Should immigrants, including refugees, hang onto their culture and customs when starting a new life overseas?
Yes, as long as they do not clash with those of the society in which they are integrating. For example, I do not think that a Moroccan girl attending a regular school in Spain should wear a veil. But, I think that it is fine for Muslim girls in [Spain’s North African enclave of] Melilla to wear a veil because it’s long been the custom there. So you cannot change rules overnight. How can refugees and other immigrants in Spain get over the shock of starting a new life in an alien environment? Usually, immigrants take refuge in a support network set up by their compatriots before they reach our country. Actually, this is a lesson for a society like ours, where the value of solidarity among family has been lost. That also applies to people who dub themselves “defenders of the family,” because they think only in terms of a nuclear family – parents, children and grandparents. They don’t think of extended family, which includes cousins, aunts and uncles and distant relatives. Do you think the
