At least the French have leaders that allows them to hold their heads high we asked if THEIR national identity is under threat from foreign influence

French immigrants must learn La Marseillaise says Nicolas Sarkozy ally

Brice Hortefeux, the minister for immigration and national identity, says foreigners should be taught the history and "values" of the national anthem - which includes calls for the shedding of "impure blood" and the defeat of "foreign cohorts".

The proposal comes less than a month after Mr Sarkozy threatened to call off football matches if fans jeered, whistled or booed during the playing of La Marseillaise.

Mr Hortefeux, 50, who is one of the president's closest friends and has his full backing, made the suggestion during a European conference on immigration at Vichy.

"The Marseillaise is too often heard as a song, but not as a lesson," he said. "We are failing to explain well enough to immigrants who want to live in France where the song comes from, what it means and what values it conveys."

France has long preferred to attempt the integration of immigrants rather than the multi-cultural approach taken by of Britain. Since Mr Sarkozy came to power in May 2007 there has been a series of measures to curb immigration, including controversial DNA tests on foreigners who want to join relatives in France.

As a call to arms, few national anthems are a bloody as La Marseillaise, originally entitled the War Song of the Army of the Rhine. "To arms, citizens," it exhorts. "Form in battalions. March, march! Let impure blood water our furrows!"

Three years ago, French MPs voted to make learning La Marseillaise compulsory in French schools.

La Marseillaise was composed in 1792 by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, a Captain of the Engineers in the Rhine Army, stationed in Strasbourg. France had just declared war on Austria and Prussia. It became so popular with volunteer army units from Marseilles it was later renamed after them and was sung by revolutionaries entering Paris in 1792. It became the official national anthem on July 14, 1795.