France: a wave of xenophobia” “

The number of immigrants arriving in French territory shows no signs of abating. It is a phenomenon which, in combination with growing unemployment, risks generating xenophobic reactions among the population. Due to social insecurity and violence, especially in the suburbs of the big cities, the problem of immigration and racism is at the centre of the presidential electoral campaign. The phenomenon of immigration has also become a major pastoral challenge for the Church in France. Forms of racism. “There are two forms of racism”, says Msgr. Olivier de Berranger, bishop of Saint-Denis, president of the social Commission of the French bishops, replying to the question posed by a teenager in his diocese. First, there exists so-called “scientific racism”, which degenerated into its extreme form in Nazism. “Then there is another form of racism, more frequent, which consists in considering the other person as less important than I, simply because he has a different colour of skin than mine. So I can despise him, injure him, or hate him”. But – the bishop continued – “if we admit that we are all equally created by God, we cannot fail to feel ourselves united in our differences: only thus can we overcome our unjustified fears of others”. It is this conviction that impels men and women inspired by Christianity in its most genuine form to “reject discrimination against any person”. Facts & figures. With some fifteen million French people born to immigrants, the influx of foreigners continues to grow and threatens to radically change the social panorama of France. As the latest figures clearly show, applications by asylum-seekers in France are continuing to grow: 17,500 persons applied for admission in 1996, but in 2001 their number had soared to 48,000. These figures explain in part the success – an ever growing one – being enjoyed by the “Front National”, the extreme right-wing party headed by MEP Jean-Marie Le Pen; according to the opinion polls, if France voted today, the party would obtain 8% of the vote in the presidential elections. The Church’s commitment. The Church in France has made a constant and determined effort to promote the reception and integration of immigrants. On several occasions it has issues official communiqués to spell out the Church’s teaching on issues concerning immigration. To draw attention, for example, to the “dramatic situation” of asylum-seekers, the bishops signed a declaration on 6 February urging greater acceptance of immigrants. On 1 September 2001, they wrote as follows: “By now structural and enduring, migrations offer society and the Church the challenges of meeting and living together”. The French Church has also repeatedly voiced its concern about conditions in the reception centres where immigrants are held pending the processing of their applications: they are “chronically overcrowded” and are no longer able to meet the demand for accommodation. In 1998, accommodation could be provided to up to 3,500 people. On 1 January 2002, the available places had risen to 8,500. “The situation – write the bishops – is particularly tense in Paris and in the Île de France where more than 60% of the asylum-seekers are concentrated”. The bishops’ requests. In response to the scale and gravity of this situation, the bishops propose a series of specific measures: first, that the time for the procedures for regularizing immigrants be reduced, since the waiting times only deteriorate the situation and force immigrants into clandestine work. The bishops also ask that the right to work be granted to asylum-seekers, “if the period for the processing of their applications should exceed six months”. They also urge that “greater account be taken of the situation of juveniles: adequate solutions need to be found to ensure their protection”.