The StuSie

City of God? More like Escape from LA

...And der Mistfink returns with a one-two punch of nostalgia and politics. Seriously though, the situation in Frankreich deserves multiple entries and I'm not about to leave my two (Euro) cents out. The events unfolding in the land of frogs and farmers do call to mind a movie script, but nothing near the quality of City of God. No, I think Kurt Russell's Snake Ripkin would fit in very well at the moment in Clichy-sous-Bois. The proximate causes of this unrest, as der Mistfink correctly points out, are as varied as they are numerous, but several stand out as leading directly to 4,300 burned-out cars (and counting). I had initially assumed that the price of heating oil had finally eclipsed the price of your average Citroen, and so now the Frenchs were going to burn those for warmth, but alas I was mistook. Not only does the reason for all this violence and fire appear to be more indignant and less practical in nature, but it means that it's hugely unlikely they're going to get through the millions of Citroens that have been accumulating all over the country since the '60s. Merde.

Naturally, the proported "reason" behind the more than 10 days of riots was simply the touch-paper for a much larger situation. Something something straw ... something something camel. It was of course unfortunate that two kids were killed, regardless of whether or not they were running from the police. At this point, it really doesn't matter. The anger that has exploded has been building for decades and was brought to a head in recent years by attempts to further assimilate poor French Muslims into a Judeo-Christian French society. I believe I briefly mentioned the headscarf ban in a previous post as an example of right-wing overreaching. The problem now however, is that the reaction to what was certainly an attempt to curtail civil liberties has, in essence, justified the very injustice it was designed to bring attention to. Understand, I'm not arguing for a headscarf ban, or any other measure targeting a specific ethnic, religious or racial group, but what I am pointing out is that rioting and burning all around you doesn't do much for your cause. We've all heard the "it takes a bigger man to walk away" spiel, and we've all felt the deep-seated desire to wade knee-deep in the blood of our antagonizers, but if one is not constrained by any moral or ethical argument against violence, the sheer logic MUST count for something. Just as the U.S. would love North Korea to start making crazy threats, and just as my downstairs neighbours would love me to crank up the "Born Slippy" remix, Europe's neocons have been itching for something like this. A firsthand display of the dangers of mixed societies, a tangible reason to fear those who are different, an evidenciary argument for crossing the street whenever les Miserables come the other way. To be honest, I thought it was going to happen in the ehemalige DDR before it happened in gay Paris. Just goes to show how much I know.
Watch out for LePen and those of his ilk as they break out the "I told you so" banners when this is over. And watch the inevitable draw that their argument will have to the unfortunate working class French who have been caught in the middle of this social and economic squeeze. It's very tempting to hate when your car was burned while you were sleeping for something you had nothing to do with. Although maybe it should be considered a blessing in disguise, after all ... it was probably a Citroen...

posted by Der Staubsauger @ 09:07