A country in its own right

On January 16, a man armed with a machine gun took hostages at a post office in the suburbs of Paris, after which he surrendered to the police. But because of the wave of terrorist attacks, many are still sure that “lead times” have come in France.

After two armed terrorists broke into the editorial office of the magazine on January 7 and killed 12 people, almost 4 million French people across the country protested in defense of the values ​​​​of the republic without prompting from the authorities, in the absolute knowledge that terrorists and Muslims are not the same thing. same. I am emphasizing this because I am shocked by the interpretations sounding in Russia - both of what is actually happening in France, and of the consequences of the January terrorist attacks for France and Europe. I hear talk of an imminent change in the political landscape in a country that, they say, over the past 30 years has become like a gateway: it accepted Muslim immigrants indiscriminately, gave them residence permits and passports, and now does not know what to do with "strangers". Which, they say, will inevitably pay off with a sharp increase in the rating of the ultra-right, primarily the National Front, which will gain the majority of votes in the next elections.

As for the future success of NF, I will say briefly - this will not happen. Let's talk about the rest in a little more detail.

France, unlike, for example, Great Britain, Canada or Germany, has never pursued a policy of multiculturalism. The goal has always been assimilation. This does not mean that blacks will be turned into whites. After all, the French nation is not an ethnic group or a religion. At the same time, the barriers for those who are trying to obtain a residence permit or citizenship from us are almost the highest in Europe. The same, incidentally, applies to the provision of various kinds of social benefits.

But already 30 years ago, the system of receiving and integrating immigrants began to falter. Why? Yes, because a country that demonstrates a 7 percent economic growth, as we had in the 50s and 60s, is able to painlessly digest visitors. But not a country with three million unemployed, as it is now.

What kind of successful integration and assimilation can we talk about when poorly performing young people of Arab origin leave schools without diplomas and immediately join the ranks of the unemployed, after which, in many cases, petty crime awaits them. Question: where do they become Islamists? Answer: in many cases it is in a French prison. Those who sit for petty theft or hooliganism in prisons are immediately taken to “process” prisoners who are sitting on more serious articles. It is in prisons that extremist literature is being disseminated. Unemployed young people are tormented by a million torments, they are looking for the meaning of life, and now they are already offered a ready-made meaning - jihad in the name of Allah. They are already leaving prison as “soldiers of Islam”. After that, they make "excursions" to Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan, and as a result we have been getting ready-made terrorists for 15-20 years.
Now they are trying to solve the problem of radicalization of young Muslims in prisons through the construction of separate buildings for those who were imprisoned for the first time or who are imprisoned on petty articles. But this is a belated step. Because in the 21st century, the recruitment of manpower for radical Islamism also takes place on the Internet, through social networks.

Another aspect: the large number of French Muslims. There are almost 5.5 million of them in France. And for many of them, the most sensitive international agenda is the Arab-Israeli conflict, which young people of Arab origin project onto the surrounding reality, provoking hatred of Jews. As a result, every year 5,000-7,000 Jews from France, Europe's largest Jewish community, permanently leave France for Israel. Nevertheless, there are almost no anti-Semitic views in France, which were strong until the 1930s. The exception is precisely the elements of the Muslim community. Even among the supporters of Marine Le Pen's National Front, such sentiments are no longer very common. France does not like the fact that the Jews are leaving, it emasculates the country. However, slowing down this process (although not all half a million will leave anyway) is not an easy task, especially against the backdrop of recent terrorist attacks.

Previously, in some French cities where there are many Muslims, such as Lille, mayors made concessions to the most active and demanding of them and introduced separate visiting hours for men and women in the pools. Now, I'm sure no one will go for such connivance. But I am also sure of something else: there will not be a radical change in political moods in French society (as well as in the rest of Europe). But strengthening border control within the Schengen area and expanding the powers of the special services is quite possible - and in the near future.