A Dark Anniversary
Exactly one year ago, France witnessed one of its most chaotic chapter. To refresh your memory, thousands of young people from what are called "banlieues" (poor suburbs), stormed the street of the main cities and unleashed hell.
What sparkled those riots were the accidental deaths of two teenagers from of of those banlieues, who thought they were chased by the police and got electrocuted while hiding in an electricity substation.
And you thought the LAPD were the most hated people on planet... well, think again! The French police and the US Marines in iraq might just have passed them for that title.
So what is wrong in France (besides the usual stuff)?
One word: unemployment.
You can say whatever you want about race, difference of culture and religion, but the one thing that always comes back is the constant complaint about the lack of job, not only for those young-people-of-African-descent-living-in-a-suburb-and-burn-cars-from-time-to-time-because-maybe-it-is-cold-outside, but for the French youth in general.
The unemployment is hovering around 10% compared to the 5% we manage to do here thanks to our 3 daily McJobs (but this is a completely different topic).
For people under 26, this rate skyrockets at a pathetic 23%.
it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that nobody really cares about young people anymore, as long as they don't destroy too many things in town.
No job, no school, no money... how long do you thing they will stay quiet and calm about it?
But this problem is also a bit more complex than that... it's also a problem of cultural clash and failed integration that no one (with enough power) wants to seriously tackle.
All in all, I don't think the end of the tunnel is really in sight, and that makes me fell how lucky I was to escape all these... and also how powerless I am to do anything.
What sparkled those riots were the accidental deaths of two teenagers from of of those banlieues, who thought they were chased by the police and got electrocuted while hiding in an electricity substation.
And you thought the LAPD were the most hated people on planet... well, think again! The French police and the US Marines in iraq might just have passed them for that title.
So what is wrong in France (besides the usual stuff)?
One word: unemployment.
You can say whatever you want about race, difference of culture and religion, but the one thing that always comes back is the constant complaint about the lack of job, not only for those young-people-of-African-descent-living-in-a-suburb-and-burn-cars-from-time-to-time-because-maybe-it-is-cold-outside, but for the French youth in general.
The unemployment is hovering around 10% compared to the 5% we manage to do here thanks to our 3 daily McJobs (but this is a completely different topic).
For people under 26, this rate skyrockets at a pathetic 23%.
it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that nobody really cares about young people anymore, as long as they don't destroy too many things in town.
No job, no school, no money... how long do you thing they will stay quiet and calm about it?
But this problem is also a bit more complex than that... it's also a problem of cultural clash and failed integration that no one (with enough power) wants to seriously tackle.
All in all, I don't think the end of the tunnel is really in sight, and that makes me fell how lucky I was to escape all these... and also how powerless I am to do anything.
Labels: anniversary, dark, France, riot, sad
posted by Thao888 at
10/27/2006 10:26:00 PM
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