Nadine:
latimes.com
latimes.com
THE WORLD
Bias Breeds Bitterness, French
Muslims Warn
Culture: Post-9/11 climate makes life even more
difficult. 'How do we fit into a society that despises
us?' one asks.
By MORT ROSENBLUM
ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 24 2002
AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France -- A hulking tin-sided factory that once made brake
parts is now a holy place. Each Friday, Muslims file inside to escape for a while from a
world they see turning against them.
"We are the enemy," said Munir Mouiseddine, 24, a skilled maintenance technician
with no job. "It was bad enough before. Since Sept. 11, it is impossible. How are we
supposed to earn a living?"
He graduated first in his engineering class of 60. But at job interviews, he is told
vacancies have been filled. "As soon as they see my Arab face, I'm out," he said. "That
makes you jealous, bitter, desperate." Another young Muslim in Aulnay's immigrant
quarter, who would call himself only Abdul, repeated the lament: "How do we fit into a
society that despises us?"
Social workers say racism is a significant part of the problem, and is being worsened
by the terrorism scare.
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