All About Yves

Alright. First, three great blog posts about about the French riots. From Juan Cole, Matthew Yglesias, and Crooked Timber. They all say, more or less, what I wanted to say about this. But the point about immigration I wanted to make is this:

First, immigration is an inherently exploitative process, the country to which one immigrates will exploit that person in the marketplace to get something for less. That's not a morally bad thing so long as it's an equal and common price that is paid one-time only. That's how it works and that's why countries let foreigners cross their borders and become citizens. It doesn't matter if you are a Honduran agricultural worker in California, or a Pakistani cardiologist in the U.K. You'll be mildly, or severly exploited as a cheaper, more maleable worker whether it's for $200 a week or $200,000 a year. The thing is, that you are promised that you or your children born in your new country will eventually be treated just like everybody else once you get passed the initial shit treatment as a price of entry. Think of it as national hazing.

Second, the crucial part in any society's immigration regime comes after the national hazing. Are the immigrant populations integrated into society, or are they forced to assimilate under pain of ostracization? For example, think of the way that Italians were integrated into the US in the 20th century. They never completely assimilated, but were allowed to retain some aspects of their cultural identity and--in the particualr case of 20th Century Italian immigrants--the larger society even adopted a few things (pasta, wine, oregano). Then they became part of American society. In France it seems like African immigrants are not integrated by the larger society, but are asked to assimilate into a sort of Frenchness that itself doesn't exist. When immigrant groups are exploited and then ghettoized until they promise to behave exactly like members of society that won't accept them enough for them to assimilate they will begin to see government and social institutions as illegitimate. And rightly so--if they've come to a republic expecting the opportunities inherent in an open society and yet are shut out and blamed for theur own lack of access to political and economic resources...we'll the situation in France is what happens. It's no accident that the first distubances in Clichy-sur-Bois were touched off by the tragic end to a police chase. It's things like police power and it's unequal excercise that are the source of the greivance here.