A Moveable Feast

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.

- Ernest Hemingway to a friend, 1950


I don't remember exactly when I fell in love with Paris. What I do remember is that it was much before I actually visited the city. So, I am quite troubled by the recent turn of events in that city.

Paris has served a backdrop to many great books, movies and so on. Some of them remain absolute favourites in spite of many years having gone by since I first read, saw them. Paris, I have realized is a city used frequently by novelists and film makers to capture a certain magic, which people often associate easily with. Parisian women are beautiful. Men grumpy. And that's ideal. Walking around in Paris- including many which do not make it to the picture postcards, is an experience by itself. Sitting at a cafe and watching the world go by is an experience in itself, any where in the world. But somehow when you do it in Paris, there is an extra charm about it. Paris is the one city in the world where I have walked all day without feeling dead at the end of it. It is the one place where however long you stay you still have never had enough of it.


But today Paris BURNS. For the second week running. It burns like any other city in the underdeveloped world with the establishment completely at sea. Needless to say people have started pointing fingers, accusations fly and things look murkier by the hour.

The first stories which emerged, were mostly misleading failing to capture the seriousness of the situation. When I first heard and saw the news, I too dismissed it as a flash in the pan- probably a bunch of disllusioned young men who don't quite share Mr. Hemingway's opinion of Paris. But now as days go by and stories emerge it no longer remains a passe. Instead , it brings to light certain core issues, which need to be addressed not only in France but almost everywhere else. That of illegal immigrants.


When I first visited Paris, I was amazed with the ease I got into the city. Didn't even need to get my passport stamped. In any case, I walked into the Police Station in Gare du Nord and insisted that it be done, just for the sake of recording my landing in the city I have loved so dearly. But that's besides the point. France has always been a haven for immigrants from all over North Africa, mostly from the territories it once colonized. There was little it could do then- when the wars were fought in Algeria. There have been fingers pointed at the French police machinery (which in my opinion is not at fault in this case), as also at politicians, and even at Islam and its purported links with terrorism.

Now there have been many discussions and theories concerning Islam, democracy and terrorism. There are differing views on this subjects- some of them quite substantiated. Initially, I was impressed but not quite convinced by paper by Khurshid Ahmad titled Islam and Democracy: Some Conceptual and Contemporary Dimensions. It is deeply incisive and extremely well written (http://www.ips.org.pk/publications/Perspectives/Vol2/Chapt3.pdf). It argues that democracy as we know it now is essentially a western concept and has evolved in accordance with the preferences of the western society. It also goes on to say that religion as a concept itself is very different in the western and the eastern world. For instance and here I quote:

"Islam is not a religion in the limited sense of the word, as the term is used in Western philosophic and religious literature. Literally meaning submission, it stands for man’s total submission to the Will of Allah (SWT) and a firm commitment to pursue all His Commands and Guidance."

Overall some could interpret the entire paper to read that Islam and democracy cannot coexist is a western definition of the concept.

However, of all the readings that I have done the most pro-Islam stand comes surprisingly from the USIP in a paper published in Sept2002- almost a year after the 9/11 attacks. (read: http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr93.pdf). And today I am more convinced of the stand. The paper quashes theories such as the one above, and says that all the ill that is associated with radicalism is not an outcome of religion, but the social evils that are present in the states most afflicted by it. I quote again:

"The explanation of why so many Muslim countries are not democratic lies in historical,political, cultural, and economic factors, not religious ones." and else where- "Dysfunctional, corrupt,repressive states are neither willing nor capable of reform. Apathy and despair breed radicalism."

Oh... once again I am digressing from what I set out to write. Just got busy with someone who wanted to buy some Turkish bond- whoa! I realize that I am no theologist, and in most cases my opinion is formed more by what I read than what I experience. But what I am trying to say is- and which is why I mentioned my experience during my first visit there. Illegal immigrants and immigrants at large are a function of dissatisfaction at home. France has historically been an easy destination for such. However, the random entries becomes a regular and soon we have a ghetto. When I say immigration- I don't just mean the types across borders. I mean encroachment, I mean territorial tendencies... the works.

Actually, I am distracted. Will continue later.