November 06, 2005

Banlieue - Part II...
(VF en bas)
It's now been 11 nights of unrest in France. It has now spread from the banlieues (suburbs which are more like inner cities or ghettos) of Paris to larger cities throughout France. Between Saturday and Sunday almost 1,300 vehicules were lit on fire, as well as other public buildings like Post Offices, schools, and pharmacies. The fires have now moved into the centre of Paris, and into other cities such as Lille (where I lived, and am not suprised to hear was targeted), Marseille, Normandy, Strasbourg, Nice, etc.
The French government has reacted by saying that the culprits will be prosecuted, and that law must be restored. The Police has also quadrupled spot identity checks (that's what happened to me). Like that will help anything -it`ll just make the situation worse.
The situation won't get better until the racism issue in France is addressed. If I was a French citizen, but treated like a second-class citizen, of course I would be mad.

Ca fait onze nuits de dérangement en France maintenant. Il a répandu des banlieues de Paris aux autres grandes villes un peu partout en France. Entre samedi et dimanche presque 1.300 véhicules ont été brûlés, ainsi que des autres bâtiments publiques comme les bureaux de Poste, des écoles, et des pharmacies. Les feux ont commencé au centre-ville de Paris, et dans des autres villes comme Lille (où j'ai habité -ce n'est pas surprenant d'entendre qu'il y existe des ennuis), Marseille, Normandie, Strasbourg, Nice, etc.
Le gouvernement français a réagi en disant que les coupables seront jugé, et que le droit sera rétabli. La Police a aussi augmenté par quatre fois les demandes d'identité (ce qui m'est arrivé). Oui, comme cela va améliorer la situation -je pense que ça va la rendre plus difficile à regler.
La situation n'améliora pas jusqu'à ce que le racisme français est reglé. Si j'étais un cityoen français, mais on m'a traitait comme un cityoen de deuxième degré, bien sûr que je serais fâché.
Si vous etes en France ou Français, qu'en pensez vous?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You sound down right political. Taking some pol-sci courses? I saw some interviews on PBS with some French. 5-6 checks a day just getting to and from school or work. Seeing where they lived I kept thinking of the song "High Rise" by Hawkwind (so now you all know how old I am).

Ironic that in NA the inner city was the ghetto but in France it is the suburbs.

Hopefully they will find a better solution than more troops goose-stepping their way through history. I've always remembered what one old commentator said about youth riots and how to prevent them "give them jobs and they will have other things to do like rest". He was talking about London in the early 80s but similar situation.

Stephen said...

I`d love to take some poli-sci courses, but they don`t have any that are of interest to me this semester. All of the ones that I`d love are upper level, and they`re not offering the International PoliSci this upcoming semester :(
I think that the job thing is right on. 40% unemployment is huge!

Anonymous said...

"Law must be restored".
Sounds like the Libs in BC talking about those criminal teachers! And if they aren't breaking the law, let's just change the law so it is illegal. I'm not ticked off, am I?

Anonymous said...

Hey Jim, long time no hear. How have you been? Aside from the strike & BTW leg that is?

Strikes are never fun and hopefully the one at telus will be over in a week then my life can return to normal. I wasn't union so I didn't miss any work but couldn't plan vacations more than 5 days long etc.