Sarkozy Speaks: Multiculturalism Has Failed in France

Here’s the video of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s opinion that multiculturalism has failed in France. Thanks goes to Eeyore at Vlad Tepes for the clip.

There is a correction on the translation provided in the video. At 3:52 Sarkozy actually says, “We are a laïque country” (kind of secularism).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the first European leader to admit multiculturalism failed, and British Prime Minister David Cameron said the same last week. For those who keep demanding that North America follow Europe’s example, what do you have to say about this? I would definitely support Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper if he wanted to make similar statements about multiculturalism in Canada. I don’t think President Barack Obama has the courage to make such a statement, but I doubt that would be a problem for a Republican successor. John Sexton is right, it is about time that America, as well as Canada, take this step.

When we talk about the failure of multiculturalism, we aren’t talking about the failure of people to accept others of different cultures. Canada is accepting to a fault in this regard. What we are talking about is the failure of others to accept the culture of the country they are moving to. A growing problem with an increasingly intolerant Muslim community that is unwilling to be part of Western society. For example, we saw this kind of intolerance recently when a dozen Muslim families demanded that Winnipeg’s Louis Riel School Division allow their children excused from compulsory elementary school music and coed physical education programs for religious and cultural reasons. Here’s the discussion on ‘The Michael Coren Show’ concerning this story via SDAMatt2.

I’ll end this post with two more videos. The first is another clip from ‘The Michael Coren Show’ with Wednesday’s panel discussing David Cameron’s belief that multiculturalism has failed in the United Kingdom. The second is from British writer Pat Condell. Though I don’t agree with much he has to say, especially his ignorant and downright hateful statements on Christianity, I do think he make a good point in his latest video concerning the British Prime Minister’s comments.

and…

Germans Finally Getting It: Multiculturalism doesn’t work

Alternate Headlines; Germans are German culturally, Germans want to preserve German culture, Germans frustrated with foreigners telling them how to live, etc One of the big news stories not being given the attention I think it deserves. This from the Agence France-Presse, via the National Post…

Germany’s attempts to create a multi-cultural society in which people from various cultural backgrounds live together peacefully have failed, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday.

“Multikulti”, the concept that “we are now living side by side and are happy about it,” does not work, Ms. Merkel told a meeting of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party at Potsdam near Berlin.

“This approach has failed, totally,” she said…

There is a lot said in this article and I recommend my modest readership read it all the way through. The point is that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is simply reiterating what many, if not most Germans are thinking. While only a third of those polled believe Germany is “over-run by foreigners”, nearly sixty percent of them felt Muslims should have their religious practices “significantly curbed”. While Merkel’s statement expresses how her party and its supporters are feeling about the state of Germany, the poll data demonstrates that this isn’t simply the concern of the “far-right” (an apparent attempt by the author of this article to ignore the greater implications of this news).

So what does this mean? The truth is that this has two significant implications. The first of which is the obvious point that many Germans are feeling that German culture is under attack by this push for multiculturalism, or “Multikulti”, which gives preference to foreign customs and practices. We have already seen this in North America with the attack on our culture, mainly the inability for Christians to practice their faith freely, but it seems to be much worse in Germany. It is one thing to be accepting of foreign cultures, but is quite another to impose them over our own. So what does this mean for immigration? Obviously the majority of Germans do not feel immigration is a threat to Germany, and one could infer from this that many think that the majority of immigrants are assimilating into society. It isn’t immigration, but certain immigrants which are causing problems, which brings us to the second point; Germans are getting frustrated with Turkish, if not all Muslim immigrants.

Before I start, let me clarify this point. Not all Turkish immigrants are unwilling to assimilate, but within the Turkish community in Germany, Islamic radicalism has become a serious problem. It isn’t just the Turks, but the larger Muslim community within the country is being slowly overrun by extremists. While fundamentalist Muslims would have us believe that Europe is willingly submitting to their efforts, the opposite is true. We have not only seen France’s Senate vote overwhelmingly to ban the Niqab in public, but last week we saw Dutch prosecutors dropping charges against Geert Wilders for criticizing Islam. There definitely seems to be a push against fundamentalist Islam within Europe right now and Merkel’s statement does help support this belief. It isn’t just statements though, Germany has made moves to combat the spread of Islamic radicalism. In August, German authorities shut down the Taiba mosque in Hamburg, which was linked to the September 11th attacks. While many would simply dismiss this as German “Islamophobia”, or the concerns of “far-right radicals”, it is obvious that this is more than the frustrations of a minority of within the country.

