Human Rights at Home and Abroad: Past, Present, and Future

of their European background. 30 At the same time there was also a large number of Arab Algerians
entering France. The Muslim Algerians who were coming to France were coming both for work and
because many had fought on the French side during the war and were now viewed with hostility in
Algeria. This mass influx of people both European and Muslim had a lasting impact on the public‘s view
on immigration up to the present day.
Since decolonization began France has been bombarded with returning European settlers and
people of North African heritage mainly from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. This has created an
atmosphere of hostility both from the French towards the immigrants, and from the immigrants towards
the French. Since Algerians and other North African immigrants began entering France in large numbers
there have been welfare programs to help them adapt. Early on this meant stripping them of their culture
but later on attempts to provide better housing and job training have also been implemented. 31 Eventually
efforts to take away the immigrants culture were stopped but conditions for them did not improve. Many
North African and Muslim immigrants live in poor communities with inadequate housing, oppressive
policing, and racial discrimination. 32 It was increased immigration after the end of the Algerian War that
led to the French public not accepting immigrants into French society. The government‘s inability to
improve conditions in immigrant communities has also lead to a tense situation between the French and
immigrants entering into the country. It also contributed to the rioting of Muslim immigrants in Paris and
throughout France in 2005.
Increased immigration has also led to the rise of the extreme right in French politics. One note
worthy party in France is the Front National known as the FN which was founded on October 5, 1972 by
Jean-Marie Le Pen. The policies that Le Pen wanted to enact during his leadership of the FN were giving
―true‖ French citizens the best in social security and health benefits, and excluding and even deporting
30 Richard Alba and Roxane Silberman, ―Decolonization Immigrations and the Social Origins of the Second
Generation: The Case of North Africans in France,‖ International Migration Review 36 no. 4 (2002): 1170.
31 Dilip Subramanian, ―Riots and the Immigrant Community,‖ Economic and Political Weekly 40 no. 49 (December
2005): 5156.
32 Ibid.
179