France in Flames
Anybody want to talk about France?
I can sympathize with the way the Algerian and Sub-Saharan immigrants around our age could be feeling, but I find their destructive behavior totally senseless. Yes, French unemployment is atrocious [Jesse said that it really is about 40% for people our age in many places], but I don't understand why that leads to kindergarten classrooms or school buses being burned.
That is just stupid.
Why not march on government offices or, if they feel like they absolutely have to be violent, burn government buildings? Resorting to such senseless violence only alienates any native French who would have been sympathetic to their situation. Surely there is a more reasonable way they could express their displeasure with the treatment that they have received.
I can sympathize with the way the Algerian and Sub-Saharan immigrants around our age could be feeling, but I find their destructive behavior totally senseless. Yes, French unemployment is atrocious [Jesse said that it really is about 40% for people our age in many places], but I don't understand why that leads to kindergarten classrooms or school buses being burned.
That is just stupid.
Why not march on government offices or, if they feel like they absolutely have to be violent, burn government buildings? Resorting to such senseless violence only alienates any native French who would have been sympathetic to their situation. Surely there is a more reasonable way they could express their displeasure with the treatment that they have received.
posted by Heather at 1:35 PM
8 Comments:
I really do want to talk about this, unfortunately, I don't have time to come up with an intelligent post about it at the present moment. But I do encourage you to run over to the opinion journal and check out best of the web from yesterday (the 7th I think). The first item pertains and I found it interesting. Hopefully, I'll be back with something smart to say tomorrow. :-)
I think the nature Rioting is that it has no true direction or purpose...It is irrational...Like those people who do the same after WINNING championships?
It is irrational. I wish I knew more about the situation, but Rioters typically have given up on logical, appropriate methods to attempt to bring about change.
Peace
First of all, check it out! Dusty's here!
Secondly, from a totally fallacious historical perspective, senseless violence is a long-standing tradition in France--arguably more so and lasting until more recently than other places in the often-lauded "western world." How many bloody revolutions have they had now? In a way, you could say these youths, many of them immigrants or children of immigrants, are just trying to integrate fully into French culture.
And now, after the obligatory dig at my "countrymen," let's attempt seriousness for a moment. From what I've been reading on MSN, these folks are,incidentally, not fond of the U.S. In fact, it was a strategic decision on the part of Chirac to avoid heavy involvement in Iraq--amazingly, it was not because he has intrinsic moral objections to war in general. He was concerned about this sort of reaction from the immigrant populations in France if the government did much.
So think about it for a minute. Put yourself in the shoes of a young person who may despise the U.S. for its actions internationally (for some of you this may be easier than for others). Then, you hear your home nation denouncing said actions of the United States. Most excellent. And then you realize: as much as you hate what the U.S. is doing internationally, you hate what France is doing domestically EVEN MORE. What are they doing? Nothing. Nothing to make your life better. You can't find a job; you face systemic discrimination based on your race and ethnic background; your devotion to your religion is unacceptable in a cultural that is vehemently secular.
What's worse, no one cares.
That's right. Everyone is too busy gazing across the Atlantic and criticizing, or across the Channel and criticizing, or over the Urals and criticizing, or toward the Gulf and criticizing...but no one is looking down the street! All you hear is how great France is because you have socialized health care. You don't care. You're not sick--you just need a job!
At that point, you do what anyone would do. You start an interest group to lobby the government to make necessary changes. Wait...let me try again.
You start having community meetings, "block parties"--anything to get people out and meet their neighbors so it's not just "us" and "them" anymore. Shoot. I'll get it eventually.
You engage in peaceful, organized protests that include marching on the capital in large numbers. No...
You find a vocal, viable candidate from among you and get him or her elected to public office. Hmmm...
We can sit here in the U.S. on our impressive civil society cushion and talk about the stupidity of riots all we want. I mean, I'm going to. But we should also remember that riots in the United States are way more senseless than they are in France. Let me explain.
The point of our federal government isn't to solve all of our problems for us. We have a long tradition of doing that (or at least trying to do it) on our own. We start community organizations, interest groups, and political parties. Organizations dwindle and new ones are started up every day. Sure, it's nice when a bill makes it through Congress that helps you out, but we tend to take a whole lot more pride in doing things ourselves. I think of things like the Boston Project, where Dwight is. The fact is, it might be possible to improve Boston--a little--through legislation. But it would take decades to even scratch the surface, and the results wouldn't be as good. Not even close. Societies change for the better in lasting ways because people start getting involved and caring at the local level. It's all about community.
Contrast France, one of many European countries that has opted for the socialist "let the government worry about it" model. This from the CIA Factbook online: France's "tax burden remains one of the highest in Europe (43.8% of GDP in 2003)." These folks have good reason for expecting the government to be solving problems. I mean, it's getting nearly half of their money. I'd want results, too. In fact, I expect results now, and the federal government thus far has refunded every penny I've ever paid them.
Anyway, I can see how this mindset could serve to paralyze dissatisfied people. What do you do when the government isn't doing its job? Wait for the next election? That's too long. You skip over the "let's start our own organization" idea, because it's something that just doesn't happen in your society. Can you imagine? It's hard. I mean, think about how many private, specialized organizations you've been involved with in your life so far. Crazy.
And so finally, the dam just breaks, and all the frustration comes out as violence. You are unable to be constructive, and you don't know how to change things, and so you destroy. It doesn't make sense, but you're past caring, because no one seems to be caring about you.
That's my story. My story about France, and how civil society is important. So read Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" [yeah, he was French], pray for our friends across the Pond, and go join something.
Joni, you are so cute when you get talk about stuff like that! (Rioting? What rioting? The only rioting that I have been close to is the silent riots going on in my quant class over the crapiness of titrations. Down with titrations!)
Wow, well, I was going to comment, but after that exposition I'm really not left with much to say. :-)
I do wonder what the outcome of this is going ot be. The implications for European government could be staggering. But how can you change something that's gone this far down a path? How do you bring a whole generation out of a state of learned helplessness.
Oh, and hi Dusty!
Again, you ask the hard questions, Victoria. ;) I only wish I knew. I feel like we've had it so easy on this count. It's not just that we haven't had to deal with social and economic problems on the same level as these folks. It's also that we live in such a "do it yourself" culture. Do they have things like Loew's and Home Depot in France? I wonder...
Well, what's the point of bothering with questions we know the answers to? On NPR the other day they were talking about how difficult it is for immigrants to start businesses in France with all of the regulatory laws and such, so maybe a bit of good ol' fashioned deregulation would be called for. Then again, what society has ever gotten rid of laws?
So it's been alluded to some above, but what about the identity crisis of France's leaders! Speaking of things we've seen before in history, Joni, how about this rabid French nationalism that's so nervous about recognizing multiple ethnicities as being capable of being French? Don't approve the EU constitution, don't let the EU cut our fat farm subsidies, and sure as hell don't let all our French-speaking, French-cultured former-colonial-possessions think they're French. Oh and protect French companies like Dannon (yogurt anyone?) from being bought out by non-French companies. Can Jacques Chirac please just relax and be ok with a little pluralism? And I realize globalization isn't all roses, but I'm not sure if resisting all of it is going to help his people's quality of life.
If I wasn't a white European old guard French nationalist-protectionist (oh wait I'm not), I might be throwing up some barriers in the streets and starting some fires too. Except that, as Heather points out, it's a bit contrary to the principles of civilization.
Hmm. Decisions, decisions.
Oh, and nice blog. I like this blogger thing.
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