So what does this mean for North America? I would argue that, for the most part, most immigrants do assimilate, and while there is an issue with a bias against Christianity, I think it has more to do with push from the “intelligentsia” to undermine the faith than it does with immigration. Because of this, the issue isn’t much multiculturalism but understanding that radical Islam has become a problem that cannot be ignored anymore. Does this mean that multiculturalism isn’t a problem for Canada and the United States? Of course not. There are numerous examples of our own culture being attacked by those who wish to accommodate a foreign one. It wasn’t that long ago that Erik Millet, the former principle of Belleisle Elementary in New Brunswick, refused to play O Canada during the mornings to accommodate parents of children who had recently immigrated to Canada. With out national anthem under attack, it is obvious that there are issues with our multicultural policies.

As for the issue of radical Islam, I would like to believe that we are slowly catching on to this reality. Earlier this month, Defence Minister Peter MacKay canceled a public talk by Imam Zijad Delic, the executive director of the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), because of the organization’s extremist ties. This is a sign that at least the Conservatives understand that Islamic fundamentalism cannot be accepted in Canada. While not as publicized, the negative reaction to the overreaction by Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg to Bill O’Reilly’s statements on ‘The View’, demonstrate that many, if not most, Americans aren’t willing to accept that Islam wasn’t at all responsible for the 9/11 attacks. This also seems to be a belief shared by Canadians as well as the entire panel of ‘The Michael Coren Show’ agreed with and defended O’Reilly’s statements. I could go on, but I think I have made my point.

Hopefully Angela Merkel’s statement will be a wake up call for those in the Western world still clinging to this nonsensical notion of “tossed salad” multiculturalism. Conflicting cultures will not simply mesh together, especially the culture that Islamic fundamentalists are trying to impose. I am not suggesting that we shouldn’t celebrate the culture of the immigrants who come to shores, but not at the expense of our own. If immigrants, Muslim or otherwise, do not wish to respect the culture, if not the laws, of the country they are immigrating to, it may be time to issue an ultimatum to them; You either respect our ways and assimilate into our society or you go back to where you came from.

UPDATE: Hat tip to Blazing Cat Fur for the link to Orwellian Culture’s post on Multiculturalism in Canada. Much like this post, it is a response to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s comment, but it is far more centered on the issues regarding Canada’s multicultural policies. The post is far more blunt than mine, but I would still recommend my modest readership give it a read.

UPDATE: Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey is now weighing in on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s comments. Morrissey makes it clear that while most Muslims aren’t the problem, there are fundamentalists who would seek to replace national laws with Islamic ones. This is very much the point I tried to make, pointing the to growing number of Islamic fundamentalists in Germany who’s practices nearly sixty percent of Germans are uncomfortable with. In short, the issue isn’t all Muslims, but those who refuse to assimilate and are trying to push fundamentalist Islam, not only on the Muslim community, but all of Germany.

In any event, I recommend my modest readership give Ed Morrissey’s post a read. He really helps better explain what myself and others are saying.

Ozil Fouled: Spain Gets Win with Referee Assistance

At the end of the first half, Germany’s Mesut Ozil was on a break, beating Sergio Ramos, but before he could take his shot, the young German was taken down…

Dirty play from Ramos doesn’t surprise me. Having watched his performances in previous games, like the match against Paraguay, I knew he was a dirty player. The problem is that Victor Kassai, the game’s referee, didn’t see any problem. This nonsense continued throughout the match and I actually felt physically ill watching Spain get free kick after free kick. I don’t mind watching my team lose against a better team, but when the loss comes due to poor reffing and poor sportsmanship (Spain in this case, Italy in 2006), I am infuriated.

