microrobert
02-21-2012, 01:37 PM
Marseille's Melting Pot
As more European countries become nations of immigrants, is the multicultural city of Marseille a vision of the future?
http://s.ngm.com/2012/03/marseille/img/st-vicent-de-paul-catholic-church-615.jpg
It's tempting to say, and probably true, that no rule made by Paris goes unbent in the city of Marseille. The capital of Provence has a well-deserved reputation as a rough and unruly place, a port that attracts all kinds of contraband and all kinds of people, some of them contraband too.
Over the centuries, they've mostly come by sea—mingling, scheming, brawling, coupling, feasting, and drinking with unashamed and unapologetic flamboyance. The city has served as a refuge for people fleeing persecution, pestilence, and poverty. Recently its sizable immigrant influx has been largely of Muslim origin, and today when you gaze from one of Marseille's many beaches across the Mediterranean toward the unseen North African coast, you can almost imagine a human deluge on its way as the spreading unrest in the Arab world pushes more refugees and job seekers toward the shores of Europe.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/marseille/dickey-text/1 (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/marseille/dickey-text/1)
As more European countries become nations of immigrants, is the multicultural city of Marseille a vision of the future?
http://s.ngm.com/2012/03/marseille/img/st-vicent-de-paul-catholic-church-615.jpg
It's tempting to say, and probably true, that no rule made by Paris goes unbent in the city of Marseille. The capital of Provence has a well-deserved reputation as a rough and unruly place, a port that attracts all kinds of contraband and all kinds of people, some of them contraband too.
Over the centuries, they've mostly come by sea—mingling, scheming, brawling, coupling, feasting, and drinking with unashamed and unapologetic flamboyance. The city has served as a refuge for people fleeing persecution, pestilence, and poverty. Recently its sizable immigrant influx has been largely of Muslim origin, and today when you gaze from one of Marseille's many beaches across the Mediterranean toward the unseen North African coast, you can almost imagine a human deluge on its way as the spreading unrest in the Arab world pushes more refugees and job seekers toward the shores of Europe.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/marseille/dickey-text/1 (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/marseille/dickey-text/1)