The French Revolution of 1789-1799 destroyed the centuries-old monarchy, eliminated aristocratic privileges, and established the inalienable rights of all citizens. Commitment to the ideals of equality and freedom for all men is enshrined in the national motto “liberty, equality, fraternity”. Regardless of France's long-standing commitment to the principles of liberty, contemporary social attitudes and policies fall far short of the revolutionary ideal, particularly toward the growing population of immigrants and their descendants in France. Despite its long and tortuous immigration history, 21st-century France remains fiercely attached to outdated notions of citizenship and national belonging. France's continued refusal to recognize its de facto multiculturalism has created a brutal cycle of marginalization, in which ethnic minorities are prevented from expressing their cultural identity and successfully integrating into mainstream French society. Immigrants from the Maghreb – a hilly, arid region of North Africa located between the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea – make up the majority of France's considerable ethnic population. France currently welcomes more than 3.5 million foreigners, including more than a million North Africans, mainly from Algeria and Morocco (Sekher 25). Contemporary North African immigration really began in the years following the Second World War. After defeating Germany, the United States launched an ambitious program to revitalize the devastated economies of Western Europe and create vibrant markets for mass-produced American consumer goods. From 1948 to 1951, the European recovery program, commonly known as the Marshall Plan, provided unprecedented levels of development...... middle of article ......ologist François Dubet notes: "A society built on perfectly just equality of opportunity could, at the same time, be perfectly unequal” (qtd. in Rosello 237). Granting special advantages to visible minorities would undermine the egalitarian ideal of “republican assimilation” by treating them as more than equals. Such reverse discrimination would constitute an unacceptable violation of the sacred credo of “liberty, equality, fraternity”. Thus, visible minorities generally receive an insufficient level of social spending, with abandoned public housing projects and minimum social grants being the only programs currently providing benefits (Smith 176). Continued adherence to outdated concepts of citizenship therefore facilitates the separate and unequal treatment of visible minorities by hiding persecution under the guise of official equality..