http://sketchythoughts.blogspot.com/No Justice, No Peace!
The events that have shaken the French suburbs for almost two weeks now are definitely the expression of a rebellion with an undeniably political dimension. The riots are obviously against the representatives and symbols of a social order that is unequal, racist and oppressive, which considers young people from the popular neighbourhoods to be “trash” which need to be cleaned with “Karcher” and then sent to rot in prison. In this context, setting fire to a car, a public building or a business, is a political act. Even though we might question the wisdom of these actions, especially as they cause more problems for the people than for the bourgeoisie and those who are truly to blame for this situation, the fact remains that this is the only way that these young people can make themselves heard, for this society has nothing to offer them but servitude, frustration and cops. In order to be able to put in place repressive policies, and to criminalize the suffering of the suburbs, the social origins of this violence must first be denied.
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Communique from the Mouvement de l'Immigration et des Banlieues*
“Die in peace my brothers, but die quietly, so that we hear nothing but the faintest echo of your suffering…”
Anyone who does not understand why people are rioting either suffers from amnesia, blindness, or both. For the past thirty years the suburbs have been calling out for justice. For twenty five years the rebellions, the riots, the demonstrations, the marches, the public meetings, and cries of anger have been making very clear demands. It is fifteen years since the Ministry of Urban Affairs was set up to deal with the poverty and exclusion of the so-called underprivileged areas. Ministers come and go with their promises: a Marshall Plan, Economic Free Zones, DSQ, ZEP, ZUP, Youth Employment, Social Cohesion, etc. … The suburbs serve as a dumping zone for the ministers, politicians and journalists with their deadly little sound bites about “lawless areas”, “irresponsible parents”, organized crime and other “consequences of Islamic fundamentalism.”
Rage in the Banlieue
By DIANA JOHNSTONE
Montmartre, Paris.
The furious youth in the French suburban housing blocks known as the banlieue are expressing themselves by setting cars on fire. And not only cars: schools, creches, sports centers. So far, they are not using words, at least not audibly. So everyone else is free to speak for them, or against them, and offer his or her verbal interpretation of what these actions mean, or should mean. Since these interpretations differ sharply, there is a polarizing debate going on as to what this is really about and what should be done about it.
I live on the northern edge of Paris, on the non-tourist backside of Montmartre. It is probably the most mixed neighborhood in Paris. It includes Barbès, the setting for Emile Zola's working class novel "L'Assommoir", which later became the main pole of North African immigration. More recently, there is a large and growing population of sub-Saharan African immigrants, as well as a considerable Tamoul community.The streets are full of life, lots of young children, African grocers, all sorts of shops and people, and despite a certain amount of drug dealing, I feel perfectly safe, even late at night.
This neighborhood is not far from the northeastern banlieue where the riots began. But the banlieue is something else. Its specific nature is one of the factors behind the current outburst of violence. But it is only one of the factors.
1. The rioters themselves.
Only the right, or more precisely the far right, would reduce the problem to the rioters themselves. The National Front is, predictably, describing the situation as "civil war" and calling for the government to send in the Army. This is a very minority position. So far as I am aware, its strongest expression has come from the United States, in an article by Daniel Pipes in the Jewish World Review charactizing the riots as an Islamic "intifada" as a "turning point" in a new religious war in Europe.
Who exactly are the rioters? So far, this is not very clear, since the hit-and-run arson attacks appear to be imitative but unorganized. The rioters are young males, mostly, it seems, in their mid-teens, who identify with the two teen-agers who were accidentally electrocuted last October 27 when, running from police, they scaled a wall and took refuge in an industrial generator. Ironically, in this crucial case the deaths were the result of fear rather than of direct police brutality. This widespread fear of police reflects gratuitous and heavy handed police harassment, but there is also the undisputed fact that in areas with 40% unemployment and large numbers of school dropouts, there has been a proliferation of drug dealing and various forms of petty crime, often in the form of forcing school kids to surrender such items as cell phones. Police toughness has had no visible success in stemming such activities.
The rioting youths seem to be predominantly, but not exclusively, of African or North African origin. They are certainly not all Muslims, and there is no indication that most of them are particularly attached to any religion. Muslim religious authorities condemn the riots, and one has gone so far as to issue a fatwa against the violence, but this seems to serve more to distance the Muslim authorities from the rioters than to influence them.
http://sketchythoughts.blogspot.com/2005/11/rage-in-banlieue-counterpunch.html#jumpto