Hi, Phil, and all. Yep, I'm OK, the "civil unrest" is definitely not in my street. Pity, though, 'cause it would be a rare opportunity at taking potshots at the rioters! ;-)
More seriously, the situation in France is quite simple: around all large cities, we have suburbs full of young Arabs and Africans, whose fathers came to France long ago when jobs were aplenty. There are also lots of illegal immigrants there, too. These guys probably represent more than 10% of the population now, although nobody knows for sure, because the law forbids to make statistics on an ethnic basis. In general, these populations failed to succeed, despite the faboulous help you get from the state (education is free, and of good quality; parents get monthly child education grants; unemployed people get generous pensions, and when these dry out, you get a "minimum income" grant which is about two thirds of minimum wages; public transports are heavily subsidised; and so on; the list is endless, as is the list of taxes to finance all that). These guys are simply not interested in becoming "normal" citizens, and blame everybody else for their failure. You don't let them do whatever they want? You're a racist, period! When France went under attack by Algerian terrorists, each time the police arrested or killed one, these guys would riot, in support. For the past ten years or so, they have celebrated on New Year's Eve by burning cars (about 500 a year). This time, the unrest has been triggered by the fact that two robbers ran away the police, hid inside an electrical converter post, and killed themselves. Make no mistake. France is not an ethnically based nation. We believe in equal citizenship and common values, and our model puts the state well above communities. Religion and race are considered private matters, and don't get special statuses. We have always had lots of migrants here. Just look at me: father was half Spanish, half Moroccan; mother is Swiss. The guy sitting in front of me at the office is from Italian origin. My assistant is from South East Asia. But smooth integration does not seem to work with these guys. In short, France now houses a large hostile and useless population, and no government will have the balls to deal with the issue, for fear of being branded racists, or insensitive, or whatever. They will simply dump more money into these suburbs, and raise more taxes to pay for it. Their subsidized housing will probably be repainted and overhauled for the umptenth time, so that they can vandalize it again. I'm afraid this country is doomed, because we seem not to know the difference between being human and being stupid. Serge Vidal KR2 "Kilimanjaro Cloud" Paris, France
