Paris riots reveal chasm, racism

November 2nd, 2005 at 20:15 Björn Hallberg

While we haven’t seen the end of this, the rationale behind the escalating riots and the government’s response to them is not hard to discern. Just look at the comments made by the minister of the interior, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Independent – M. Sarkozy – himself under fire for making misleading statements in relation to the deaths – spoke yesterday to the parents of Ziad, 17, and Banou, 15, who were electrocuted after climbing the wall of a sub-station in Clichy-sous-Bois last Thursday. A third boy, also 17, was badly burnt. Friends and companions insisted yesterday that the boys were being chased by police and that the officers did nothing to help them.

After making two inaccurate statements linking the boys to crimes, the French authorities now say that the pair were running away “for no reason”, wrongly thinking that the police were pursuing them.

The inaccurate statements by M. Sarkozy and the Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, now withdrawn, have fuelled four nights of violent confrontations between local youths and the police. More than 70 cars have been burnt, scores of policemen slightly injured, a live bullet has been fired at a police truck and a kindergarten and fire station have been vandalised. More than 50 youths have been arrested, some of whom appeared in court yesterday.

According to Sarkozy, it was “scum” like the urban youths who made life “impossible” in the suburbs. And instead of getting to the bottom of things, Sarkozy quickly moves to offer “zero tolerance.” With narrow minded racist views, a rhetoric that beats even Le Pen, a desire to stir up trouble and the lack of any sort of grasp of social reality, Sarkozy is sure to lead France into a new dark age. All in the name of getting into office of course. Classical problem – reaction – solution.

But I’m sure you-know-who on the other side of the Atlantic is exuberant after seeing the heavy-handedness. They probably haven’t liked France this much since they blew up the Rainbow Warrior. Not to mention how this “proves” how dangerous the muslims are and how radical they have become. No doubt, when France really cracks down on these suburb dwellers right wingers everywhere will applaud. So far they have suggested that Europe learn from Turkey, seriously, because as you know, there is no such turncoat as a right winger. As I recall it, the standard talking point opinion used to be that Turkey was a big threat to Europe? They even single out Kemal Ataturk as the way to go. Well, that ought to be popular. He was quite a master of multiculturalism as I recall. Kurds usually view him in the same light that some view Adolf Hitler. His one redeeming feature is of course that he created a secular state, at least nominally. Then again, calling Turkey secular is like arguing that the US is secular and it’s not going to get you very far.

Make no mistake, France is not now, nor has it ever been a role model for how to deal with migration and as such with multiculturalism. In one word, the French model is ASSIMILATION. Unconditional assimilation. As such it is not so unlike the United States ironically where it is also so that loyalty to the republic and the country is paramount. Look at the US school system for instance and the inherent bias that it harbours. Some would call it “civic religion.” All designed to instil a sense of unity. Both France and the US as they appear today were formed through revolutions based on the same ideals about the state and the people who supposedly make up the populace. In the case of the US, it is also a perceived necessity since it has been for many years an immigrant nation where children cannot be left to socialize with their kin, lest they may not be instilled with a sense of nationhood. And as such would not be possible to control.
France has been generous in accepting immigrants, especially from its former colonies. Citizenship has been easy in much the same way it has been in the US, at least in the past. The problem of course is that assimilation remains ethically highly questionable and that non-European migrants, who are a relatively new phenomena, do not so easily allow themselves to be molded and assimilated.

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