By Kamal Nawash

For the last two weeks, France has experienced riots the likes of which it has not seen in decades. In terms of destruction, the unrest is France’s worst since World War II.

More than a thousand cars have been burned along with several buildings and hundreds have been arrested. For the most part, the riots are being carried out by the children of poor immigrants most of whom are Muslim.

Since the riots began, many have given their two cents as to why France is burning. Some say this is a result of years of discrimination and deprivation, some say the riots are a function of a jihad whereby Muslims are trying to turn Europe into a Muslim continent, and yet others conclude that the riots are a function of decades of failed policies by France and other Western Nations.

While there is no one cause for the French riots, none of the “experts” have considered decades of failed immigration policies as the cause of the riots. France, similar to the United States and most western countries, has experienced decades of out of control legal and illegal immigration. France, similar to the United States, has responded with liberal and inadequate immigration enforcement that has caused the nations’ demographics to change rapidly.

Nations like France, the United States and other Western Nations must come to terms with their immigration policies. They can either strictly control and limit illegal and legal immigration or be willing to accept that uncontrolled immigration will change the makeup, values and culture of their nations.

Unlike past immigrant generations who quickly assimilated, today’s immigrants take much longer to assimilate if they assimilate at all. This is due to technology. In the past, immigrants were generally cut of from their mother countries which made assimilation much easier. Today, satellite technology brings movies, news and culture from an immigrant’s home country to the living room of his adopted country via TV, the internet and other forms of media. In the United States for example, a Hispanic immigrant can live in the United States for decades without having to learn a word of English or adopt American culture. They can turn on Spanish only TV and Radio, read Spanish news papers and read government forms in Spanish. This phenomenon is taking place all over the Western Nations.

Thus, to avoid the riots in France, Western Nations must look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are willing to accept the changes that come with liberal immigration policies. If the answer is no then Western Nations must control illegal immigration and adopt more manageable immigration policies.

Kamal Nawash is the president of the Free Muslims Coalition, an organization that was created to eliminate broad base support for Islamic extremism and terrorism and to strengthen secular democratic institutions in the Middle East and the Muslim World.

Kamal Nawash, 202-776-7190, 301-905-6438, president@freemuslims.org

For more information, visit our website at www.freemuslims.org