In an interesting article published today by the International Herald Tribune, Jon Frosch examines one of the more diverse countries in the world: France. A new social contract, called the “Sarkozy Law,” requires new members of French society to assimilate. But on the terms of the French government, and not the new immigrants. Formal classes are held, and the immigrants must sign a contract.
“What brought them there (formal classroom) was an agreement each had signed with the government of France: They would try to integrate into society, accept French values and learn the language, and France would help them along the way.
The contract ‘of welcome and integration’ has been mandatory since January for all people from outside the European Union applying for long-stay visas, except for students and seasonal workers. It is part of a package of immigration rules known as the ‘Sarkozy law,’ passed in July 2006, when Nicolas Sarkozy, now the president, was interior minister.
The routine procedures for a prospective long-stay visa holder include a medical examination, an interview and a language assessment. But the contract adds a new requirement: a day of civic training, regardless of the applicant’s language fluency and the length of time spent in France.” (1)
The civic classes comprise eight hours of instruction in the following areas: French colonial history, revisionist history of French involvement in World War II, French laws, political parties, and information about the European Union (EU which comprises 27 European nations).
“But Sarkozy’s emphasis on national identity and ‘Frenchness’ is unsettling to some migrants and political critics, who feel he is fundamentally hostile to immigration. After all, his detractors say, this is the man who stepped up the deportation of illegal immigrants and courted far-right voters by evoking (with slightly more tactful language) a slogan used by Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigrant National Front party: ‘France, love it or leave it.’ ” (2)
The above quote sounds very American. “Love it or Leave it.” By the way, President Sarkozy spent his summer holidays in New Hampshire.
Frederick Douglass was keenly aware of the importance of full citizenship for former slaves, along with all members of the African-American population born freely in the United States. He also lobbied strongly for black free men in the North to join the Union forces during the Civil War. But in the following commentary made late in his life, Mr. Douglass discusses the plight of his fellow citizens regarding the importance of voting in an upcoming election:
“In view of this fact its importance can not be overestimated or understated; and no class of citizens have a deeper interest at stake or a more solemn responsibility resting upon them in choosing between these parties than the colored people in the doubtful states. For it may involve not only the loss of the elective franchise, but the loss of citizenship itself.
We take it for granted, fellow citizens, that not any of the statements here made, or the facts here narrated, will be questioned or denied. They are prominent points in the political history of our country. Conspicuous on its page, they are equally forcible in the lesson they teach and the duty they make plain. No man will likely go wrong who studies this history and who wishes to conserve his blood-bought liberty in this Republic.
Unfortunately, one reason we have for addressing you is the fact that the lesson of this history does not seem to have impressed all of our people as it should. For the first time in all the years of our political enfranchisement, we are confronted, in the pending Presidential campaign, with the strange and unnatural spectacle of a colored Democratic party organized with a view so to dispose of its voice as to defeat the Republican party, and, if possible, to make Democratic rule permanent. No position ever taken by any class of colored people in this country seems to us more inconsistent, illogical, and disastrous to our civil rights than this.
Nevertheless, we must assume that the men associated with this are honest and really hope to accomplish something for the welfare and advancement of the race, and we therefore invite attention to some reasons in favor of a different course.
First, we ask them to observe that the Republican Party has inscribed, over the very gateway of its platform, renewed devotion to the rights and liberties of our people in common with all others. It holds to the sovereign right to every lawful citizen, rich or poor, native or foreign born, white or black, to cast one free ballot in all public elections and to have that ballot duly counted…”
It might surprise present day political leaders, along with the rest of us, that Mr. Douglass said, “I am a Republican, a black, dyed in the wool Republican, and I never intend to belong to any other party than the party of freedom and progress.”
Source: The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress: “Address to the Colored Citizens of the United States,” pages 2 and 3.
References
(1 and 2) “Would-be migrants must undergo classes in what it means to be French,” International Herald Tribune, 09 August 2007.
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