While Portugal and Italy are known for taking dives, Spain’s performance this tournament puts Azzurri’s 2006 World Cup performance to shame, and that’s saying a lot considering the scandal that erupted immediately following Italy’s World Cup win. Kassai should have paid attention to what Spain were doing, especially with what they had been doing throughout this tournament. While it has become a running joke on the internet, Fernado Torres’ dive the in Chile game was no laughing matter to the South Americans. They were unable to mount a comeback (they came within one goal with only ten men) as Marco Estrada was red carded because of Torres’ disgraceful performance…

It is just disgusting when the “beautiful game” is reduced to this kind of nonsense. Before taking down Ozil, Ramos not only stepped down on Lucas Podolski’s ankle (should have been a yellow card), but had dove twice when he was unable to beat Jérôme Boateng. Suffice to say, his performance wasn’t convincing enough, even for Kassai who definitely seemed to be calling the game in Spain’s favour. It was Ramos’ teammate, Andrés Iniesta’s performance against not only Boateng, but another German defender, which gave Spain two free kicks, the latter which set up the corner that won the game. Iniesta is also well known for his antics on the field, so much so that he has drawn criticism from former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, another well known diver. Even Spain’s David Villa wasn’t immune to this nonsense, taking a dive early in the second half after numerous failed attempts to get past the German defenders. While Kassai didn’t award a free kick for Villa’s efforts, he also didn’t card Spain’s top goal scorer for this disgraceful act. Looking at how defensive the Germans were playing towards the end of the game, one wonders if their lack of aggression was due to fears of being carded as even the slightest questionable action awarded Spain a free kick. This, however, was only half the story of this game.

While I will admit Germany didn’t play as aggressively as they did against both England and Argentina, when they did have possession, far too often it ended as Spain’s defenders brought down German attacker after German attacker. During the 86th minute of play, not one but two German forwards were physically brought down within the penalty box. Kassai called for the play to continue, almost leading to a second Spain goal. Time and time again, German aggression was met by one uncalled foul after another. It became so bad that by the end of the game, midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger looked utterly confused and downright upset, nearly losing his patience with Kassai after Spain was awarded a corner kick which should have been a Germany goal kick. After his poor performance in the USA versus Ghana match earlier this tournament (Ghana were throwing elbows all tournament and very rarely were they called on it), Kassai didn’t deserve to be reffing, especially not a semifinals game.

All in all, this loss demonstrates to me why I have not, and probably will not be a serious FIFA fan. Bad sportsmanship, bad reffing and the celebration of mediocrity (Iniesta and Torres have not preformed at all this tournament, yet they are adored for this nonsense) disgusts me to the point where I can’t enjoy the game. This is one reason I don’t watch Major League Baseball, but in the defense of “America’s past time”, I have never seen officiating this bad from even the worst of umpires. Knowing how corrupt FIFA has become in the last few years, FIFA Italia especially, it wouldn’t surprise me if there was something crooked going on during this match. In my opinion, Kassai shouldn’t have gotten the nod to ref this game considering his poor performance earlier this tournament and the biases held by European refs against Germany. On that point, why was a European ref even picked for this game? A ref from another region surely wouldn’t have been this biased. The problem is that this kind nonsense is that many soccer fans have come to expect though…

I don’t blame any German fan for losing his temper after watching this game as there is a definite reason for it. Once again, getting beat by a better team is acceptable, but being beaten by a cheating team with referee assistance is infuriating. Until this kind of nonsense is addressed, the “beautiful game” will not live up to its reputation… Disgraceful…

Here’s a little laugh for those German fans who need cheering up, via MagnificentGaol…

UPDATE: Before people comment about how Torres’ dive was simply an “isolated incident” and that Spain played “cleanly” most of the time, here’s a similar performance from Joan Capdevila which resulted in Ricardo Costa of Portugal receiving a red card…

Being one player down, Portugal was denied a comeback after David Villa offside goal and lost the match. Today, Germany became another victim of Spain’s unsportsmanlike conduct… Pathetic…