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The petition raised by 93 public figures in Saint Denis.
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By
Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent
PARIS,
June 13, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Years of government negligence and
marginalization have turned the northern Paris district of Saint Denis, where half a million Muslims live,
into a hotbed for unemployment
and aberration.
“Racism
and discrimination against French of Arab and Muslim origin are
undoubtedly the root cause of towering unemployment rates among the
minority in Saint Denis,” Hassan Fersado, the chairman of the Muslim
Union in Saint Denis, told IslamOnline.net.
Better
known among the French as “93,” the district has a Muslim
population of 500,000 out of 1,200 million people, making it the
largest Muslim residential area in the country.
Fersado
said many immigrants are denied job opportunities for no reason other
than being Muslims or Arabs.
“You
can lose a job if your name is, for instance, Mohammad,” he added.
Algerian-born
Rashid, 27, spent the last two years searching for a job.
“Governments
go and come with new faces but my name remains unchanged and
represents a stumbling bloc to have a job,” the desperate young man,
who only gives his first name, told IOL.
“My
place of residence, which is notorious Saint Denis, is another problem
when applying for a job.”
A
Sorbonne research released earlier in the year by the French
Observatory Against Racism found that Arab names and dark complexion
color represent an obstacle to jobseekers.
The
“Discrimination at Workplace” research said that the organization
sent 325 CVs of competitive applicants, who only differ in names and
origin, to find that the opportunity for North African applicants to
get a job is five times less than natives.
Appeal
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Most of Saint Denis residents complained about impartial media coverage.
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The
district’s social woes are the focus of rap video clips featuring
jobless, addictive and nostalgic youths hanging around.
The
appalling conditions of the Saint Denis residents have driven some
hundred public figures in the area to make a fervent appeal through
the La Seine Saint Denis local magazine, urging media to cease
from “demonizing” the neglected area.
The
petitioners, who included politicians, artists and sportspeople, said:
“Saint Denis is the land of future. We have been born, have lived
and attended schools there. We call for job opportunities, solidarity
and removal of stereotypes that stigmatized our youths.”
A
recent poll conducted by the local magazine showed that 79 percent of
the residents disapproved of the image of their area in the media,
while 17 percent regarded the coverage as impartial.
Even
anti-terror police and intelligence services (DST) see the area as a
breeding ground for extremists and have placed it under scrutiny.
Mosque
Role
Fersado,
however, said that the area has come a long way since 1990, thanks to
the pivotal role played by mosques.
“The
mosques are key in bringing up Saint Denis Muslim youths,” he said.
There
are some 1,000 mosques and prayer rooms across Saint Denis, making up
two-thirds of France’s 1,600 mosques, according to estimates by the
Ministry of the Interior.
Saint
Denis is also home to the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF)
in the Bourget district, which annually hosts one of Europe's major
Muslim conferences, Paris-le-Bourget.
The
imams are also key in inspiring many young Muslims in Saint Denis and
putting them on the right path.
They
urge youths to display restraint and not to be provoked when subjected
to racist attacks.
The
imams also step in to defuse possible tensions between Muslim youths
and policemen.
The
independent National Committee for Police Practices said in its annual
report that racist acts by French police have dramatically risen in
2004, particularly against French citizens of North African origin.
It
said that most of the shameful incidents took place in districts
densely populated by people of North African origin among the age
groups from 18 to 35.
