open Democracy News Analysis - France is on fire, - Comments

Joeanna Nee on "France is on fire"

Joeanna Nee — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 20:46:21 +0000

You havent seen "Pulp Fiction" by Quinton Tarantino? Watch it and you have Mc Donald's in France discussion between Travoltal and Jackson as hit men about what the French call a quarer pounder with cheese. There ya go...it's all Bush's fault!

Matt Murrell on "France is on fire"

Matt Murrell — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:15:37 +0000

I do believe that in an open forum titled "American Power & The World" could hold up a conversation about France. All we need to do is find reports that those currently rioting were raised on a diet of McDonalds and American action movies and - bingo! George Bush's fault.

Joeanna Nee on "France is on fire"

Joeanna Nee — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 13:31:46 +0000

Sorcha, American coverage on what is going on in France is just as limited. But, then again, I dont get alot of news time, lately. I do believe that in an open forum titled "American Power & The World" could hold up a conversation about France. It is part of the World. So, why not? That's why I asked. I am concerned about the racial bias in France and their unemployment rate for the youth. It certainly explained the small comment I caught that the youth of France feels they have no future. I am not well traveled, much to my dismay, and was content, at one time with my own little chunk of dirt. Well, thanks to technology, the world is getting smaller. I felt I should start understanding it as a whole. Its alot to take in, and is extremely complicated. I stumbled on to this, and it seemed like a good place to see other people's views and the info has been phenomenal. Im still reading up on the Irish issue's. Oh, which I will have a ton of questions when Im done...thanks for the links. Damn, Im rambling. Sorry.

sorcha.murphy on "France is on fire"

sorcha.murphy — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 10:04:06 +0000

First of all, these events have nothing to do with American power & the world... I have been following this closely and I am amazed at the lack/ignorance of coverage in the British media. The BBC world service waffled on about young immigrants destroying France - the rioters are French, most of them second generation. There is a lot more analysis and coverage in French papers (obviously) and in the German and Dutch media. Last night I watched a couple of interviews on German tv with rioters, locals and a handful of French intellectuals (whose silence is these days is deafening!) and following these, I think what is going on there is class warfare. Young energetic people from the absolute bottom of the social scale are fed up. It did not help that the French interior minister called them scum. In fact, all of the interviewed rioters expressed their anger about that first of all. This conflict has nothing to do with fundamentalism, the fact that most of the rioters are Muslim is entirely (as yet) secondary. Ditto the fact that the majority are of North African origin. What they want is to be French, to earn money, to get out of these slum suburbs etc. and they know that there isn't a hope. The English online version of German Der Spiegel explains how this all started: On October 27, two local teenagers died in circumstances that have yet to be clarified. They had been running from the police, it is said -- although officials have since denied this was the case -- and they ended up in a dead-end alley at the end of which was an electricity substation. The warning sign Mayor Dilain had had affixed to the building's entrance -- featuring comic book characters for the area's youth -- was no deterrent to 15-year-old Banou from Mali and his 17-year-old Tunisian friend, Ziad. They were electrocuted to death. A third boy survived but was seriously injured. A rumor that the police had driven the two boys to their deaths quickly began to spread. There have been street riots every night since, and the French government is in a state of crisis. http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,383623,00.html

Joeanna Nee on "France is on fire"

Joeanna Nee — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 00:04:16 +0000

Thanks Matt. The Gaurdian is definitely word for word! I had no idea that the French were racially biased. Their unemployment rate is huge!

Matt Murrell on "France is on fire"

Matt Murrell — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 23:28:16 +0000

Joeanna, I’ve been following the news about the riots in Paris. Basically it seems that tensions between the less well-off Muslim communities and the state were sparked off by the death of two teenagers while they were being allegedly chased by police. It has been helped by the Interior Minister’s rhetoric of “zero tolerance”. Some good round ups of the situation can be found here: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1104/p06s02-woeu.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1607332,00.html

France is on fire,

Joeanna Nee — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 23:22:48 +0000

I was caught off guard by the rioting in France. I dont always catch the news, but apparently the French youth are burning cars, schools and other public buildings. There hasn't been alot of coverage on it, other than the declaration of a police enforced curfew of 12. I thought France was extremely liberal? All I heard them say is that the French youth believe they have no futures? That made no sense to me. Anyone have an uptake on that?