For Vassilis Alexakis, immigration is part of French identitiy

Facing the reinforcement of French immigration policy, the Greek writer Vassilis Alexakis, who lives in France, defends how immigration has contributed to French identity. "French identity is the product of dialogue with the world that started a long time ago, well before the birth of France and that is as old as the word 'dialogue' itself. The attraction I felt for this country as an adolescent was in part due to foreigners, or at least French inhabitants of foreign backgrounds, to Van Gogh and Salvador Dali, Kopa and Piantoni, to Beckett and Ionesco. ... In a country where one third of the population is from an immigrant background, preventing the arrival of new foreigners is more a way of endangering rather than protecting French identity."

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