De Gaulle on Nationhood

Thank you Lawrence Auster for providing this wonderful quote from former French leader Charles De Gaulle, which provides great insight into the issue of what constitutes a nation (in particular his nation of France). De Gaulle certainly does not advocate complete ethnic homogeneity for France, and insists that foreign cultures and peoples can indeed live peacefully within French society. However, he takes aim at the multiculturalist worldview by stating that France is primarily an ethnically European nation with European traditions and should remain so!

The logic De Gaulle uses could easily apply to any other European nation or even America (which was founded largely by settlers of European descent). Every nation has had its basic ethnic core, and it is wise for that nation to protect that core. Otherwise that nation will lose its identity and become something entirely different.

"It is very good that there be yellow Frenchmen, black Frenchmen, brown Frenchmen. They prove that France is open to all races and that she has a universal mission. But on the condition that they remain a small minority. Otherwise, France would no longer be France. We are after all primarily a European people of the white race, of Greek and Latin culture, and of the Christian faith. Try to mix oil and vinegar. Shake the bottle. In a moment they will separate again. Arabs are Arabs and French are French. Do you believe that the French nation can absorb ten million Muslims, who perhaps tomorrow will be twenty million and the day after forty million? If we adopt integration, if all the Arabs and Berbers of Algeria were considered as Frenchmen, what would prevent them from coming to settle in mainland France where the standard of living is so much higher? My village would no longer be called Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, but Colombey-les-deux-Mosquées!"