New Republic editor in chief Martin Peretz says three things will change now that Sarkozy is President of France:
The third will be the initial experiment among the western powers in dethroning the cult of multiculturalism. Majorities have a right — even an obligation — to preserve their own ethics, norms, cultures and histories. They have a right to define the qualifications for membership in and even admission to their societies. This will be the struggle of the 21st century. And not just in France.
Obviously, Marty doesn’t like Arabs and Sarkozy’s given some indication that he feels the same way, but does he really think France of all places is in the grips of the “cult of multiculturalism”? France has probably the least multiculturalist, most assimilation-uber-alles policies of any democracy featuring a large immigrant population. The trouble in France is that their demands for integration . . . aren’t working, not that they aren’t being made. Indeed, Sarkozy has proposed that France adopt something like American-style affirmative action.