To hell with France...or indeed Europe for that matter

One story among many. In Le Populaire of March 25 this year, a Senegalese university lecturer declared that he’s finally had enough. As far as he is concerned, France can go to hell. Enough of what he describes as the “degrading treatment, lacking in respect, that the French consular authorities have inflicted on us, without any reason and in spite of an official invitation by a legally recognised French institution – in this case another university.”
He is not the only one. An excellent journalist from a neighbouring country wanted to visit France. He went to the French embassy, took one look at the list of intrusive questions that he was supposed to be answering and decided that they could stuff it. ‘I am not prepared to be humiliated just because I would like to see their bloody country. They can keep it.’
Liberté, égalité, fraternité...
France (and more broadly, Europe) started this. Many years ago, I walked off the train from Amsterdam in the Gare du Nord, Paris. You basically don’t even need your passport on your person for this trip but as my travelling companion was black I thought it might be a good idea after all. And sure enough: we’re walking down the platform into a wall of police uniforms and she’s picked out. She's a legal resident in Europe, travelling from one EU member state to another. I could walk on, one little uniformed insect told me. "We’re travelling together so...care to see my passport too?" I said. Not necessary, I was told. This happens everywhere in the country that pretends to honour its revolutionary creed: liberté, égalité, fraternité... (freedom, equality, brotherhood, ed.)
Mindset
The treatment derives from the same mindset that had a French doctor talking baby language to a Malian man during a consultation. The patient told the doctor, politely and patiently, that he was a professor in the French language at a Paris university. It’s the mindset that says all Africans coming to Europe are fortune seekers. Which is a shade or two different from the uncontested right a nation (or a group of nations) has to make sure that everyone is on its territory legally. But let’s be serious: if you have an official invitation from an institute of learning, a theatre, a business or a government institution, you have the right to be treated as a guest.
The role of immigration
Countries and continents thrive on immigration. It’s not the food or the music, it’s the economy, stupid. Amsterdam’s short-lived reign as an internationally prominent city came about as the result of French Huguenot refugees and Jews arriving in numbers. New York, which started its life as New Amsterdam, is a success because of its immigrant population – including many Senegalese. Côte d’Ivoire was built on immigrant labour, which it is busy chasing away. Europe imported labour to fuel its unprecedented economic boom from the 1960s onward. The rise of anti-immigration politics and policies coincide with its slow but certain descent into obscurity.
Africans, meanwhile, have discovered the delights of Turkey, Dubai and China for trade, North America (soon to be joined by China) for academic pursuits. Of course, you can be monocolour and monocultural if you want but in almost all cases you will be...irrelevant. If Europe wants to reverse its downward slide, it requires a serious rethink of its current provincial, small-minded, anal approach of immigration.