Soul-Searching in France

For several weeks a debate on national identity has been raging in France. Launched by President Nicolas Sarkozy, it was no doubt triggered by the influx of immigrants that is raising profound existential questions.

Two press comments, one French, one German, are worth noting.

The theologian Soheib Bencheikh wrote in the weekly Le Nouvel Observateur that it was time the debate was put to rest. “For all reasonable people ‘community’ and ‘identity’ have no real meaning. They are simply code words used for the sake of linguistic convenience. I have never shaken the hand of the Muslim community, nor have I taken it in my arms. I don’t know its address. By the same token I’ve never met or made my way around a fixed French identity. But what I have experienced is the influence of a Muslim presence, and the dazzling radiance of a French culture made up of a multitude of contributions. Wanting to fix an identity is tantamount to wishing its death…. Dear Monsieur Sarkozy, please let us close this ignoble debate.”

The German press comment, by Stefan Ulrich in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, refers to a survey conducted by France Télécom of one hundred thousand employees, to examine the work-related circumstances that led to thirty-three suicides within the last two years.

“All of France is caught up by the issues at stake. Like Télécom, France itself is changing rapidly. In former times people between the Atlantic and the Rhine lived in a very French sort of capitalism…. Today they are faced with the fact that this system no longer works…. It is remarkable how the French are dealing with these changes. Far from averting the eyes and muddling along, the nation is on a quest for self-knowledge. If God still lives in France, he [meaning the French citizen] is no longer enjoying the same savoir-vivre as he used to. He has become more reflective, more contemplative. [This is an allusion to the popular German description of a person who lives well, “He lives like God in France.”]

“France Télécom’s employee survey is symptomatic. All of France is wondering how the work environment can be made more humane, despite globalization. Right up to the president, everyone is demanding that not only growth but also the happiness of the individual should define the country’s economic performance.”