Okay so I'll say something about it too.
I just had to switch off the French Prime Minister cuz he was pissing me off way too much with his evasive & hollow blahblah. It's so true that they all talk complete crap - politicians I mean. Just the standard phrases that could mean anything & nothing.
(these aren't actual quotes - but pretty close)
- So what measures are you going to take?
- You know, everyone has their place in this government, and in this country, and we we are facing this problem together. Everyone has their role, and they are going to give it their full attention. (and that answered the queston how??)
- Would you say that Sarkozy calling the rioters "rabble" was a mistake / that the government reacted too late & too repressively / that not enough was being done for these communities? (pick a question of your choice at random)
- Well, the whole country must now stand together and everyone has their role to play. (yaawn ok we get it!)
And of course the old favourite: "now is not the time to point fingers". Yes you twat, now is just the time to point fingers!! As long as you cover up such verbal derailments, and generally refuse to acknowledge the mistakes that were made, you will only fuel the anger of these youths!
Anyway. Enough ranting about de Villepin. Let's rant about the rioters. Actually I am not entirely sure how much I wanna rant about them. I haven't yet made up my mind about them. I certainly do think that violence (especially aimed at innocents) is an extremely stupid way of expressing your anger. And while I think the anger is largely justified, and that this was probably the only way of starting the long overdue public debate and a process of change, I am also convinced that a lot of those who go around torching cars and shops do so mainly because they have now found the perfect pretext for gratuitous destruction. Any such protest always inspires lots of moronic imitators, and they are the ones that continue after people from their own communities have pledged peace (notably the friend of the two killed youths - the one who survived). They're ultimately not helping their cause because even those who do care will go from empathy to annoyance to hostility.
Oh yeah and then that lot, the two guys that died! Ok so they're dead and they are tragic and unnecessary deaths and one should not speak ill of the deceased, but jesus how damn stupid do you have to be to climb into an electrical sub-station!?! They're definitely contenders for the Darwin Awards! And now all that ruckus over them! (jaja I know, they were only the trigger for something that was waiting to happen for a long time... still stupid tho.)
Ja and let me finish by saying that the whole thing is actually quite scary. I won't go into a long diatribe about how our presumed multi-cultural society is falling apart (or in fact proving it never existed in the first place) yada yada. I'll just say, from a purely selfish point of view, that seeing the consequences of the failure of that society is, well, scary. Especially knowing that this is - probably - just the beginning.
That's all.
I've tried to come up with an entry on the topic throughout the past days, but it's hard to find the right words about it. Though my entry wouldn't be as angry as yours. I'm more like - stunned by the events. 
And I'd rather not judge on anyone.
Altho the extent of the violence is somewhat shocking, I was really not surprised. It's been a laaawng time coming - the situations in the banlieues has been precarious for ages and there have been many precursors to this (tho less extreme and less drawn out).
BTW have you heard of / seen La Haine?
I'm not really that angry, I just like to get worked up about things. *lol* Makes for better reading too. I understand the frustration & rage, I totally do. There is certainly racism in France, and injustice, and blatant mismanagement.
I still think destruction & violence is stupid tho, even if I recognize it was near inevitable in this case. But then I think humans are stupid in general don't I? Just goes to show...
"how our presumed multi-cultural society is falling apart" - it depends on what you mean by multi-cultural.
It has long been my opinion that the word "multi-cultural", as applied in this context, actually means "multi-ghetto-isation", or "self-imposed-apartheid". We split ourselves up into small insular communities, divided by race, religion, or wealth; bound together by "Respect(TM)"; and then we get all surprised when the communities clash.
I am an opponent of "multi-culturalism" when it is defined under those terms.
My alternative is, what I shall call for sake of an argument, "united-culturalism" - a culture for the world that accepts and adapts* to the best bits of all the other cultures that have gone before it.
But then I've always been a bit of a moron :)
CCW
* Working on the "I know a good idea when I steal one" principle.
Posted by: Charlie Williams on Tue November 8, 2005 at 12:01I just enterred a comment but was told it could not be submitted due to questionable content. Probably right.
Posted by: Mark on Tue November 8, 2005 at 12:46Charlie, that's exactly what I meant by "presumed multi-cultural".
However, by creating a homogenous culture we would lose out as well. And anyway, it is as much a social issue as a cultural one (if the social differences were smaller, integration would be easier).
Uh @ Mark?! I have no filters on this thing.
Posted by: Clarissa on Tue November 8, 2005 at 18:38how strange
well i'll try again...
basically i said that i didn't think the riots were a failure of a multicultral society but rather a failure of france to "assimilate"... but i've just lost my train of thought and now have nothing of any value to say...
i wonder if this will work this time >>
Posted by: Mark on Tue November 8, 2005 at 18:59>>> and it did... yay!!!
Posted by: Mark on Tue November 8, 2005 at 19:00Failure of France to assimilate foreigners as opposed to other countries? They're certainly worst, but you have the very same phenomenon in other countries as well - go to Berlin or to Birmingham, you have the ghettos there too!
Posted by: Clarissa on Tue November 8, 2005 at 19:15Indeed, although I don't think the unemployment and living conditions are as bad in Birmingham. The rioters, whether you agree with their methods, have a genuine greivance - France is racist...
ahh now I remember the point I made from the comment that wasn't to be...
about how this exposes France to be racist in much the same way as Katrina exposed the States still to be
Posted by: Mark on Tue November 8, 2005 at 21:06This doesn't expose France to be racist tho, that was known all along - if you knew the country. Ok I guess the same goes for the States.
But Katrina produced racist behaviour that went more unnoticed before, whereas the riots here are a reaction to racist behaviour. It's slightly different.
I don't think the French are more racist than anyone else tho tbh. The government has been particularly inept at dealing with a lot of issues, but the people in the street - I'd say xenophobia is pretty much the same everywhere (of course it goes up as social status goes down - but again, that applies everywhere).
Posted by: Clarissa on Tue November 8, 2005 at 21:31Everything going on in Brum has really pissed me off. Maybe I'm just too idealistic but I seriously didn't think there were such blatant racist attitudes over here. The Lozells incident made me so angry, it was all just an excuse for violent behaviour. I didn't think people were so fucking stupid, why are people in general so desperate to put themselves in neat little categories and have this whole us/them attitude.
See @ Mark, see?
PS @ Shazia: it's the normal reaction. Prejudice is ignorance... works the other way round too: ignorance creates prejudice... esp. when coupled with fear (for your own job etc).
Posted by: Clarissa on Wed November 9, 2005 at 11:37