No-one has the magic formula for racial harmony

After two weeks of rioting in France, the country’s attitude to minorities has come in for some criticism. France has never officially recognised cultural or religious minorities. The French government does not keep data on the ethnicity or religion of its citizens. It is illegal for organisations to hold such information on their employees. By contrast, in the US, companies over a certain size are legally obliged to monitor the ethnic makeup of their workforces. In the UK, while not compulsory, ethnic monitoring is considered good practice and can count in an employer’s favour when fighting claims of racial discrimination

In France, though, if you are French, you are French, that’s it. Ethnic minorities have no official status. There is no French equivalent of “African-American”, when you become a French citizen, you are expected to leave your old identity behind. Uniquely among the major western countries, the French government has no idea how many of its citizens are from ethnic minorities. This means that there can be no affirmative action programmes, no government grants for cultural activities and no community leaders filing into government buildings to be consulted on policy.

Over the last week, commentators from both left and right have pronounced that France’s model has failed. The Guardian suggested that France should adopt some features of the British multi-cultural approach, and Niall Ferguson advocated the American system of integrating immigrant groups. The French approach to their ethnic minority communities is being blamed for the lack of pro-active policies to ensure that they are integrated into French society. This leads to the neglect of minority communities, which in turn leads to alienation and violence, or so the story goes.

What short memories we have. Just two months ago, the lawlessness and rampaging mobs in New Orleans were attributed to the failure of the USA to deal with the deep racial divisions in society. Trevor Phillips warned that America is becoming dangerously segregated:

Amongst America’s hyphenated identities, the part of their identity that marks them out as different seems to have become as important, even more important, than the part that binds them together. Americans have all fetched up at the same restaurant; but every group has its own separate table, with its own menu, its own waiters and its own way of paying the bill.

In the UK, there has been rising criticism of multi-culturalism over the past few years year. Conflicts between whites and Pakistanis in Bradford and Oldham and between Afro-Caribbeans and Pakistanis in Birmingham have been blamed on racial segregation and lack of integration. By emphasising the cultural differences, the UK has allowed communities to develop in isolation. Consequently, while they inhabit the same area they often have little understanding of each other.

While Paris was burning, there were also riots in the Danish city of Aarhus. The Dutch too, have problems with alienated Muslim youths. No western country has solved the problem of integrating its ethnic minorities. That is not to say that people from minorities do not integrate into European cultures; many of them do. In all western countries, though, there are groups from ethnic minority backgrounds, sometimes second or third generation, who remain alienated and isolated from the wider society.

The French have one way of managing their cultural minorities, the Americans have another and ours in Britain is different again. The Danish, Dutch and Germans also have their own unique approaches, reflecting their national cultures and histories. All have one factor in common. They have specific cultural minorities who, for one reason or another, remain at odds either with mainstream society, or with other ethnic groups. In this sense, all the approaches can be said to have failed.

The French model is no better or worse than any other. At the moment, it is France’s turn to experience unrest but riots with a racial element will occur again in the UK, in the USA and in Scandinavia. Whatever model a country uses to try and create harmony between ethnic groups, some people remain stubbornly unaffected.