France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

re: France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

tvanyo — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:19:43 GMT

So dramatic images of a burning vehicle may not paint the entire picture of what is happening on the ground?

I wish the media would apply this same standard to Iraq, where a burning car is portrayed as the ENTIRE country!!!

re: France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

underdog — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:44:18 GMT

During the 50's ,60's, and 70's France, and most of western Europe, invited unskilled labor into the country to fill a need due to low birth rates in Europe and to fill low skilled jobs Europeans would not do. Sound familiar? Today France, and most western European countries, are suffering because of they're open door policies. Why is there domestice terrrorism in England, ethnic violence in France, Muslim extremist in Germany? This is from a people that were invited in, and when the low skilled jobs went away, they were abandoned. At the same time this is also a group that did not blend into European society very well. They kept much their religious beliefs that do not blend in a secular Europe. Take a good look because your seeing the future of the United States. Make no mistake. Our corporations and goverment policies invite in low skilled, low cost workers. And, if they come in illegally, who cares? Not the corporations, and certainly not the government. What is going to happen to all those workers when most of the low pay jobs leave for cheaper shores.

re: France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

xcominguproses — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:29:04 GMT

as an American living in France, I am genuinely flabbergasted by the interactions between the police and protesters/rioters. My university has been fully shut down by students barricading entrances to university buildings after a vote by students to do so, in order to protest Sarkozy's uni reforms. There has been no police presence on campus, nothing preventing a small amount of students from shutting down the entire university. As a participant and organizer of various protests in the States, there was always a police presence..and we certainly did not try to physically block people from attending classes or work. I have also read of firefighters being loathe to enter certain suburbs to put out fires because of attacks by local residents. Once again, if this happened in the States, the outcome would be wholly different. I applaud the spirit and activism of the youth in France, but I can never condone violence as a form of communication. Furthermore, believe the sense of law and order as we see it in the States is nowhere to be found; it seems to be relatively easy for extreme behavior to get out of hand, with little to keep it in check. Once again, I appreciate the cultural importance of protest and outspokenness in France, but it is the government's responsibility to prevent a small group of persons from disrupting life for others. Maybe the riots are not as grave as the media portrays, but they are an indication of a deeper division within society, an indication of the need to reevaluate the standards of law and order.

re: France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

JohnDoe2 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:06:25 GMT

Is it possible that "youths" really means "muslims"? You know, the peace loving kind.

re: France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

Shankardada2 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:04:04 GMT

138 cars burned a night is normal in France??? Then the French should just move to Iraq! It's safer there!

re: France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

Dollared — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:34:17 GMT

138 cars burn in France every night? That's not a typical green European mandatory recycling program.

Seriously, Newsweek. How can a "journalist" like this make a statement so questionable without any support for the statement? 138 cars burned every night? Don't they have firewood?

The whole article comes into question: how often do these "nothing too nasty" nights occur in Germany, Spain or Italy? Did the author spend any time in these allegedly peaceful suburbs this week? Was he an eyewitness?

Yes, local TV can exaggerate. I personally saw it in the Argentine peso collapse, where I spent five peaceful nights in the two most "riotous" locations - Buenos Aires and Mendoza. However, the author presents no evidence that contradicts the news reports.

So without that evidence, why was this published?

re: France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

JennaSki — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:37:56 GMT

Such social unrest in France has always been apart of the country. The people of France are not the type to be ignored, when they are not happy you can be sure something will be done. As for the riots in Villiers-le-Bel, they mainly highlight the unhappiness of a mistreated minority group.

In response to underdog, I feel that the problem does not lie with the group themselves but with the society in which we all live. To think that the problem lies in the blending of races and culture is absurd when really its the attitudes we have against people who are different. It is our prejudice that prevents equality, and today it is integrated into society in such a way, that most of us are unable to detect it. In the end it is everyones fault, the government does not offer them any opportunities to help the group's situation, and such riots as the ones that occured this week will only allow the government more justification to ignore the inequalities droppped upon the minorities of France.

re: France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

kevbo6869 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:54:28 GMT

The US average for 2006 was 56 cars burned / day, with 20,500 total cars burned. That statistic was fairly easy to find on a government website. I would imagine a simple search of french gov't websites would provide vehicle arson statistics as well.

re: France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

rangerone314 — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 03:52:45 GMT

One wonders about what people who defended old France from being conquered by the Muslims, would think about what is going on in France today People like Charles Martel of the Franks who is probably the one reason why French women today aren't forced to wander around with their faces covered, or being sentenced to prison and whipped like that woman who was gang-raped in Saudi Arabia...

Charles Martel is probably rolling around in his grave seeing how the French seem resigned to surrender to the Muslims. He studied tactics of the Muslim invaders and figured out how to defeat them. The modern French invite in the hordes, probably to their eventual cultural genocide. I seem to remember the Roman Empire at one time invited the Goths to settle in the Balkans; that worked out well for the Romans... didn't it?

I plan on visiting Europe again in a few years; while it is still EUROPE and not EURABIA!

re: France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

YODA60 — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:39:20 GMT

The problems confronting France, the UK, the Netherlands, and other former colonial powers are their chickens come home to roost. The greed and arrogance of the colonial powers of Europe were the seeds sewn. The harvest is bitterness, alienation of 'immigrant' communities, and the discrimination they face. One might assume that in their chess-game-like scramble for the resources and markets of their colonies any notion of future consequences were very far out of mind. In former colonial nations with significant 'immigrant' communities (composed largely of persons from their former colonies) we now see the rise of nationalist anti-immigration political parties whose spokespersons convenitnely omit any reference to these countries' historical authorship of their present distress. But, alas, this is all 'blood under the bridge", to quote Albee's Virginia Wolfe. Much of the legacy of colonialism is ugly. Most of the ugliness has presented itself to the citizens of former colonies, titularly independent, economically dependent, and liable to interference from the former coloniziers (remember Patreice Lumumba?). That 'immigrant' comunities in France find the national slogan of 'liberte, equalite, fraternite' somewhat hollow as applied to them should usher the nation into serious soul searching -- to face the realities and attempt to address problems without resort to xenophobic exhortations and their likely consequnces.

re: France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

wijreddenhet — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 23:15:48 GMT

There is only one solution, Deport all of the individuals involved and their families plus anyone even remotely involved in the violence to their own countries. When in Rome do as the Romans and these kind of immigrants have no such intention. They are just waiting until they out breed all of Europe and use democracy as a weapon to take over not only France buy all of Europe. This of course will lead to a Balkans type situation. The west must act now while it still has the advantage. What are the French do when a suicide bombers start attacking on a regular basis. When is all of Europe going to wake up realize there is very little time left act before civil war erupts all over Europe.

re: France: Putting the ‘Riots’ in Perspective

polartech — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:15:02 GMT

In response to underdog, You are comparing apples to oranges, The majority of the inmigrants to the U.S. are from fellow western nations where the people share the same traditions, religion and culture as the U.S.. The inmigration situation in the states is more akin to the time when southern europeans used to move to northern europe in search of better jobs.