France's problems with Muslim community

Herman Grech's article ('The race for space', The Sunday Times, June 29) made interesting reading, but today's Muslim-related problems in France also have a historical perspective.

France used to have an empire which included Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon and several largely Muslim countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Some of them were called protectorates, but in the case of Algeria the relationship went much deeper. Hundreds of thousands of mainly French people and some other Europeans, including Maltese, settled in Algeria which became an integral part of France. This led to the Algerian War of Independence.

Empire means exploitation and the Muslim and other colonies and protectorates contributed healthily to France's economic prosperity. Many Muslims worked for French firms, while others joined the French armed forces and fought for the French in European wars. In the course of history and business, many Muslims settled in France. These included Algerians who fought on the side of the French against the Algerian Liberation Front and who were resettled to France for their own safety. Also, in the 1960s the French government actively encouraged immigration to weaken French trade unions whose strikes and wage claims were rendering French industry uncompetitive.

It would have been much better for everybody if it had encouraged French industry to invest in Muslim countries and employ Muslims in their own countries. In many ways, France's problems with its Muslim community are self-inflicted and the result of short sighted policies in the last two centuries. In no way can one draw any conclusions or inspiration from them for Malta's current problems.