November 06, 2005
Riots in France
We are getting our share of calls about what is going on here. In fact, we have not yet had to confront anything of the violence that has been spreading across the country, but for someone who has grown up (and now older) in America and France, I guess I have some perspective. It might be tempting to try to see what is going on in France as a very political thing. At this point it may be, but it seems to stem from a very economic foundation. One article presents a fairly penetrating albeit dark analysis. The Washington Post has another. Neither of the articles has much of an answer though.
Today with at 10 million, France's Muslim population is the largest in Europe. As much as 60% of this group lives below the poverty line, crowded into large housing projects in Paris suburbs and in other urban areas. The current riots bear a striking ressemblance to the Rodney King verdict riots. The violence seems like it is part of a dialog with the Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. I know Sarkozy can be effective, because I know the French drive a lot more safely than they did the last time I was here. He is the one who apparently created a much tougher environment of enforcement of speed limits. It might seem trivial, but after witnessing the French love of speed in the 80's, I have been amazed to see people observing the speed limits here today. I ask and I hear stories about the number of points people have on the licenses, tail familiar to many Americans.
One week before last, in reporting about an incident where two teenagers were electocuted in an power sub-station, Sarkozy ruled out that they were being pursued by police. The response was an immediate uptick in violence. Shortly thereafter, he promised to deal severely with the racaille (trans. scum) who were causing the problems. After that it has been downhill. French news is not very keen on lining up statistics, but I have been trying to track a number that the media has been eager to report: the number of cars set on fire (typically with Molotov cocktails). Right now my number for November 2 is sketchy, so if anyone has the real number, please let me know it. The number is climbing pretty fast.
