More and more in Europe we are beginning to see a clear delineation on issue of culture and integration between different groups of people in some European nations, primarily those with large immigration to their shores. I posted these two stories because I find them to be very insightful into the future problems Europe will encounter as immigration grows and the social vis a vis culture integration issues are not dealt with effectively. Certainly makes for interesting reading, don't know about you but if I go to someone elses country I certainly would make the attempt to be integrated into society but that is just my viewpoint.

Le Monde-argues that although it was initially believed the law's adoption would be "a mere formality", that is now unlikely to be the case. A fundamentalist minority among France's Muslims do not show a citizen's individual commitment to the republic and want to Islamicize it by contagion

Nouvel Observateur-As soon as the parliamentary leader of President Chirac's party told his deputies they would have a free vote, the paper says, "the gap started to widen" between those against such a law on principle and those who want even stronger legislation banning not just "conspicuous" religious symbols but indeed all "visible" ones.

Nouvel Observateur, meanwhile, takes a stand in favour of the ban. The draft law, the paper says, "is about our republic according all the children of France the same welcome, the same appearance and the same memories." It "excludes no-one", it continues, "rather it prevents children from excluding themselves."

The paper believes that the placards at last weekend's protest demonstrations proved "the saddening and irrefutable fact" that a fundamentalist minority among France's Muslims "see Islam as a nation, and its traditions as a civilization".

"They do not show a citizen's individual commitment... to the republic", the paper adds, "and want to Islamicize it by contagion."

Things were different, it argues, with previous generations of immigrants "for whom the strength of our national values had a unifying effect and dissuaded them from favouring other values - let alone trying to impose them".

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BBC-http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3417429.stm

The Netherlands' example as a successful, tolerant, multicultural community has taken a dent with the publication of a parliamentary report saying Dutch society is becoming increasingly polarised, with huge ethnic ghettos and subcultures tearing the country apart.

It is an issue which has been simmering away for years, but only made the headlines two years ago when the radical politician Pim Fortuyn, who was later assassinated, called for an end to immigration.

He said immigration, especially from Muslim countries, was diluting Dutch liberal values.

Now the all-party parliamentary report has reached a similar conclusion. It says the attempt to create an integrated multi-ethnic society has failed.

While most immigrants had integrated well, it said, there were also growing ghettos of foreigners from countries such as Turkey and Morocco.

Even Dutch-born "foreigners" tend to marry within their own communities and find spouses in their parents' home countries.

The report blamed successive Dutch governments for what had previously been seen as a positive policy designed to make life easier for immigrants - allowing them to be taught in their native languages at primary school.

This had merely perpetuated their alienation and prevented them from integrating into Dutch society properly, it said.

In what would mark a reversal of a 30-year-old policy, the report recommended that the country's Muslims should henceforth effectively "become Dutch".

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