Riots in Paris and beyond have been in the news as of late.
Here's an interesting leader from the Telegraph:
Broken contract
France has had a week and a half of rioting. It is spreading, there is no end in sight and the government appears powerless to stop it. We are witnessing the breakdown of the contract between the state and Europe's largest immigrant population. That, as the Bill banning the hijab in schools reminded us, is on one side the acceptance by newcomers of a strictly lay entity in which no exception is made for different religious communities. In return, they are supposed to enjoy the benefits of a republic based on the revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity.
Despite much controversy at the time, the Bill has been implemented with remarkably little fuss. It is not the hijab that lies at the heart of the present trouble. It is, rather, the failure of the state to fulfil its side of the bargain. The first generation of immigrants came to France to meet a demand for foreign labour. The second and third generations find themselves trapped without work in the estates or cités built for their parents and grandparents. To compound matters, the unemployed have become dependent on welfare. These two factors produce a feeling of helplessness, which in turn engenders a hatred of the state.
The Telegraph goes on to argue that the solution is "the creation of conditions for enterprise that will allow those stuck in the cités to break out of drear desperation through work."
I thought it was an interesting (right of centre) argument. Leaving aside certain cultural variables (violent protest is more common in France than here) I was wondering if there were any useful parallels. There are claims that we too in Britain have a 'dependency culture' (at least in certain sections of society) - is there anything we can learn from what's happening in France? France is generally perceived as having much greater social protection, but if the Telegraph argument holds sway that is precisely the problem. However, it is worth remembering that we have had race riots here too, under both the Conservatives and New Labour, both of whom seem quite keen on 'enterprise'. (Though this does not automatically mean that the Telegraph's analysis does not apply - the deprived areas that rioted in the UK would still have had a high proportion of people on benefits.)
So my question - is the Telegraph right to see social funding as (a major) part of the problem, or is the solution more funding for deprived areas?
Looking forward to Wemb on this one. For my own part I think the dependency culture argument has some validity.
13 comments:
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3113
Reflections on the Revolution in France
by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun
November 8, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1635479,00.html
The week Paris burned
November 6, 2005
The Observer
On the Rue du 8 Mai, leading into the Mille-Mille estate, hairdresser Agnès Fréchon, 36, waits anxiously for electricity to be restored to her salon. The Crédit Lyonnais branch next door was rammed with a car in the night, then burnt, along with a kebab shop in the parade.
'If you look at the shops that have been burnt down, you can tell that the Muslim grands-fréres have had their say,' she adds.
'The halal butcher has not been touched, neither has the pizzeria, owned by a Moroccan. I try to stay neutral - after all, I cut everyone's hair - and I get the impression that, if my shop has been damaged, it is by accident because it's next door to the bank.'
Her customers, a steady stream of whom turn up during the afternoon to re-book their appointments, agree that the rioters probably wanted their mothers to be able to continue to go to the hairdresser.
There was a report on the Today prog this morning comparing French and American approaches to minorities (and pretty much condemning both as having failed). It wasn't a particularly edifying report IMO, but if anyone's interested:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/zfriday_20051111.shtml
0832 How do the French and American models of integration compare? Daniela Relph reports from Washington on the American response to the French riots, while Mike Thomson reports from Paris. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today5_integration_20051111.ram
My 2p worth is that I am more for the "French" model of assimilation than the "American" model of multi-culti (of course these labels may well be unjustified). On this analysis the problem with the French experience is not the theory (assimilate! We are all French!) but the implementation (people don't actually end up feeling French at all).
J
PS I have a French colleague who grew up on the tough streets of Lyon (most of his childhood friends ended up in jail, apparently, as would he if he hadn't got out). Here's his pidgin English answer to my email asking him his opinion of the riots:
That had brooded for 10 years at least. but, they burn cars of people like them, it’s stupid. If they want to fight, they can fight against the state and the police, but not against their neighboors! I condemn it, they burn the cars of the poors, it’s really free violence, without any claims. Tonight, they shoot with gun on 2 policemans. If the police replic, it should be very dangerous. Bad time in France!
Wemb asks "Have we had race riots?" in this country. It's in an intersting question and I agree that the term can be a smokescreen for class conflict. Nonetheless, the riots in Brixton and Tottenham in the early 80s both had a racial dimension. Both sets of riots were seen as a response to heavy handed and racially discriminatory policing. (Remember the Scarman report and Bernie Grant's (in)famous comment "We gave them a bloody good hiding".)
However, it's interesting that Pipes has seized on this as an example of jihad in mainland Europe. I am inclined to see the riots as a symptom of the social problems outlined by Wemb rather than as an Islamic insurgency. Like JP's friend, the French that I have spoken to all feel that this has been a long time coming.
A quick (and hopefully illuminating) bit of personal experience: In the late 80s I spent a summer studying in Paris, had a great time, and returned to the UK full of love for the city of light. A fellow student had a miserable experience, was frequently stopped by the police and asked for his papers (sometimes twice in the same day). The difference between me and Amit? Well, the clue's in the name. Suffice it to say, Amit came back convinced that Paris had the most racist police force in the world.
Anecdotal of course, but the point I'm trying to make is that I think that Wemb shouldn't overlook the racial dimension to the French riots. At the same time I believe that JP should not ignore the social conditions that Wemb has pointed to.
In a way, I hope that these French riots do prove to be the equivalent of the Brixton / Tottenham riots of the early 80s. It led to the aforementioned Scarman report and an attempt to dismantle the institutionalised racism that was keenly felt by those communities. I hope something similar happens in France.
