Melting pot and salad bowl

Hello everyone !
Roughly 2,300 immigrants, many of them from Africa, are at the moment roaming the Calais streets, trying to reach England. When i was at the university I enjoyed American civilization and Ellis Island fascinated me. There was so much energy, so much hope ! New York represented for the former immigrants what England represents for those who nowadays walk through Calais
"The Melting pot" was a myth because it was expected that the immigrants from different origins would  fuse their culture and create a new one. Why would all these people abandon their own identities ?
This is the reason why the melting pot was progressively abandoned and the different communities kept their own culture and did not merge into a homogeneous one.
What about France ? Has France always been a welcoming land for foreigners ? Most immigrants want to go to England but some of them will stay in France. Is it possible to accept every different culture ? will French culture change because of immigration ? Is it a richness or a threat ?

Hi everyone.
Anyway America is a nation of immigrants and one of the most diverse in the world.
Immigration when done right is a great thing but what about illegal immigration with all the problems it causes.?

Hi Muriel,

I don't want to comment on nowadays' situation as it's a dangerous subject.

> Has France always been a welcoming land for foreigners ?
I wonder if France has ever been a welcoming land.... politicians do things but the French think differently.
Politicians keep saying France is a perfect melting pot... NO!! This is nonsense: of course, immigrants often were better than in their countries but the French population has never been welcoming.

It depends on the percentage of foreigners in a specific location, if these guys disturb the French in their daily life but mainly NO!!.
If I refer to Italian immigrants at the end of the 19th-beginning of the 20th century, no the French were not a welcoming country!
In the Middle-Ages, the French hanged Jews!
They easilly killed protestants, Cathars, and anyone disturbing their lives.

NO!!

This written, yes there were oodles of immigrant waves but they were not easily accepted, never ever.

Calais is a poor town with a high unemployment rate. The  importance of immigration prevents the lorry drivers from doing  their job, blocks the port activity  ... It is difficult for everyone.  Nevertheless I have personal examples of immigrants who have brought real richness to our country. A few years ago I met an Iranian boy who had spent 6 months at  the Sangatte camp.  He was our friend and we helped him with his OFPRA problems.http://www.acronymfinder.com/Office-Fran%C3%A7ais-de-Protection-des-R%C3%A9fugi%C3%A9s-et-Apatrides-(French%3A-French-Office-for-Protection-of-Refugees-and-Stateless-Persons)-(OFPRA).html. He managed to stay in France (not in Calais) and studied hard. He now speaks French like a native  I recently received an invitation to his doctorate in nuclear physics. Isn't I amazing ?

This written, yes there were oodles of immigrant waves but they were not easily accepted

Thanks Gérard for your answer. For a successful immigration a win-win relation is necessary I think. The French should be more friendly and the immigrants should try to better adapt themselves. OK we were not very nice with immigrants in the past and I hope we will improve in the future.

About the subject, I would recommend the following book :

"De Kaboul à Calais" by Wali Mohammadi. (E. Robert Laffont)

" L'incroyable périple d'un jeune Afghan que la guerre a arraché à son pays et jeté sur des routes de hasard
" jusqu'à Calais.
" Orphelin, son père, emprisonné par les talibans, est mort sous la torture, sa mère a été tuée par une
" bombe sur un marché, il a quitté Kaboul à l'âge de 15 ans, car il n'avait plus rien à perdre, sauf la vie.

This book helped me understand and accept the overcrowding of migrants in the streets of Calais these days.
We meet them in the shops, in cafés, in the trains, in a few squats they happen to find, in the "jungle" near the factories, etc.
What is to be done ? No one has a solution. The best thing is "Let's open our minds and our hearts".

There are several kinds of immigrants, of which immigrants for economic reason, immigrants for personal security reason.
Both need different solutions.

"Let's open our minds and our hearts".

Guilaine, I agree with you it is important to understand migrants' difficulties. Anyway when the migrants try to force their way onto a  Ferry I am worried. what would happen if the travellers chose another sea route to cross the channel ? what would happen if Calais Ferry companies have to close down ?