Could it be that France's generous welfare state coupled with heavily fortified union standards which discourage flexibility in hiring/firing, created a permanent, semi-poor underclass with no visible means of advancement? France does push for cultural assimilation, but economically it's clear they haven't.

Why are these North African immigrants concentrated as they are and unemployed? Why are they resorting to violence?

 I know folks here are staunch proponents of continental-style welfare and believers in "blowback" so perhaps we have a perfect storm?

While most of the rioters are probably Muslim, I'm not sure they are Arab. The New York Times describes them as North African and sub-Saharan African. The names of the two youths who were electrocuted certainly don't sound Arab to me. I suspect Traore is West African. Benna may be Ethiopian, but I don't know for sure.

Anyway, I think this is better viewed in the context of France's poor job of integrating immigrants from ex-colonies than in the context of any "clash of civilizations" with the Arabs. It is worthwhile, though, to consider the appeal of radical Islam to second- and third-generation Muslim immigrants. That is a real problem, though in this case poverty and lack of jobs may be more significant.

I agree that in spite of the cultural message of egalitarianism, economically there is obviously some major roadblocks. I honestly don't think that it would be too much of a stretch to point to the calcified paternalism that goes for populist government in France, Germany and others. With Sarkozy pointing the finger away toward the spectre of Terrorism in order to deflect attention is definitely a page out of the Bush playbook.  

This sort of obfuscation will ultimately fan the flames even further (Vous nous appelez les terroristes?) than he's done already. I feel for the French right now as this is the beginning of a major social transformation with an outcome that is murky at best. While I don't think this is a Socialist error per se, it would seem to be more a weakness on the part of the Chirac government and others in French society to pander to an image of France that is impossible to maintain.

Being half-French and a dual-national, I completely understand this dilemma. Having been born here in the States to a French mother, my relationship to France is fraught with missed connections and murky historicity. I can only imagine how much worse it gets when you are born directly within the French sphere of influence only to be confronted by a cultural insularity from the top down. Most of the French I've known, regardless of lineage, are wonderful people, so I will point the finger at those who direct the social institutions for this serious disconnect.

In spite of what's happening at the moment, this goes beyond classism or racism to a more foundational space within French society. To me, this strikes at the heart of these riots: What does it mean to be French and who gets to determine this elusive quality?

Here is a very comprehensive diary from over at European Tribune.

Europe seems to me to be going through a very interesting identity crisis. Most of the European countries (and France maybe most of all) take great pride in their unique national traditions and character. However, that sense of identity is being challenged on two fronts:

First, the influx of immigrants from former European colonies

Second, the effort to integrate into a single European union

I think we're going to see a long struggle as European countries try to reconcile their (somewhat clannish) love of their unique traditions with their liberal desire to be inclusive and universalist.

I think these riots are a wake-up call for Europe in the same way the defeat of the EU constitution was--there are a lot of issues that have been hidden in the closet that now need to be grappled with.

<span class="Apple-style-span">Its not a question of the welfare state - if it were, why France and why not Germany or Holland or Sweden or Canada? Its rather a question of how France understands and defends its "republican ideal." Ind Clearly the problem is deeper and more structural than that, and I think it goes to the very heart of the French notion of republicanism. IMO, the republican ideal is a very "modern" (in the technical sense) concept (indeed, perhaps a hyper-modern construct) in a post-modern world where the kind of unifying narrative and assumption of the fundamental similarity of people is no longer viable. Strangely, this is exactly how the neo-cons think too, and it is why they think you can invade a country and "remake" a culture, indeed a region, in an American image. Indeed, there is much about the French republican model that the American right would like - ie "color blind," all individuals are basically the same, they must conform to some kind of model of "Frenchness," etc. Its not for nothing that neo-cons are often called "Jacobins," as too are those who favor a centralized state-model in France.</span&gt

