Migration and Cultural Diversity

Paris

The region with the largest proportion of immigrants is the île-de-France (Greater Paris), where 40% of immigrants (of France) live.

Foreign born population in Paris %12.41%

The French Constitution declares in Article 1 that "France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic. It shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion.

Therefore, minorities in France do not have any particular status and all citizens have equal rights.

French law cannot accord specific rights to given "groups" defined by their community of origin, culture, beliefs, language or ethnicity.

Since the mid-19th century, French immigration policy has had two aims: to meet the needs of the labour market by introducing migrant workers and to compensate for French demographic deficits.

The migratory flow of workers has come mainly from nearby countries such as Italy, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland. Polish people have been requisitioned as miners in the North of France. Similarly, a lot of German craftsmen, intellectuals, artists and politicians have come to live in France.

In 1881, 1 million foreigners were residents in France (3% of the population).Compare to Berlin (2,2%), London or Vienna, there were more immigrants in Paris (7,5%).

English 14 970

Germans 32 278

Belgians 58 453

Luxembourger 16 334

Italians 26 824

The Swiss 28 849

others 41 298

Foreigns citizens in Paris- 1891

Many european political refugees have also come in France, homeland of human rights and revolution.The Jews persecuted in the empire of Russia took refuge particulary in Paris.

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Foreigns citizens in Paris- 1891

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The Polish library created in 1838 by polish political refugees

Jewish businesses in the central district of the Marais

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At the end of the XIXth century, plays were staged in Paris by immigrant artists. For example, the Yiddish theater performers acted in their language of origin (which is that of Jews of central and Eastern Europe).

Likewise, Frederic Chopin born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin was a Polish composer. He settled in Paris and obtained the French citizenship in 1835 and he died in Paris in 1849. Operas were also created such as that of the Jacques Offenbach, "opera-bouffe", which is a French-naturalized German opera genre created in 1860.

Gravestone of Frederic Chopin and Jacques Offenbach

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pere-Lachaise_Chopin_grave.jpg

The great grandfather of Edith Piaf, the French singer was one of the some hundred immigrants of North Africa and her great grandmother was italian.

Edith Piaf

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At the beginning of the first World War, the Belgians were used in factories to replace the men who left to fight on the front. 400 000 foreign workers were coming from neutral countries as well as 140 000 Chinese and Portuguese people.

Approximately 43 000 men of 52 nationalities were mobilized in the foreign legion. There were 3 000 Italian volunteers formed a battalion " Les Garibaldiens ".

France mobilized her colonial troops. 172 000 Algerian were brought to join the French army, 160 000 Senegalese infantrymen were recruited in French Black African colonies. There were also troops of Indochina, Morocco, Tunisia and Madagascar who served as reinforcement

The « Garibaldiens »

http://www.histoire-immigration.fr/histoire-de-l-immigration/des-dossiers-thematiques-sur-l-histoire-de-l-immigration

The senegalese infantrymen paraded in Paris

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After the Second Word War, during the period of reconstruction, France lacked labour, and as a result, the French government was eager to recruit immigrants coming from all over Europe, Latin America, and Africa.Immigration to France increased during the decolonization in the 1950s and 1960s.Although there had already been a presence of Vietnamese people in France since the late 19th century (mostly students and workers), a wave of Vietnamese migrated to the country after its independence from France in 1954.In the period leading up to and following Algerian independence from France in 1962, the number of Algerians rose to 470,000 in 1968 and to 800,000 in 1982.An estimated 4 to 7 million of France's 65 million residents possess Arabic roots (figures are inexact because the government shies away from collecting ethnic data on its populace).

The Arab World Institute (in French: Institut du Monde Arabe, abbreviated "IMA") is an organization founded in Paris in 1980 by 18 Arabic countries along with France which aims to research and disseminate information about the Arab world and its cultural and spiritual values.Created by the architect Jean Nouvel from 1981 to 1987, this Institute has a glass-wall façade covered with 240 apertures that automatically open and close to control the amount of light entering the building. The mechanism creates interior spaces with filtered light — an effect often used in Islamic architecture with its climate-oriented strategies.

More recently, the main reason for immigration remains family reunification, accounting for 70 percent of the entries from non-EEA countries and 33 percent of the entries from EEA countries.For a long time, France has been a country of immigration and Paris the city of cultural diversity.

French and particulary parisian culture is enriched by many origins and traditions which are rooted in history: regional cultures, overseas territories, cultural interactions inherited from European history and from colonization, from the French-speaking cultural area, etc.

The Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration (national centre of the history of immigration), opened in 2007 in Paris and is the only national museum dedicated to the history and cultures of immigration in France. The Cité organises artistic and cultural programmes.

The building was constructed for the Paris Colonial Exhibition of 1931. External bas-reliefs portray ships, oceans, and wildlife including antelopes, elephants, zebras and snakes.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cit%C3%A9_nationale_histoire_immigration_Accord%C3%A9on.jpg?uselang=fr

Palais de la Porte-Dorée – Cité of immigration

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Many festivals and events celebrate foreign cultures in Paris: Banlieues bleues for jazz and Afro-American music, Festival d'Automne (Autumn Festival), l'Afrique dans tous les sens (Africa in every way), themed film festivals (African, Asian, Iranian), subtitled theatre plays, exhibitions, and music concerts.It is estimated that 5 000 celebrations and events relate to the issue of immigration, but are systematically open to everyone, according to French law and the concept of citizenship.

Chinese New Year in Paris

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The hindu celebration of Ganesh in Paris

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http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F%C3%AAte_de_Ganesh,_Paris_2012_074.jpg?uselang=fr

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District of Paris and foreign communities

AfricansMetro:Chateau-rouge

Tamouls of Sri lanka, indians storeMetro: La Chapelle, Gare du Nord

Asia: Chinese, Vietnamese, Camodian...Métro: Belleville, Tolbiac

Kurd, TurkMétro: Strasbourg Saint Denis

Japanese, Korean: Metro: Pyramide

North Africans:Métro:Barbès-Rochechouard, Ménilmontant

Sources

http://www.histoire-immigration.fr/

http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/index.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_World_Institute

Images sources (from left to right and from top to bottom)

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