French Minister Says Polygamy To Blame For Riots

by-Martin Arnold In Paris
Published: November 15 2005

France's Employment Minister on Tuesday fingered polygamy as one reason for the rioting in the country.

Gerard Larcher said multiple marriages among immigrants was one reason for the racial discrimination which ethnic minorities faced in the job market.

Only large polygamous families sometimes led to anti-social behavior among youths who lacked a father figure, making employers wary of hiring ethnic minorities, he explained.

The Minister, speaking to a group of foreign Journalists as the government stepped up efforts to improve its image with the foreign media, said: "since part of society displays this anti-social behaviour, it is not surprising that some of them have difficulties finding work..."

Efforts must be made by both sides. If people are not employable, they will not be employed.

The riots, and the government's slow reaction to the violence, has led to widespread criticism that France's ruling class is out of touch with the rest of the country.

Mr. Larcher's comments could further fuel the debate and are likely to outrage Muslim and anti-Racism groups in France.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d6f1fe0a-5615-11da-b04f-00000e25118c.html

My Opinion:
This is how the Minister chose to display the new and improved image of France? What improvement? This is his effort? That's a very counterProductive effort to say the least.
All he managed to do was to make an idiotic assertion and cloaked it as if it were a scientific fact.

It's this kind of moronic and racist thinking that is based and nurtured on urban legends and man made myth's that has kept ethnic minorities from being employed or allowed to properly integrate into their new homeland.

One can immediately conclude from the Ministers statement that neither "polygamy" nor "ethnic immigrants" are the true source of the disturbances that plagued France for two weeks, rather it is the Racist Views and Actions of people like Mr. Larcher's that has nurtured French Xenophobia towards 'outsiders.'

Frenchmen who have acquired citizenship or were born in France but who descended from foreign lands are still referred to as "ethnic Immigrants" NOT "french."

So, regrettably the "real" frenchmen bear most of the blame for keeping a wall between them and the "ethnic immigarnts."

Also, regarding anti-social behaviour, an average of 400 cars are torched every New Year's Eve in Paris by "real french" youth, yet they have no problem finding employment. Why did the Minister fail to mention the many mistresses that are lurking in the wings of countless married men? Isn't that anti-social behaviour? When those women give birth out of wedlock, aren't the children deprived of a father figure?

Maybe the Minister can include an extra question on all employment applications: 'have you a father figure?'

It appears that some French officials have developed a taste for constantly putting their feet in their mouths.

Ignorant and Racist statements like those of Minister's Sarkozy and Larcher will only widen the divide that is afflicting French Society not bridge it.