Paris' Harvest of Socialism

The increasingly violent riots that are gripping France are only likely to get worse. The anger of immigrant Muslims reflects their lack of opportunities and their dead-end prospects.

For a North African or Middle East immigrant in France, there are few avenues that offer a prospect of upward mobility ? in stark contrast to the plethora of choices available to immigrants in the United States. Instead of gearing itself to job creation and upward mobility ? as the American system does ? the French economy, society, labor regulations, tax laws and social structure are all designed to provide a high-quality life to the traditional, white population without allowing the growth and expansion so necessary for the swelling ranks of immigrants....

As fellow Post columnist John O'Sullivan observed, immigrants to the United States invest heavily in our national "narrative," popularly called the American dream. Ask any Islamic taxi driver in New York and he will tell you his children are going to college and will regale you with his high hopes for the future. This sense of optimism and improvement kindles a national pride which tends to offset the pull of the separatist Islamic culture and nullifies much of its anti-Western connotation....But the French Muslim has no such offsets. Far from a melting pot, the stagnation of the French economy ? and the rigidity of its society ? leaves them a congealed mass at the bottom of the economic ladder, concentrated in poor suburbs, shunted out of sight and out of the way. With 10 percent of the population thus confined to the lowest rung of society, the threat of violence is quite real.