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| Europe |
| French rioters holler jihad |
| 2005-11-08 |
| Word of the deaths spread quickly through Clichy-sous-Bois, a grim collection of housing projects an hour by train and bus from the center of Paris. Two teenage boys had been electrocuted while trying to hide near a transformer the night of Oct. 27. Rumor said they were running from police. Soon, dozens of angry young men came from the soulless high-rises looking for cops to fight and cars to burn on streets named, as it happens, after heroes of French culture: boulevard Emile Zola, allee Albert Camus, rue Picasso. Dead white men. "It's Baghdad here," the rioters shouted. Night after night last week, rage spread through the ghettos that ring Paris, then beyond to every corner of France. When a tear-gas canister exploded near a mosque in Clichy-sous-Bois on the fourth violent evening, a new cry went up. "Now this is war," said one of the vandals. Others cried "jihad." It was neither, in fact, and Paris—the capital known to tourists—was not burning. But by using cell-phone text messages to coordinate their incendiary flash-mobs, rioters in the city's suburbs managed to burn thousands of cars, as well as buses, warehouses and stores. More than 200 people were arrested and there were many injuries, some serious, even if by last weekend no one had been killed. (The Los Angeles riots of 1992, by contrast, took the lives of more than 50 people.) What really shook the French government, and badly, was its inability to contain the metastasizing anger. Decades of French policies intended to force the integration of immigrants and their children—and children's children—into French society had failed, and no Plan B was apparent. Fears also grew that in the age of terror, rage like this could swell the ranks of radical Islamists in the heart of Europe. The first and most obvious casualty was the reputation of French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. He's been angling for the presidency in 2007, posturing as France's most confident can-do politician. During the first days of violence, Sarkozy denounced the gangs burning cars as "scum" and told them in effect to bring it on. They did with a vengeance, and didn't stop. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who is Sarkozy's main rival, reined him in publicly. Prodded by President Jacques Chirac, the two of them eventually tried to show a united front behind the slogan "Firmness and justice." That didn't work either. The greatest challenge in the days to come is to keep the violent fringe from winning even wider sympathy. There are more than 12 million people of Muslim origin in Western Europe, roughly half of them in France. Many have adapted easily and well to European life. But constant tensions and deep resentments do remain, especially among those left behind in blighted communities that others managed to escape. In a report issued just days before the violence broke out, the French government counted 751 neighborhoods deemed "sensitive urban zones." Most of the people there have roots in Africa and Islam. Average unemployment is 21 percent, more than twice the national average, and rising. Among men under 25, the rate jumps to 36 percent. Disconnected from their past in the Muslim world and uncertain about their future in Europe, they've come to see themselves as citizens of nothing but "Neuf-trois," 93, the postal code for the outer edges of the Paris urban area. The alienation and anger in these neighborhoods is not new. Riots broke out in the 1980s and 1990s, prompting new government programs supposed to bring hope to the projects. But as memories of the violence faded, so did funding. Outreach programs have been cut and neighborhood-based police have been pulled out. "We haven't paid attention for such a long time, there is a sense of abandonment," says French Sen. Dominique Voynet, who represents the main conflict zone. In Clichy-sous-Bois, where it all began, calm was restored after the fourth night by young men from the local mosque. The government was thankful and hopes similar measures can work elsewhere. Some analysts are wary. Calling on mosques to restore order "validates the postulate that Islam is the answer to everything," says Dounia Bouzar, author of several books on French Muslims. Yet without the mosque, it would seem, the only option for the people along allee Albert Camus is what the author of "The Stranger" called "the tender indifference of the world." Editor's Note: On Nov. 7, French police announced the first riot-related fatality. According to The Associated Press, a man died after being attacked while trying to extinguish a trash can fire outside his apartment building. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 Dance with the devil and you get your toes stepped on. Appeasement has never worked. From the site: "France:Behind The Riots + Famine In Africa" Hey don't foreget global warming, the sunami, and Hurricane Wilma. Maybe these young thugs didn't get enough tit*y as infants. One can find all kinds of self-defeating, paralyzing excuses that prevent one from doing anything. We are in no less than a world war with the jihadists. The press, the left, and some of our politicians would deceive us into believing something else. |
| Posted by: Youraveragesombitch 2005-11-08 15:36 |
| #5 Coming to a town near you.... (This is frightening to see happening, and most definitely could happen here.) I hope this wakes up most to try and get a handle on things before it does. |
| Posted by: Jan 2005-11-08 15:27 |
| #4 Where's the Commitee of Public Safety when you need one? |
| Posted by: imoyaro 2005-11-08 11:26 |
| #3 The first and most obvious casualty was the reputation of French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. But of course. The entire thing is his fault, is it not? |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2005-11-08 11:25 |
| #2 It's still funny, or at least the basis for some timely humor. Let's not kid ourselves. France has slept with the devil because France thinks that the glory of France will prevail. They are nothing but a society of dreamers. Always were. Judgement day approaches. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2005-11-08 11:23 |
| #1 In french, but the "allah u akbar" are in arabic... http://www.netwerk.tv/templates/videoasx.jsp?f=198614 Some "youths" also said on teevee they were in "Jerusalem"... I guess all this glamourization of paleo intifada by the french msm, following the quai d'Orsay's cue, really paid off... Official France truly played this pro-paleostinian, antizionist card (up to the point of the infamous and scandalous al durah forgery by France 2, see http://www.truthnow.org/), and only backpedaled this year, because it backfired into "french" antisemite violence (again, according to police intelligence, only 7% of theses attacks are made by the far right, the rest being done by "disaffected muslim youths"). Add the islamoleftists who tell the youth they are the "true indigenous people of France", while "ethnic french" are "colonizers" since France is a "post-colonial" colonial power on her own soil, and you've got a moral justification of the necessity of revolting : the "youths" playing the part of the "oppressed paleos", the police being the "zionists". This is quite ironic, poetic justice in action, and would be very funny, if there wasn't thousand of innocent people losing their property, their security, and occasionally their life. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2005-11-08 10:17 |