By way of a coda, it's interesting how much comparison there has been between France and Britain as of late. Following 7/7 we were all declaring multi-culturalism dead (I know I was) and looking across the channel to the French integrationist model. Now, the traffic is the other way - integrationism has failed; multi-culturalism is the answer!
Here's Tariq Ramadan (remember him?) on precisely that subject.
And here's Gary Younge making similar points to me, only at greater length (and more eloquently.)
Riots are a class act - and often they're the only alternative
France now accepts the need for social justice. No petition, peaceful march or letter to an MP could have achieved this
Interestingly enough, it looks like some of the measures in the French post riot package are indeed designed to promote enterprise, much as the telegraph article that prompted this thread suggested.
Amidst a bunch of other social initiatives [t]he government unrolled a package of measures that would give career guidance and work placements to all unemployed people under 25 in some of the poorest suburbs; there would be tax breaks for companies who set up on sink estates; a €1,000 (£675) lump sum for jobless people who returned to work as well as €150 a month for a year;
Sorry, the Gary Younge link was incorrect.
Here's the full post corrected.
Riots are a class act - and often they're the only alternative
France now accepts the need for social justice. No petition, peaceful march or letter to an MP could have achieved this
Interestingly enough, it looks like some of the measures in the French post riot package are indeed designed to promote enterprise, much as the Telegraph article that prompted this thread suggested.
Amidst a bunch of other social initiatives [t]he government unrolled a package of measures that would give career guidance and work placements to all unemployed people under 25 in some of the poorest suburbs; there would be tax breaks for companies who set up on sink estates; a €1,000 (£675) lump sum for jobless people who returned to work as well as €150 a month for a year;
Hi All,
Thought I'd share the thoughts of another French friend of mine (some of you know her actually). FYI, she's of the soft-left persuasion.
Here are her first thoughts on the troubles, as the riots were in full swing:
I was in Aix en provence the past 3 days and didn't see anything happen in Paris or the suburbs myself, but it is definitely preoccupying - and it was predictable : it's the result of 30 years of disastrous project-housing policies, and of the return of a hard-core right government who thought calling people "gangsters" and promising to "clean up" was enough to get reelected. The result is lower middle class families living in terror, and 3500 cars burnt so far....
And here are her comments on being sent the Daniel Pipes link above:
If I had more time I would take the time to find out who this Daniel Pipes is, and to prove you every single sentence (really) of his text is false, completely biased. If he wants to hate Muslim values, personally, I don't care (I hate machism in all cultures, and I am an atheist as you know...), although hating a religion in particular has proven to be disastrous (if you see what I mean).
But how did these riots - NOT at all civil war, NOT at all planned - come about? Indeed it had been cooking for almost 30 years. The causes are many, but obviously, creating unnamed ghettos on the outskirts of cities wasn't the solution to accommodate immigrants (immigrants France needed in the 60s, 70s to build, to work in mines etc, by the way). Urbanism and architecture policies were mostly weak. The education system didn't manage either to face the new problems (more people going to school, for one thing, more people for whom French isn't the 1st language, but above all, more pupils whose parents are unemployed and whose future is unemployment).
Finally (and that's a point of contact with islamism), France never honestly came back in all transparency on her colonial wars : especially the bloody Algerian war, of course, including the repression in Paris in 1961 (over 200 Algerians, French citizens by the way, were demonstrating - they were drowned by the police in the Seine). It is a trauma that created an awful lot of resentment in Algerians and in the next generations too.
It is not easy to deal with, it won't take one law, or one declaration. That Islam can be mixed with this is even worse, of course, as youngsters are very tuned into TV news and what's happening with Al Qaeda/Palestine etc. But to think they're part of a global islamic plan of destruction is simply inefficient, as a way to tackle the riots. To call them "scum" was actually, as it turned out, the shabbiest thing to do too. You may say tha at a dinner among friends (what does it cost you?) but not when you are the third man of a government, in charge of the police force. There is just NO excuse for that. Sorry about messy thoughts, but this guy is really quite misinformed.
And here's Aaronovitch, who's always worth reading and I often agree with:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22369-1872150,00.html
The Times
November 15, 2005
It's the latest disease: sensible people saying ridiculous things about Islam
David Aaronovitch
Predictably enough, here's Steyn on why Europe (particularly France) is doomed. It's not directly about the riots, so I almost gave it its own post, but in the end felt it belonged here. JP will also find it directly relates to a comment about demographics he made at lunch.
Here is an article by Niall Ferguson http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/11/20/do2002.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/20/ixportal.html that cautions against any British smugness - he suggests that no country is completely safe from similiar race riots.
Very interesting Ferguson article, albeit somewhat depressing. Seems like we're damned if we integrate, damned if we don't. Non-integratiion = Paris suburbs in flames. Successful integration = Nazi's final solution. Hmmmm. Reminds me of the point I once saw Janet Daley trying to make (while being shouted down by Aronovitch), namely that regardless of the actual statistics, government needed to address the perception amongst white citizens that immigrants were getting a disproportionate share of resources (whether they were or not.) The excellent documentary 'Black on Black' shows how these tensions are not even limited to white communities, detailing as it did very similar tensions between black communities of West Indian origin and more recent arrivals from Africa. It showed the same litany of complaint - 'They come over here, get all the best houses, get the extra benefits that we had to fight for...' etc, etc.
Very interesting, this woman is worth listening to.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/zfriday_20051118.shtml
BBC Radio 4
Today Programme
18th November 2005
Controversial Dutch MP Aayan Hirsi Ali, who has been in hiding since the murder of her collaborator, film maker Theo Van Gogh, discusses the recent race riots in Europe.
Listen: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today5_ali_20051118.ram
Relevant posting here:
http://impdec.blogspot.com/2005/12/what-sort-of-frenchmen-are-they-alain.html
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