Leave it to Reuters to strike just the right tone as the Paris burbs continue to burn - also see PJM. Apparently the relatively new Sarkozy government didn't learn the lessons of 2005.
Reuters item: Life has not improved for the inhabitants of France's poor, ethnically diverse suburbs since the riots of 2005, despite millions of euros in cash pledges and President Nicolas Sarkozy's election promises.
High unemployment, underperforming schools, poor relations with the police, inadequate housing and controversial new immigration laws have created a generation of frustrated youths ready to turn to violence at any time.
Locals say it is not surprising that the deaths of two teenagers in a crash with police in the Villiers-le-Bel suburb of northern Paris led to scenes that revived memories of 2005, when France's worst urban riots in 40 years erupted.
"Nothing has changed," said Mehdi Bigaderne, a spokesman for ACLEFEU, an association helping youths in Clichy-sous-Bois.
"I don't think they learnt any lessons from 2005."
Nothing except the complete forfeiture of France will be "enough".
Posted by: dumbblonde | Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 02:41 PM
Dear Reuters:
The rioting "suburbs" are the least "ethnically diverse" communities in the nation.
When your lead paragraph starts out claiming up is down, then why would you expect people to read beyond that? At least use the old cliche which holds that racism and religious intolerance has forced west African muslims into ghettos.
Posted by: rwilymz | Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 02:51 PM
When we moved to France we were both retired but we had an 11 year old daughter who we put into the 5th grade in the local public school in Nice.
None of us spoke French but our daughter was able to speak it pretty fluently in about 3 months.
We returned home for a year and went back to France again where she was then enrolled in 7th grade. This time she had to take a second language but was not eligible to take German or Italian as she had no background in either. She was put into the class that was taking English as their second language, almost all of the students in that class were Muslims, mostly Algerians. I don't recall any being black.
She and one Arab boy were the best in the class.
Years later, in 2003, she ran into some of those classmates and found out that almost all of them were failures in high school and were unemployed.
They had the same opportunities as the French kids, went to the same schools, and then chose their lot in life, as far as I am concerned.
Crying racism is just an excuse for being lazy.
Posted by: Lala | Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 04:36 PM
They sure find out young that they're a "victim" class.
Posted by: Capitalist Infidel | Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 05:25 PM
And now we've been through Night III.
Posted by: dumbblonde | Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 10:29 PM
Paris is somewhat like New Orleans an old museum inner city surrounded by poverty with tourism the only thing making it economically viable. The very weathly surrounded by the very poor.
Posted by: joeb | Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 10:10 AM
What "lessons" are they talking about? I don't remember any moral to the 2005 fiasco... unless they think it was Give The Thugs What They Want.
Posted by: Jake Was Here | Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 10:51 AM
Sarkozy was elected to take care of this problem. And he will. The chickens are coming home to roost.
Posted by: joeb | Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 11:28 AM