A bad thing? Colour Blind state + restrictions of freedom of speech.

[al Roumi]

Being of dual nationality (British and French), I've grown up with a view on both "worlds" -as the French see it and as the British see it.

This article betrays a fantastic misunderstanding of the background to this event and how France views integration, compared to Britain. I'm not talking about a simple multi-culturalism vs integration debate either.

Not that we can know exactly what the downsides are, because France bans statistics on ethnicity and crime.

The hack should have asked the following question before charging off down his well worn rut of "OMG it's 1984 and that's teh ministry of truth":

Why does France ban statistics on ethnicity and crime?
Because being "French" is independant of colour or background. Where a French person originated from or where their parents where born should have no bearing on them as a French individual -so there is no need to collect statistics on that.

From a practical (and also Anglo-Saxon) perspective, this makes no sense -there are uncountable demographic, social and economic factors which transcend nationality. But, the French establishment's view is that to be French is itself a transcendental status (above demography etc), aquired by immigration and assimilation or birth. I'd go as far as to say that the French are suppremely arrogant about the superiority of their brand of liberty over the rest of the world's (read Anglo-saxon concepts of it).

Back to the stats and figures. Given what the pragmatic/Anglosaxon view as an intractable falacy: that all French are French and equal in their liberty, it would seem natural to collect evidence on how demographic, social or economic conditions might condition a French persons' existence. However, to some in France (I think they are more than a little over sensitive here -being part Anglo and all), collecting stats on French people in less than glorious social condition (banged up, poor or unemployed) could only be, or runs the risk of, portraying them as less than equals: less than French.

Hence the NGO uproar with its apparent disingenious resistance to investigation of the condition of France's immigrants. Investigation which, in Britain for example, would (hopefully!) be used as a basis for addressing a disproportinately disadvantaged group's malaises. But in France, the findings would be viewed as a denial of the equality of being French, so the establishment opposes it and prefers to continue blinkered.

Well that's my view, no doubt I'll now be told I'm not French (or British) and have no right to speak as though I were :)