Letter from Paris: The riots—cause and effect
Despite some efforts, such as the one by the prestigious Sciences-Po school in Paris, to draw students from disadvantaged neighborhoods, the number of students in the elite "grandes ecoles" that open the door to success is lower today than at any time during the past 15 years.
Since 2000, France has spent 34 billion euros ($40 billion) in poor districts. The 2006 budget will set a new record, 7.2 billion euros ($8.4 billion), a 13 percent increase over the current year. The money is earmarked for crime prevention, aid to victims of urban violence, housing renovation, education, and infrastructure. Nevertheless, the biggest chunk, 1.8 billion euros ($2.1 billion) , is reserved for the police this year alone.
But the general consensus in France is that these efforts have failed to integrate Muslim youths into mainstream society. A law passed several years ago banning, in the name of secularism, the wearing of veils by Muslim girls was seen by the immigrant community "as an act of repression by the Republican majority against the Muslim minority," Stanger said.
A striking characteristic of the demonstrators is their youth, with many of those involved only 13 or 14 years old. In part this is because French law cannot punish them until they reach 16. Many observers worry, however, that the age of the rioters has shown that their parents have lost control or, worse, agree with the tactics.
One thing the great majority of observers agree about is that the disturbances are not controlled by Islamic extremists or inspired by religious sentiment. The young people rioting have a sense of religion "approaching zero," says Dounia Bouzar, a former member of the Superior Council of French Muslims. "In general, these kids dream only of getting money and consuming like everybody else."
For Bouzar, French politicians have for 20 years refused to deal with the origins of inequality in French society. Riots in 1982 included a march by immigrants from Lyon to Paris that received massive media coverage.
"After the 1982 riots, the young promoters of the March for Equality denounced discrimination in housing and jobs," Bouzar said. "But the idea was insidiously planted in the mind of the public that the causes were not social but cultural . . . if young people burned automobiles it was not because of discrimination but because their parents came from a different culture."
Bouzar says nothing has changed but that today French leaders try to relate the violence to religion, providing an excuse for dealing with the political, social, and economic reasons behind the violence.
advertisement
