I ran across this commentary on the violence today from Michelle Malkin, who does a fantastic job of collecting interesting stories and pulling them into the "larger picture."
Here is the gripping line from Ed Morissey: The riots have a purpose, and they have a central control structure -- and that means someone wants to make specific gains from attacking France.
Fascinating thought: it looks like both commentators are saying that some terrorist group is instigating the violence in France and using it as a way to make demands of the French government, i.e. "give us what we want and the violence will stop." An interesting form of international blackmail, eh? If it were true . . .
THE DISAPPEARING FRENCH RIOT STORY
Ed Morrissey notes the American media's loss of interest in the Muslim immigrant riots in France:
Does the American media suffer from ADHD and find themselves incapable of following an important story for longer than ten days? Or do they find themselves increasingly unable to explain the serious and continued violence despite the bribery and politically-correct strategies employed by French security forces? It seems to me that the media cannot bring themselves to admit that the uprising has more behind it than bored youths looking to blow off some steam and acting spontaneously and unilaterally. The riots have a purpose, and they have a central control structure -- and that means someone wants to make specific gains from attacking France.Who could that be? Don't count on the Times or the Post to find that out for you.
5 comments:
is this happening all over france or just in paris...i heard about it the other day
I too have been following this story closely ...
Many have been attacking France's socialist government, but the problem lies within the countries integration model. The NY Times put out a good article, "What Makes Someone French?", that focuses not on the economics of the situation but the results of decades long "integration" (state and sub-standard housing on the perimeters of Paris) that has left millions of immigrants outcasts in their new society. There are countless stories of immigrants who have lived in France for 30+ years and have yet to learn the language. Discrimination is rampant, and now that there is a huge population of both Middle Eastern and African 15-24 y/o's who can't find jobs and have no cultural identity (second generation, Mom and Dad don't speak French), what do they do? Of course they riot, because violence sends out a very effective message of social grievance. (Los Angeles, 1992)I doubt seriously the influence of "terrorist" forces. The issues France faces is (a) employment, (b) ending discrimination. Whether that involves loosening state restrictions on the economy or creating more jobs in the public sector is anyone's guess. As for ending discrimination, that is a matter of legislation (NOT affirmative action) and public education.
Just my two cents. I'm sure the same two cents has been published elsewhere.
Evan
"There are countless stories of immigrants who have lived in France for 30+ years and have yet to learn the language."
And whose fault is that? Certainly NOT the "states". You cannot immigrate to a country and expect to "mesh" into the society and feel "accepted" when you will not even learn the language.
So you are saying its o.k. to burn and destroy other peoples property to make your point? There is a word for that and it is called anarchy. I think you can have peaceful protests to do that, and that is the proper way it should be done.
A large part of what is happening here is that you have immigrants that moved there, do not learn the language, segregate themselves into their own communities, don't make an effort to get an education (oh, but the state "owes" you that don't they?)and largely segregate themselves. Then they wake up one day and realize their poor lot in life and decide to loot and burn the country ( and thats o.k. because they have been mistreated) to protest conditions that are just as much a result of their own decisions as the decisions of the government!!! Someone get a CLUE! Does anyone take personal reponsibility for anything anymore???
Granted, the policies of France have caused problems, but it is not totally the governments fault. These imigrants must make efforts to become a part of society, and not do things that result in them being segregated.
Just MY two cents worth.....
While we're mudslinging, anonymous, how can you expect immigrants to "not do things that result in them being segregated"? People return to what they know, and if an existing cultural community is present, naturally these "irresponsible" individuals will flock there. As for personal responsibilty, there are few less personally responsible than those who expatriate themselves from their country of origin to improve their economic condition. Yes, immigrants should take the initiative and learn the language. But, for instance, what if there is no ESL program available? The only skills you might acquire would be verbal. Secondly, the population we're examining are the second and third generations (the vast majority being literate in French) of immigrants who have no cultural identity, a functional part of a person's self worth. I in no way excuse the destruction of property. Nor do I condone violence. What must be considered is the CAUSE of the violence.
Evan
Dr. Copeland, I'm terribly sorry for monopolizing your comment space.
MBV...I am a choir members parent..and that is as far as I want to take my identity right now. And I firmly believe in my opinions validity.
Evan, I am not mudslinging. Mudslinging means to "smear someones reputation" and I do not think I did that in my comments. If you felt so I am sorry.
As I said in my first comment, the policies of France have caused problems. Perhaps the government would have made more of an effort to integrate the immigrants into the society if the immigrants themselves had made more of an effort to do so.
One fact that the MSM does not report much is that a huge majority of the rioters are Muslim. If you do some research you will find that they have really never intended to integrate into the French society but rather their goal is to make French society theirs. And this is not a recent thing, it has been going on for years.
Two examples:
Dyab Abou Jahjah, the leader of the Brussels-based Arab European League says: "We reject integration when it leads to assimilation. I don't believe in a host country. We are at home here and whatever we consider our culture to be also belongs to our chosen country. I'm in my country, not the country of the Westerners." (from townhall.com)
Another example from the book "The West's Last Chance," page 75, from a radical German Muslim: "Germany is an Islamic country. Islam is in the home, in schools. Germans will be outnumbered. We [Muslims] will say what we want. We'll live how we want. It's outrageous that Germans demand we speak their language. Our children will have our language, our laws, our culture." It would be easy to replace the word "Germany" with "France". Almost all European coutries have a large Muslim population. They are all going to have big problems soon.
These two quotes also support the fact that these riots may have been started and certainly have been encouraged by "terrorist forces". It is well know that radical Muslim thought flows out of the mosques in the middle east, and goes west to the mosques of Europe. The same thing happens here in the U.S. Mosques are an organizational and information passing tool for radical Islam. I really do not have much doubt that speeches from French Muslim clerics contain quotes similar to the ones written above, and have fueled the riots.
Evan, I did not mean for you to feel attacked personally in my comments. I just feel VERY strongly that we are in an all out war with the terrorists. It's just as much a war as the past world wars were. Things such as the France riots do not just happen by accident, they are planned and encouraged by the terrorists i.e. radical Islam. They truly hate western civilization. They have no intentions of integrating with western society, but their goal is to turn our society into a radical Muslim one. They are every bit as dangerous as the Nazis, if not more so. The sooner everyone realizes that the better off we will all be, and the sooner we can defeat them.
Thanks,
A choir members parent.
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