I have been following the events in France over the last few weeks with increasing alarm.
From the beginning I was struck by the similarities between what is happening there with what is happening here.
The French are facing the problem of integrating a large number of foreign people (mostly, but, not exclusively Arab and Muslim) into their society.
This problem began when France, along with other European countries, imported large numbers of laborers right after the end of World War II to help in the rebuilding of France and to fill the large gap in the labor market.
The effort led the way to the swift recovery of the French economy and the resulting boom in the postwar period.
This country following the oil boom of the 1970s had a similar need for a large influx of skilled and unskilled labor to meet the huge demands of our expanding economy that was coupled with an equally huge shortage of Saudi labor.
The solution for us was to do what the French did in the postwar period.
There was and is a big difference with the way we have dealt with this group of people, who are proportionately of greater numbers here than in France.
In France many of the workers were given French citizenship in recognition of their long stay and the continued need for their services.
The French believed that they would be able to integrate them seamlessly within their society and absorb them by erasing their national or ethnic identity and turning them into French clones.
The problem is that the French did this in ways that were deemed by their targets to be inappropriate and insensitive to their culture and beliefs.
This coupled with a certain amount of perceived racism on behalf of French authorities has led to a great sense of alienation of this group. It was this that contributed to triggering the events of the last few weeks.
Here in Saudi Arabia we have, on the other hand, resisted giving citizenship to members of this group as much as possible. We have cherished the idea that at some point they would all just go away. Unfortunately, there is no sign that we can do without them yet and that they will all go away.
We have instead offered work permits coupled with a curious system we call “Kafala”.
The idea behind “Kafala”, which means surety, is that a person is given a permit to stay in the country to work under the responsibility and surety of a Saudi.
Needless to say, this has led to a number of abuses without any obvious benefit to Saudi business or society.
In addition, there are restrictions on foreign workers’ right to be treated in Saudi state hospitals and to educate their children in Saudi state schools. They are also banned from sending their children to state universities.
This is in sharp contrast with France where immigrants are treated in state hospitals at state expense and no restrictions are applied in the education of their children in state schools or universities.
The French even provide pensions to immigrants and free housing.
All this, however, did not prevent the rioting of the last two weeks. The main reason being that the young people of that community are tired of living on government handouts that are demeaning to them. They would rather work and earn their living thereby gaining self-respect.
In addition, they are fed up with what they perceive as a French attitude of disrespect of their culture and beliefs. These factors are being magnified by the events of Sept. 11 and the worldwide war on terrorism. These events were perceived by the Muslims in France as an excuse for a rising French racism directed against them.
It all came to a head over the last month.
It is useful to understand that events in France may not be unique to France and that what happened there can happen closer to home and for similar reasons.
We must practice what we preach.
It is not sufficient to drone on about what a pious peace loving country we are and how we respect human rights. We must match words with deeds and realize that the only people we are fooling are ourselves.
