France less affected by islamisation?

Submitted by Marcel (United Kingdom), Dec 31, 2009 at 05:51

This article seems to suggest that France is somehow "immunised" or less prone to embrace Islam than, say , England. Coming from there and having lived in the UK I have to say that in my experience it is just the opposite. There are 2 reasons in my view: cultural norms and numbers

Norms:
In England, communities tend to live side by side and there is less social pressure towards fusion into "one whole". The consequence is that two societies seem to evolve next to each other, with some tensions but less "cross-influencing". In France on the other hand the state ideology commands integration and fusion. The consequence is that muslims are asked to some extent to compromise but non-muslims are also asked to adjust their behaviour. In practice for example an increasing number of schools, even with a tiny muslim minority, won't offer pork etc. This time the conficts are less about "we don't understand others" and more about "why should we change".

Numbers:
In this environment where the State drives change and wants to fuse everybody into one single pot numbers matter hugely.Over 10% of the population is of muslim background, probably over 20% in the younger generation. The noise of the French political and cultural "elite" on the veil issue is just a reflection of their panicking. Despite the fact that statistics on ethnicity and religion are unlawful the progress of Islam is very tangible over there and everybody knows it. Hence the panic attack and the tendency to alternate carrot and sticks.

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