I found this observation really compelling:
France, as well as the rest of Europe, is “going through a huge crisis about identity, race, religion,” Kureishi went on to say. “Their identities have been shattered by immigration. That’s the price you pay. If you want a modern economy, you have hundreds of thousands of workers around your country, you give up . . . a certain part of your identity. That’s the deal.” Then, he pointed out, you have to remake the society, and “it’s that remaking that Europe is experiencing at the moment. But it’s really tricky to have your identity shattered and remade.”
It’s from a profile of Hanif Kureishi, by Rachel Donadio in the Aug.8 New York Times, My Beautiful London. What I like about his remark is that he manages to put the economic underpinnings right into the middle of the issue, exactly where they belong: "If you want a modern economy, you have hundreds of thousands of workers around your country, you give up . . . a certain part of your identity. That’s the deal.”