<span class="Apple-style-span">I think the proof is in the pudding here. The French republican ideal is simply incapable of dealing with a multi-ethnic society, and as such, I think it has to be rethought to provide a more flexible, decentralized polity. (and I don't mean in terms of economics, I'm going deeper here) Actually, although Sarkozy is an opportunist and a thug, he actually has some ideas along these lines. From an outsider's perspective, Sarkozy actually talks some sense - in terms of his willingness to challenge "laicite" fundamentalism (which to American center-leftist, seems to be a ridiculously dogmatic policy) and to suggest affirmative action programs for Arabs and Africans.</span&gt

<span class="Apple-style-span">In trans-national comparison, what is occuring is very similar to what has happened in the US African American ghettos, especially in the 1960s. Or in various Afro-Caribean and Muslim communities in Britain during the 1980s and 1990s - Brixton, Tottenham, Bradford, to name a fews. Riots like this have also happened in France in the past. See the film "La Haine" for more. </span&gt

<span class="Apple-style-span">So I don't see this The same phenomenon is at work, essentially: it just has different ideologies and different actors and is a result of different histories. But nevertheless, in both cases, its people who feel completely alienated from "mainstream society," for whatever reasons and don't really give a damn. </span&gt

Riots are nothing new in France.
The most common were from farmers which is more rare today.
But fishermen and many others workers could be violent and destroying public building.
These youngs in fact burning the cars of people living in the same house housing project as them.
These young for me are not manipuleted because their strategy is not clear, they don't destroy much public building and they don't attack rich districts.
Maybe they are jobless but most of them are in fact teenagers so they can't be teenagers.
If fact for me these youngs mostly Arabs and African
- are pushed away from school because they are not good enough and they are not happy of that, maybe the system is too elitist in France.
- The police is always asking them about their ID, it's totally not productive.
- It's true too that they are very proud, too much, especially Arabs, who are really paranoid. they don't want to learn form other people, (I have been teacher in a school with many immigrants). they are
In France Portuguse or Asians have much less problem , it's true that Portuguese are Europeans, but he rate
of unemployement of Portuguese is lower than french because they accept every kind of jobs.It's not the case for Arabs they want good job and not too bad paid even if they are not very skilled, they wait for the good job.

For me the problem of Islamists is not important, in  fact they prefers to go in Disco than in Mosquee, and for the girls it's the same.
Maybe they have an identity crisis because they are not more really Arabs and not yet totally French but in the long run with mixed marriage I think they integrate.
.
I'm rather optimistic because
- they are going to marry with French native it's already starting with Arabs and african (Christians), but african muslims still stay apart.
- their birth rate became lower.



JLS

Matt,

The root, and the branch, of the problem is that France like most continental European nations (and many Britons as well) continues to conceive of national identity mainly in racial terms. The mere notion of hyphenated Europeans is absurd: you'll never hear the French or Germans referring to "african-frenchmen" or "turko-germans" because in the European mind, an african or a Turk simply cannot become a European. When an asian-american travels to Europe, he'll routinely hear surprise expressed at his description of himself as American. "Vous etes chinois, non?"

Yes, yes, I know that the rhetoric of the mission civilisatrice of France mandates that the ex-colonials be treated under law as proper Frenchmen, but in reality, the blacks and beurs are not considered really French and will never gain power or significant wealth or status outside of the entertainment and sports industries. There's not a single French politician, executive or leading intellectual or media figure of african origin.


The kids in the projects know this. Lacking their grandparents' memories of hunger, war and misery in Africa, and lacking any real job opportunities, they don't have either the work ethic or the incentives to do other than sit on their fesses or run drugs.

To grasp the essence of the problem in France today, compare a few socio-political features of France and California, two left-leaning, multicultural democratic polities which compete for the title of fifth-largest economy in the world (Calif was ahead before the dotcom implosion; France is barely ahead at present).

• Percentage of non-white students in the entering class of California's most prestigious university: 45.
• Estimated Percentage of non-white students in the entering class of France's most prestigious universities, the Grandes Ecoles: less than 1.

• Est. percentage of non-whites and immigrants among Californians with a net worth of >$500 million: 25-30% (cf Khosla, Omidyar, Yang, Brin, Shriram et al).
• Indians and Chinese as a percentage of CEOs of Californian high tech companies (as per Dun & Bradstreet): 29%.
• Percentage of non-whites among France's most powerful businessmen: zero.

