but a large percentage of those drafted would be the angry young Muslims who are reeking havoc in the first place. It makes little sense to give these people access to weaponry and military training. One danger is that Islamic extremists would eagerly sign up for the French army, after all it would give them access to guns and deadlier weapons.
Okay, maybe France can do what South Africa did. Only draft certain segments of the population white Christian and Jewish Frenchmen. Then use them to keep down the Muslims that would lead to a permanently divided society and set the stage for a Yugoslavia style civil war. Another solution would be to increase the size of the professional French army, unfortunately the only pool of recruits available would be Young Muslim men - the very people the French elite is afraid of.
Then there’s always the grand tradition of the Foreign Legion, an army of foreign citizens that France used as a colonial police force in the 19th and 20th Centuries which still exists. France could expand the Foreign Legion and use it to put down the rioters. The problem with this is it would require bringing in more immigrants whose children would simply recreate the crisis facing France now. Another danger would be that the imported soldiers, say poor Africans, would effectively be in control of France or large areas of the country. How long would it be before the Legionnaires would be going around shaking down French citizens, tourists and businesses for protection money and knocking white men around for kicks? How long before the Legionnaires would demand a French middle class lifestyle and their families? How long before the sergeant major of the Paris garrison would tell the President of the Republic: quadruple our pay and give us full welfare benefits or we won’t protect you and your cabinet from the Muslims who are setting the guillotine up outside the building.
What France will do? I don’t know, but I feel sorry for the French people. They find themselves in a tragedy of their own making from which there maybe no way out.
One prediction here over the next few years expect large numbers of French people to emigrate to the US and Canada because they feel they are no longer safe in their homeland. Many of these immigrants will be France’s cultural, political and economic leaders who will quietly flee to America with their money, leaving their poorer countrymen to reap the whirlwind they have sown. Hopefully we Americans won’t welcome these charlatans with open arms.