Mr de Villepin stressed the government's first priority was to restore calm and stop the nightly violence in the cities and suburbs. He announced: Continuing large-scale police deployments, including 1,500 extra reserve officers, in troubled areasCommunity leaders from France's main ethnic minorities have demanded new laws to end discrimination in jobs and housing, and an end to what they say is police harassment. They resent police searches for "sans-papiers" - illegal immigrants - and the constant threat of deportation hanging over them. They also want the right to vote, even for those without French citizenship. In response, Mr de Villepin proposed:
Swift and effective justice for all law-breakers
A judicial inquiry into the deaths of two teenagers in Clichy-sous-Bois, Paris, which sparked the riots
New powers for the mayors of French cities and municipalities, to impose curfews and maintain order
A restoration of spending programmes (recently cut back) on community associations of all kinds, to promote social solidarity
A tripling of state scholarships in poor areas, and increased spending on training schemes for under-achieving young people. Some 150,000 children, mainly from immigrant families, are leaving school without any qualificationsThe prime minister skirted round the highly sensitive issue of Islam, the religion of the great majority of the immigrants and their offspring. Many French Muslims demand more public recognition by the state, and resent the law which bans the wearing of Muslim headscarves. Mr de Villepin said only that in France all faiths were respected. He acknowledged public concerns about the growth of radical Islamic thinking, but played down the urgency of the issue.
A lowering to 14 of the age when children wanting to quit school can begin an apprenticeship; this idea was at once criticised by some teachers' leaders
More company job training schemes in problem areas. Immigrants with a college degree complain they rarely even get job interviews because of blatant discrimination
An urban renewal programme, re-building districts damaged by the riots and building more humane living environments
More, unspecified, sanctions to counter social discrimination of all kinds
| With all the commentary on the intifada in France, one thing that has been lost, until Dominique's statement today, is this: no longer can the French lord their superior social welfare system over us peon Americans. The French statist social welfare model provided unemployment compensation, job training, education, health care, retirement pension, maternity leave, paternity leave, go-fishing leave, and so on, and all you had to do was put up with stifling taxes and a loss of economic mobility. That was the deal and the French were proud of it, particularly when compared to the dog-eat-dog Americans. And the French also considered their social model to be superior to ours in terms of race: everyone was a Frenchman, and the French didn't even keep racial statistics, because they didn't need to. They didn't have racial tension (don't mind those Algerians across the street), they didn't have concentrated poverty like Gary and New Orleans, and they for darned sure didn't have race riots like Watts and Detroit. And now it's been demonstrated to be a lie. A whole sub-population of young people are SOL with no future prospects, and they're mad as hell. They were never included in the social welfare model, and they've been discriminated against every day. The fact that most of these people are Muslim and Arab or African is a part of it, but not all of it. Even more 'moderate' Arabs, Berbers, Africans, etc shoved into these dreadful suburbs are mad as hell. The French coppers brutalize them on a regular basis. The French employers refuse to consider them. The French government shoves them into high-rise filing cabinets and then slam the doors shut. And all the while they hear pious crap about how wonderful life is in France, crap that they know is a lie from start to finish. So it's no surprise that there are riots on top of despair and casual violence. Now throw in some trecherous Muslim leaders, budding Islamist terrorists, organized gangs, drug-dealers, gun runners, and ineffecutal community 'leaders', and you have suburbs full of angry, don't-give-a-shit people. Toss in police that are alternately brutal and cowardly, politicans that are corrupt and gutless, and a French public that hates the Arabs in a visceral way, and you have a disaster in the making. I have no doubt the French will -- eventually -- get things under control. For now. But they don't have the ability we've had to be critical of themselves and fix their problems. We had race riots. We figured out why and we're doing better (hard to tell sometimes). We're capable of addressing our problems. The French aren't. It shows. |