Following an opinion poll conducted in France by FIGARO-IFOP, the French
"Le Figaro" daily, on January 29, 1991, published a leading article entitled
"The first defeat." It began by saying "this is no doubt the first really
good news since the outbreak of war." Whatever the editorialist's conclusion,
it is interesting to note the following two figures which came out of the
poll:
a) 73% of Muslims in France dread to have more difficulties to find jobs because of war;
b) 57% of them expect immigrant expulsion measures.
(The "Figaro," p. 1, Paris, January 29, 1991)
This is no time for self-satisfaction. I think that the governments of the 5 Member-States of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) should pool their efforts to conduct an accurate census of Maghrebians living in France and in the other countries involved in the military conflict. Then, they will have to consider common measures to secure smooth repatriation of those who wish to return to their home countries. For this purpose, it would be advisable to set up a repatriation fund which may be funded through a solidarity tax.
This is a proposal which I made during a meeting of the Academy of the
Kingdom of Morocco, on December 12th, 1989. Long before the flare up of
hostilities in the Gulf, prospective studies indicated clear tendencies
towards an acute exacerbation, in Europe, of racism and discrimination
against Muslims, Arabs and Africans.
Rabat, January 29th, 1991.
* Le Matin du Sahara, January 31st, 1991, Rabat
* Réalités, No. 284, February 1st, 1991, Tunis.