Right - so everybody knows what's been going on in France, and I'm sure that nobody needs a late-twenties law student rehashing the situation.
Though I do have a couple of things I wanted to note:
First, yesterday
PM de Villepin visited Aulnay-Sous-Bois, which is the other initiating suburb (along with Clichy-sous-bois) of the unrest. Anyway - I was struck by his comment that the struggle against injustice and discrimination "should mobilize us all, every French man and woman" - wow - injustice and discrimination - national concern? I know - many of us (Americans) aren't used to such national commitments - I think the fundamental difference is that in France the 'state' is to protect/provide for the people, whereas in American the 'state' is to provide for a 'market' for us to provide for ourselves. (Obviously I'm generalizing and I'm definitely not speaking to the national security context.) And, largely, I think there will be major reforms, akin to the changes that took place after the European Heat Wave of 2003 - large-scale social problems require and receive large-scale actions.
Second, the Integration Model has been proven to be wholly ineffective at Integration. The integration model was France's elitist solution the disparity/discrimination amongst the immigrant population and 'the rest of the country' - the state wouldn't recognize differences in ethnicity or religion for the purposes of ending discrimination because everyone was supposed to be united in their respective French-ness - that these problems would fall away in successive generations. Yet, we're now on Generation 3 and almost nothing has changed. Now I imagine that the French will be forced to implement a quasi-American solution, namely Affirmative Action (and I say quasi-American b/c the Burger and Rehnquist Court's have all but eviscerated Affirmative Action programs in the U.S. - under a rationale remarkably similar to the "Integration" models rationale) - The cycle of racism & elitism will need to be broken, and it will likely need to be broken in a forceful manner - I argue for staged-in quota's for all public employment - with similar measures for the private sector.
Third, the recent riots have shown that although these poor suburban population may have not been integrated fully into French society - they've certainly acclimated to the French Revolutionary spirit, which I think is pretty fucking cool. If society is fucking you over nobody is listening, strike, riot, revolt - make the government respond to the ills of society. Hannah Arendt once argued that the French Revolution couldn't be referred to as an event, because it's continuous and ongoing - the revolution lives within the culture and tradition of France, and from time to time it seizes the people and forces societal change. Arendt is much smarter than I, so I'll offer my pittance of a concurrence and simply say "Sounds good to me".
Fourth, Sarkozy is a bastard, but a helpful bastard. I can't stand the guy - and his ambitions are clearly for Elysee Palace - but because of his draconian statements and strict response to the unrest - he's taken a lot of the wind out of the crazy FN leader (yes, LePen is actually arguing that France deport these people). So Sarkozy - "Keep on Keepin' on" - at least until everything calms down and then you too look like a lunatic - it's time for the Socialists to occupy Elysee again.
Lastly, I'm not sure how I feel about the emergency measures passed in Parliament. I mean, if you're gonna use emergency measures, Parlaiment should authorize it (Bush would probably have firebombed Clichy-sous-Bois pursuant to his 'commander in chief' powers) - but anytime you restrict 'the people' in their ability to assemble and associate - I get a little nervous. This I am sure about though: They shouldn't have used a law from fifty years ago, that was meant to deal with civil unrest in the wake of the Algerian conflict ----- A lot of the citizens who are rioting are of Algerian descent and at least symbolically its a bad move. To me it says "Hey we subjugated you grand-parents, and now we're going to subjugate you with a law that arose from that situation" - Seems a little stupid to me.
Anyway - those are just some of my thought about the current civil unrest in France.....
Of all things, I'm not concerned about the health of the Fifth Republic - she shall persevere - Vive la France, mais n'oublions pas la liberte, egalite et fraternite!
