"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

PARIS INTIFADA: FRENCH MINISTER BLAMES ISLAMIC PRACTICE OF POLYGAMY

FT: France’s employment minister on Tuesday fingered polygamy as one reason for the rioting in the country:

Gérard Larcher said multiple marriages among immigrants was one reason for the racial discrimination which ethnic minorities faced in the job market. Overly large polygamous families sometimes led to anti-social behaviour among youths who lacked a father figure, making employers wary of hiring ethnic minorities, he explained. ... Mr Larcher’s comments could further fuel the debate and are likely to outrage Muslim and anti-racism groups in France. They also come as the government considers tightening visa-granting rules and a possible clampdown on polygamous families already living in France. ...

Although polygamy is illegal in France, visas were granted freely to family members of immigrants until 1993, when visas were banned for more than one spouse. Many wives continued to enter illegally, however and a clampdown, if enforced, could affect families that entered the country before 1993. Politicians estimate there are 10,000-20,000 polygamous families in France, most from North and sub-Saharan African countries such as Algeria, Mali and Senegal, where the practice is legal. Polygamy is a taboo subject for most mainstream French politicians. Far-right groups, however, have seized on it to argue that immigrants abuse the French social security system by collecting state benefits for several wives.

This VERY UN-PC issue is nevertheless probably a ROOT CAUSE of many pervasive problems in the Muslim world. CORRECTABLE PROBLEMS. I've written about this HERE and HERE and HERE.

2 comments:

felix said...

Makes sense to me. Sounds like the riots in France have produced some healthy debate and discussion about the islamists threat. Of course at some point the French will have to do something about the threat. Breaking thru the PC rules has to occur before action is possible.

Reliapundit said...

good point