France forgets history
The national motto of France — liberté, égalité, fraternité — is one of history’s famous declarations for tolerance and human rights, but it may have to be stripped from the French constitution if the government continues with its threat to create separate classes of citizenship.
Following a riot and bloodshed involving France’s economically disadvantaged Roma (gypsy) community, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered authorities to expel illegal immigrants and he advocated legislative changes that would make such expulsions easier under French law.
Mr. Sarkozy is now threatening to revoke the citizenship of new citizens if they are found guilty of a list of serious crimes. Immigrants who have been granted French citizenship must choose if they want to "be French or hoodlums," the president’s industry minister, Christian Estrosi, told Europe-1 radio on Monday.
The attacks are just the latest in a series that reflect the growing tensions between France’s old stock (its de souche) and its diverse population of ethnic minorities, primarily Roma and people from Africa and Asia.
When two black teenagers were accidentally killed by police a few years ago in Paris, a wave of violence swept the country and even spread into Belgium and Germany. Curfews were slapped on immigrant communities and foreigners linked to the rioting were summarily expelled.
