The economic divide is of primary concern because it has become a point of embittered debate. The average French citizen makes ten times that of the average North African immigrant. Industries such as hospitality and retail are almost completely closed to all North African immigrants, and channels of traditional education are much harder to break into for the immigrant class. All of this contributes to how much the North African immigrant class has suffered economically.
In addition to the socio-economic factors that institutionally affect immigrant integration, political participation plays an enormous role as well. Although the French government has an extremely strong democratic system, there are no MPs within congress who is of North African dissent. France's political system has done little other than fluff to attempt to integrate the North African immigrant class into mainstream society. From the educational perspective, North African demographics receive less educational funding and secondary school aid than Anglo-Saxon demographics. Additionally, agencies created to promote immigration integration such as the High Counsel for Integration have done little to promote greater immigrant immersion into mainstream French society. Foreign policy also has played a significant barrier to greater integration primarily by alienating the immigrant sector. The Islamic Salvation Front, the political party of Algeria has accused France of supporting a militant regime within Algeria as a result; there is significant political tension between the two countries. As a result, Algerian immigrants in France have felt even more alienated from French society because of these political tensions. The psychological impact of both guerrilla tactics of Algerian militant groups and other terrorism that have occurred due to this conflict has had a tremendous psychological impact. The French government has currently banned five prominent Islamic periodicals and taken away financial assistance from Islamic religious organizations. As a result, North African Muslims feel that the French government is extremely unsupportive of their efforts of integration and all of this have led to greater prolonged conflict. Without actual representation within the French government, the immigrant class cannot fully integrate without having a...
The French media has had success in painting Islamic "activists" and "terrorists" syanamously, and as a result, they are treated with the same sort of distain and unfair media publicity. As a result of their status within the French community, strong pressure has been on the French government to take action against the Muslim community. The stigma associated with these factors has created both political tension as well as socio-economic tension. Politically, the French government has recently created even tighter regulation on immigration. Which means that illegal immigrants are now severely tracked and exported, an act that further alienates the entire North African immigrant community? Furthermore, assistance to Islamic organizations has been severely decreased because of the fear that they are being used to fund terrorist actions. Both of these factors have been blown out of proportion due to the fear of Islamic fundamentalism. From a socio-economic perspective, mainstream French citizens have an even greater stigma of Muslim immigrants. Therefore they are being turned down for even more jobs and the general tension between mainstream and immigrants have reached a near breaking point in many metropolitan and industrial areas.
The problem facing North African Muslim immigrants in France is one of both social stigma and economic disability. They lack the resources to promote themselves into the upper echelon of French society. At the same time, an unsympathetic government combined with the plight of misinformed French citizenry has caused a near breaking point between the relationships of immigrants and the mainstream populace. It has turned into a crisis that the Daily Telegraph terms "the human time-bomb of the Mediterranean." The result of severe racial tension has already been witnessed through the rioting of the past summer. However, France needs to understand that if it does not take further steps to promote greater economic and political incentives for immigrant integration they will face even greater problems within their…
