Creil, the mirror of a new France that no longer recognizes its neighbors
In Creil, a city home to 100 nationalities, a resident admits he no longer recognizes his birthplace. The Muslim vote for Mélenchon and the identity strategy of the left
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Creil, the city of 100 nationalities where residents no longer recognize their own hometown
«Sometimes I struggle to recognize the place where I was born». The words, from a resident of Creil, capture the bewilderment of a town in northern France that has become the laboratory of the country's new multicultural reality. With more than a hundred nationalities sharing its streets, the town is the perfect example of what some call the «France of tomorrow»: diverse, changing and, for many, unrecognizable.
The paradox of voting and exclusion
It is not the far right that is sounding the alarm, but citizens who describe themselves as far from it. «More and more people from outside keep coming, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I have nothing to do with the far right. But little by little you start feeling excluded, as if the place weren't yours anymore», explains one resident. The feeling is even stronger in schools, where cultural differences become more visible. Meanwhile, the ballot box speaks clearly: Muslim voters turned out en masse for Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the last presidential election, and his France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) came close to reaching the second round.
The new left's strategy: the identity vote
It is no coincidence that it is in France and the United Kingdom, Europe's most diverse societies, that the left has turned to religious sectarianism to scrape together votes. The British Green Party even recorded a controversial campaign video in a district of Manchester appealing directly to the Muslim community. For some analysts, the welfare state has not been enough to hold together a society increasingly fragmented along ethnic and religious lines. Welcome to the new Europe: France and the United Kingdom are charting the course the rest of the continent could trinc.
The question hanging over Creil is whether diversity can hold up without part of the population feeling it has lost its home. For now, discontent is growing, and the identity vote is consolidating itself as an electoral strategy. Creil's mirror reflects a France that does not know whether it recognizes itself in it.
Related discussions in the forum
«Sometimes I struggle to recognize the place where I was born». The words, from a resident of Creil, capture the bewilderment of a town in northern France that has become the laboratory of the country's new multicultural reality. With more than a hundred nationalities sharing its streets, the town is the perfect example of what some call the «France of tomorrow»: diverse, changing and, for many, unrecognizable.
The paradox of voting and exclusion
It is not the far right that is sounding the alarm, but citizens who describe themselves as far from it. «More and more people from outside keep coming, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I have nothing to do with the far right. But little by little you start feeling excluded, as if the place weren't yours anymore», explains one resident. The feeling is even stronger in schools, where cultural differences become more visible. Meanwhile, the ballot box speaks clearly: Muslim voters turned out en masse for Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the last presidential election, and his France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) came close to reaching the second round.
The new left's strategy: the identity vote
It is no coincidence that it is in France and the United Kingdom, Europe's most diverse societies, that the left has turned to religious sectarianism to scrape together votes. The British Green Party even recorded a controversial campaign video in a district of Manchester appealing directly to the Muslim community. For some analysts, the welfare state has not been enough to hold together a society increasingly fragmented along ethnic and religious lines. Welcome to the new Europe: France and the United Kingdom are charting the course the rest of the continent could trinc.
The question hanging over Creil is whether diversity can hold up without part of the population feeling it has lost its home. For now, discontent is growing, and the identity vote is consolidating itself as an electoral strategy. Creil's mirror reflects a France that does not know whether it recognizes itself in it.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (28 replies).
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