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Comment: Explosion in the suburbs
The riots in France are the result of years
of racism, poverty and police brutality.
By Naima Bouteldja
In 1991 there was violence between young
men and police in the suburbs of the French
city of Lyon. Alain Touraine, the French
sociologist, said, "In a few years we will
have the same kind of problems the
Americans have in their big cities." In the
past few weeks
there have been many nights
of violence in the suburbs of French cities.
Perhaps Touraine’s pessimistic prediction is
now becoming reality.
The violence followed the deaths of two
young Muslim men of African origin in a
Paris suburb. The two men lived in Clichy-
sous-Bois, a poor northeastern suburb of
Paris, and this was where the violent riots
began. Clichy-sous-Bois was like a time-
bomb waiting to explode. Half its
inhabitants are under 20, the unemployment
rate is more than 40%
and police check the
identity of young men regularly.
Young French citizens born into first- and
second-generation immigrant communities
from France's former colonies in North
Africa usually lead the riots. The cause is
almost always the deaths of young black
men at the hands of the police. The reaction
of the French government usually makes
things worse.
Four days after the deaths in Clichy-sous-
Bois, the situation
was beginning to calm
down when the police fired teargas into a
mosque. The official reason for the police
action was that there was a badly parked car
in front of the mosque. The government has
not offered any apology to the Muslim
community. But riots have now started in
other poor suburbs across France and this is
something new. Laurent Levy,
an anti-racist
campaigner, is not surprised by the situation.
"When you do not give any respect to large
sections of the population, and when they do
not have the right to work and the right to
proper accommodation, what is surprising is
not that the cars are burning but that it
doesn’t happen more often," he says.
Police violence and
racism are major factors
in the riots. In April a report by the human
rights group Amnesty International
criticized the way in which the French
police treated young men of African origin
during identity checks. But the actions of the
interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, have also
caused a lot of anger. He called the rioters
"vermin” and "scum" and said it was
necessary to clean
the suburbs with
industrial cleaner.
Sarkozy's will probably be a candidate in the
French presidential elections in 2007 where
his opponent will be the current Prime
Minister, Dominique de Villepin. Sarkozy’s
words might gain him votes from right-wing
voters.
What can France do to stop the violence? It
would obviously help if ministers stopped
talking about "scum" and if Sarkozy lost his
job. A simple “sorry” could help to make the
situation less tense. The morning after the
gassing
of the mosque, a young Muslim
woman expressed what many people feel,
"We just want them to stop lying and to
apologize." Then some of these young
people might feel they were full and equal
citizens of the French republic.
Naima Bouteldja is a French journalist and
researcher for the Transnational Institute.
Guardian Weekly, 13/11/05, page 14
©
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2005
Taken from the
News
section in
www.onestopenglish.com