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Current social unrest among French ethnic minorities is undeniably due to factors such as acute rates of unemployment, racism in the police force and the opportunistic language of Sarkozy (Learning from each other, November 8). However, it is time to stop quibbling about which model of integration - British multiculturalism or French assimilation - achieves equality for ethnic minorities and migrants. The truth is that neither model fits the bill entirely, but that the British model of multiculturalism has afforded social mobility to some ethnic minorities, while allowing the celebration of difference and increasing the self-confidence of the second generation.
The French social model was at the heart of the debate on the referendum on the European constitution. However, it has failed completely on anti-discrimination for ethnic minorities. It is time to put strong anti-discrimination and other equality policies at the heart of that much-revered model to achieve equality of outcomes for all. After all, it is one thing to fight to maintain the 35-hour week, but what does that mean to millions of French ethnic minorities who cannot get a job in the first place?
Claude Moraes MEP
Lab, London, president, European parliament's all party anti-racism group
Like most of my fellow countrymen, I deplore Nicolas Sarkozy's inflammatory language and feel deeply saddened by the unfair deprivation of the French children of immigrant parents, but I object to the violent description used by Jonathan Freedland - "Paris is in flames" - and his allusion to "ethnic cleansing". The migrant workers who came to France in the 50s weren't "dumped ... in ghettoes ... out of sight of the white folks". The high-rise flats were built to cope with France's housing problem after the war for blacks and whites. Further waves of immigration mean there are now 5.98 million Muslims (compared with 1.48 million in the UK). This increase is due to humane legislation: le regroupement des familles and le droit du sol, which automatically grant French nationality and with it all the generous social benefits are given to large families. Immigrants do not have to "drop their past culture" or religion.
Lucette Bower
Gunnislake, Cornwall
Jonathan Freedland hits the nail on the head with his assessment of the situation in France. What he describes is justified in the name of integration, a term used to cover up for one of the most severe rises of racism in western Europe, the extent of which was demonstrated three years ago, when Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the French far right, came second at the presidential elections. Shockingly, around 6 million French people voted for him to be president. Today, Le Pen is calling on the government to expel some French citizens "to where they came from" and to end what he calls "mass immigration". Using repressive measures such as curfews will do nothing to address the issues that sparked the riots, but will instead legitimise the discourse which is allowing Le Pen's advance. We strongly advocate Freedland's conclusion that multiculturalism, which respects diversity, is the way forward.
Milena Buyum
National Assembly Against Racism
What is more quintessentially republican, more quintessentially French, than for the poor and oppressed masses to spark an uprising in Paris? This is the tradition of 1789, 1792, 1830, 1848, 1871, 1934, 1961, 1968 and the rioters have learned their lessons well.
It is certainly true that most white French, much less the French elite, do not really believe in the republican model when it comes to French people of non-white backgrounds. So, predictably, those who will settle for nothing less than liberté, égalité, fraternité must return, once again, aux barricades.
Chris Borst
E Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
To argue that "British multiculturalism" is "still the best model we have" ignores the fact that four years ago we experienced intensive rioting in Bradford, Oldham and Burnley and that such discontent festered, culminating in the July bomb attacks in London. Conventional multiculturalism of the Anglo-American variety encourages differences which often initially do not exist; and insists on ethnic, nationalist and religious pigeonholing which ignores the multifaceted experience and identities of people living in the real world. It overstresses differences and occludes the actual overlaps, blurring and hybridisation of cultures, as well as the common cross-cutting interests which people, particularly those in poverty, share.
A genuine culture of diversity would not engage in binaries (Muslim/Christian or black/white) but would encourage a pluralism of cultures which borrow and bricolage from each other: cultures of innovation rather than of tradition. It would celebrate diversity and seek to achieve common values. Anglo-American and French models of social inclusion fail not because of their ideals, but because of their failure to deliver on them.
Prof Jock Young
University of Kent
The French constitution acknowledges that all French citizens are equal regardless of their origins, race or religion. From there comes the myth of a colour-blind society. People from African and Arab descent suffer from discrimination because of what they look like regardless of their social level. Sopi - the first French company to focus on ethnic marketing - has just released a study showing that 70% of black and Arabs graduates have suffered discrimination on the job market, but 80% of them feel ready to reveal their origins during the recruitment process. There lies French hypocrisy, which refuses to admit there are minorities who require specific attention in order to break the glass ceiling.
Jean-Christophe Despres
CEO, Sopi, Paris
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