 | ■ International
Integration or exclusion?
種族融合還是排外？
In colorblind France, rising diversity is testing the notion of French unity
自許無種族歧視的法國，正面臨外來人口不斷增加的團結考驗 |
| The streets in one of the Paris region's toughest housing projects, which is burgeoning with immigrants, bear names like Cezanne and Picasso, as if to stamp French heritage onto the psyches of its residents. | 這幾條街位於巴黎地區生活水平嚴峻的住宅計畫區之中，外來移民人口不斷增加，街道上的名稱取自像是畫家塞尚與畢卡索等藝術大師的名字，彷彿是要將法國重要遺產強迫刻印在當地居民的心裡。 |
| But neither the names of the great masters nor the title of the project, Les Bosquets, or The Groves, capture the daily realities of the French-style ghetto, an enclosed world where many residents don't speak French and the unemployment rate is around 40 percent. | 然而這些街道，無論是有名人的加持，還是擁有萊博斯屈埃特城鎮，亦稱「果園」住宅計畫的美名，都無法形容這個法式貧民區每日最真實的面貌；這裡如與世隔絕般孤立，住著許多不懂法語的居民，失業率約四成左右。 |
| Despite quiet debate, authorities have stood by a French model that's colorblind to differences. In France, race and ethnicity are not counted in the government census and minority rights need not exist, as all residents, immigrants or not, are considered to share a common identity: "French." | 儘管法國種族議題之爭在檯面下醞釀，但是政府已將無種族之分的想法奉為圭臬。在法國，人種與種族劃分並不算在人口普查之列，屬於少數民族的權利也無需存在，因為無論是否為外來移民，只要住在法國的居民都只有一種身分 ──「法國人」。 |
| But housing projects such as Les Bosquets, which are outside most large French cities and are often cut off by poor public transport, raise questions about how much assimilation is really happening in France. Even immigrants from France's former North African colonies, many in their third generation, are far from integrating. | 不過像萊博斯屈埃特這樣的住宅計畫區，不僅遠離法國大部分主要城市，也經常因為不完善的大眾運輸系統而更顯孤立。不禁讓人納悶究竟法國所謂的種族「同化」是否真的存在。即便曾經被法國殖民的北非移民，其中有許多人已是第三代，種族融合的理想卻還沾不上邊。 |
| The postcard vision of France has been upended in the Seine-Saint-Denis region northeast of Paris. French kings are buried in the great cathedral of Saint-Denis, the main town, but traditional minorities have become the majority in the region. | 法國東北部塞納聖德尼省地區在明信片上景緻與想像中截然不同。即使法國歷代多任國王都埋葬於這個主要城鎮裡的聖德尼大教堂底下，傳統少數民族反而在該區成了大多數。 |
| A study by Patrick Simon, a leading French demographer, puts immigrants and their descendants at 75 percent of the city's population. But the vast majority of the region's economic leaders are in the white minority, Simon said, putting new stress on the notion that immigrants and their children are being successfully assimilated. | 法國首席人口統計學家派翠克席蒙研究發現，外來移民與其後代子孫組成了該市七成五的人口。不過席蒙表示，該區的經濟領袖大多是佔少數的白人，更矛盾了新移民與後代已成功同化的想法。 |
| In Les Bosquets, the most widespread complaint remains poor public transport and the isolation that keeps Les Bosquets at a distance from mainstream France. It takes nearly 90 minutes to get to Paris on public transportation, even though the project is only 17 kilometers away. "They've done everything to keep us closed among ourselves," said a 34-year-old born in France of Algerian parents. "It is they who don't want us to integrate." Like most residents of the projects, the man, who works with a private fire department, refused to identify himself by name. | 萊博斯屈埃特城鎮早已聲名狼藉的交通運輸系統仍未改善，這使得該鎮像是被隔離於法國主要城市之外。即便萊博斯屈埃特住宅區距離市中心只有十七公里遠，但是搭大眾運輸工具到巴黎仍需要耗費將近九十分鐘才能到達。一名卅四歲、法國出生的阿爾及利亞裔父親表示：「政府費盡心思把我們的族群關在一起，他們根本不希望我們融合。」該名男性在一間私立消防局裡工作，他與大部分住在該計畫區的居民一樣拒絕透露姓名。 |
| Discrimination is a fact of life in France for minorities, and a poll by the firm Ipsos published this year showed no sign that that might lessen. A full 70 percent of those questioned felt there were "too many foreigners in France." | 種族歧視在法國少數民族裡是事實，而根據易普索市場調查公司發表的民調顯示，歧視問題並沒有減少的跡象。有整整七成受訪者認為「法國有太多外國人。」 |
沒有留言:
張貼留言