• Estimated percentage of most powerful political posts in California during the last 20 years (Gov., Senators, Supreme Court, Speaker of House, mayors of LA, SF, SD, SJ) held by nonwhites: 5-10 (Hayakawa, Willie Brown, Tom Bradley et al).
• Percentage of most powerful political posts in France during its history that have been held by nowhites: zero.

France and California are both thoroughly modern, advanced polities with a long tradition of progressive political and social behavior. Why does one of these entities welcome nonwhites into every facet of its power structure while the other freezes them out-- utterly, totally, ruthlessly?


Does this help indicate where the problem lies for France? No, it's not funadamentally about Islam, or "multiculturalism." It's the absence of true multiculturalism, ie the American conception of nationality as reflective of behavior, not race, that is hindering Europe today in dealing with its nonwhite populations.

Pity the Europeans. Damned tough to make it in a 21st century economy with 19c conceptions of race and nationality.

<span class="Apple-style-span">"Yet another change is the sharp rise in French racism toward nonwhites, resulting in an openly racist, fascist presidential candidate's edging a sitting Socialist PM in a presidential election in 2002." </span&gt<span class="Apple-style-span">
</span&gt<span class="Apple-style-span">I don't think this is quite right. Le Pen's party had been pulling 15% in various elections for at least a decade. The difference in 2002 was that the left split in about 5 ways, which meant no candidate was able to top Le Pen's perennial 15%. Indeed, if you want to go back further than that, the kind of attitudes/views of the FN have been around for a long time. I don't think it is so much that racism has become more prevalent in French society, its more that racist sentiment has found an institutional vehicle in a way it didn't have before.</span&gt<span class="Apple-style-span">
</span&gt<span class="Apple-style-span">As to the rest of your post, I think you are pretty much right. Basically, France chose to deal with changes in the nature of the global economy (that most industrialized countries had to deal with, way or another) that have existed since the 1970s, by protecting a large segment of traditionally prosperous workers at the expense of immigrants and the young better being able to integrate into the mainstream of economic leife. The result is that the France has less poverty and its middle class is more secure, but on the other hand it has created a large segment of people completely marginalized from the economic mainstream. This strategy wouldn't necessarily be disastorous. Indeed, many nations tolerate unemployment rates like France's, if not unemployment rates considerably higher, (or in the case of the United States, a group of marginally employed service workers making below a living wage). However, the NATURE of who is unemployed (immigrants, the young, and many previously marginal, if employed, ouvriers who have gravitated towards LePenism.) </span&gt<span class="Apple-style-span">and the degree to which this unemployment has almost been insitutionalized makes this situation increasingly untenable.</span&gt<span class="Apple-style-span">
</span&gt<span class="Apple-style-span">So ultimately, it is, IMO, the inflexible nature of the French republican model and the unwillingness of those already established (perhaps understandably) to give even a little ground as to their own economic security vis-a-vis the greater societal good that have intersected with the nature of the global economy all have had to deal with that have created what is the current situation.</span&gt<span class="Apple-style-span">
</span&gt<span class="Apple-style-span">
</span&gt

"The root, and the branch, of the problem is that France like most continental European nations (and many Britons as well) continues to conceive of national identity mainly in racial terms"

Totally Wrong, at less for France. (May be you are French but you don' really understand your country).

I have never seen someone in France thinking that French are a race (maybe germanic people think they are a race i don't know), or maybe only a small percentage of people who vote for National Front (Far right).
In France of course there is racism is racism but Asians have no problems thought they are from a different race than French white.
Why Arabs have so much people problem ?
Like African they have in fact a culture where work and education is less important thant in Europe or Asia.

About California and Education.
I have seen a statistic about race on 850 student in engineering at Stanford there is 0 African-american.
Non-white are mostly Asians.


Men especially are very lazy. If you go in africa or Noth Africa you can see that men don't work a lot.
That's why at school they have some much problem.
And Arabs are far too much proud.
Arabs and African are in fact handicaped by their macho culture in a country of very feminine culture.
For me the behavior of Arabs or African is totally irrelevant in France, I think it takes 20 years to make good citizen.