Article July 28, 2003 Issue

Feeling at home in our home

By Josette Flamand

June 1999. Nicole (not her real name) is moving today. It's not that her apartment doesn't suit her anymore quite the contrary. But this corner of the Paris suburb where she has lived for 30 years has become "uninhabitable," in her own words.

At first, relations with the large proportion of immigrants in her neighborhood, especially the North Africans, were good, even enriching, and characterized by mutual respect. But over the years, with the rise in unemployment and a new generation in a precarious position, things have deteriorated to the point where Nicole no longer feels comfortable in her own home. Violence and threats, sometimes mingled with religious fanaticism, are constant. As she leaves, she learns that five other couples in the building are moving for the same reasons, during the same week. Still, Nicole leaves with no hateful feelings, and she continues to pray for the end of violence.

As Nicole explained to me later, the foreign populations and their different cultures could represent a plus for our country. And everyone should be able to live and progress side by side.