Riots in Paris
International Herald Tribune THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2005
The suburbs of Paris, whether the faubourgs of the French Revolution or the banlieues of today, have a long history of violent uprisings by enraged citizens. But the nightly clashes in the grimy northeastern environs of the city over the past week were dismally contemporary: The rioters torching the cars and pelting police around the low-rent apartment blocks that abut the City of Light were the sons of African and Arab immigrants, most of them Muslims, who have never been integrated into French society, who work for the lowest wages, who live in ghettos rife with crime. Fortunately, nobody has been killed so far except for the two youths whose electrocution on Oct. 27, as they hid from police in an electrical substation, touched off the clashes. But the daily images of helmeted police and enraged youths silhouetted against blazing cars should serve as a reminder to the French that their major cities are ringed about with a society in urgent need of attention. Like everything else that happens in France these days, the rioting has become embroiled in the political succession war between the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, and the interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, both of whom canceled foreign trips to deal with the crisis. To follow events in the French media, it often seemed as if the Villepin-Sarkozy duel was the more momentous of the raging battles. Sarkozy, who has emerged in the front ranks of French politics in large part because of his straight talk on the problems of immigration, integration and crime, drew considerable criticism this time for his tough talk. A week before the riots, he had vowed a "merciless war" on suburban violence, and when the troubles started, he called the rioters "hoodlums." These are not sentiments that will help soothe the suburbs. The greater issue for the French is the validity of their cherished approach to integration, which stresses the equality of all citizens, no matter what their ethnic or religious origin, so long as they embrace the fundamental French values of "liberté, egalité, fraternité." The French have long regarded this as superior to the British and American approach, with its emphasis on diversity and ethnic pride. But the myth of equality in France also serves to hamper affirmative action and community outreach. At the same time, efforts at imposed integration, like the celebrated ban on Muslim girls wearing veils in state schools, often serve only to antagonize. Over the past week, many French officials publicly acknowledged that the state has done far too little for the suburbs. The rioting of the past week is not yet a revolution. But unless Sarkozy's "zero tolerance" for crime is joined by better opportunities in jobs, housing and education for the new citizens, the suburbs will get a lot hotter. Copyright © 2005 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com |