A Soft Drink You Won't Find at Dominick's

I bought a 2-liter bottle of Mirimba orange pop* at Franprix, the ubiquitous mainstream French grocery chain. When I put it in my refrigerator, I realized the other side of the label (pointed away from the aisle on the grocery shelf) is in Arabic.

A well-read co-worker of mine claims that the combination of Muslim immigrants, declining Christian (i.e., Catholic) belief, and trends in birth rates will soon result in Islam being the #1 religion in France. That doesn't mean Muslims will be a majority of the entire population -- agnosticism or atheism would be well in front. Still, it's an interesting statistic. And it's too interesting a statistic to check to see if it's true before I finish writing this post -- just don't cite me as a reference for its veracity.

The multi-ethnicity of France fits with the nation's ethos better than it would in most other European countries. As long as you subscribe to liberte, egalite, and fraternite, you can be French, no matter where you are from. As a former colonial power, there are a lot of north Africans here (and more in Marseille) and west Africans too. As in the US, the native French are struggling a bit with the concept of their declining majority and exactly how much cultural assimilation should be required. The French have repeatedly rejected the ultra-right anti-immigrant politics of Jean-Marie Le Pen and his ilk, but I wonder if there will ever be a backlash. The economic recession is already here. All they need is Lou Dobbs.

* (I don't drink orange pop; I only have it in case a guest requests it.) ;)