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What the Hell is Going on in France?

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I keep seeing headlines, but haven't had time to check. Can anyone fill me in?
Nemo me impune lacessit

http://ttrim.blogspot.com
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Basically, two kids *thought* the police were chasing them. Apparently, they weren't, but the kids thought they were.

So the kids hid. Inside a power substation. They got electrocuted, and because of that, a bunch of youths in this neighboorhood started rioting and buring the town.

I don't know whether to cry at the tragedy of it all, or just laugh at the utter stupidity.

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what about when bush went to argentina, they really love him there. There is some f***ed up stuff going on in this world right now.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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"Basically, two kids *thought* the police were chasing them. Apparently, they weren't, but the kids thought they were."

I'd certainly be interested in knowing *why* the kids thought the police were chasing them.

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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Channel One said basically that the minority communities insist that the cops are discriminating agasint them based on racial issues. The authorities say that they are only trying to make sure there are no terrorist splinter cell's operating in France.

Which makes me wonder if the kids had done nothing wrong, then even if the cops were racist they couldn't LEGALLY do anything to them. And who is dumb enough to hide in a power substation?

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well... kids...
"Who's scruffy-lookin'?" - Han Solo
"I wish my lawn was emo so it would cut itself." -sybeman
"You know, putting animals in the microwave is not a good idea. I had to learn that one the hard way." -seanwookie
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Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
Channel One said basically that the minority communities insist that the cops are discriminating agasint them based on racial issues. The authorities say that they are only trying to make sure there are no terrorist splinter cell's operating in France.

Which makes me wonder if the kids had done nothing wrong, then even if the cops were racist they couldn't LEGALLY do anything to them. And who is dumb enough to hide in a power substation?


I've never even seen one of those.
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Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
"Basically, two kids *thought* the police were chasing them. Apparently, they weren't, but the kids thought they were."

I'd certainly be interested in knowing *why* the kids thought the police were chasing them.


ACID will do some crazy stuff to you! Like make you think you are in a simpsons episode, or make your head feel like it is going through the window, so I have heard.
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Having lived in France for 5 years, I can tell you a bit more in depth at what's happening.

After the 2nd world war, France needed men to help re-build their country so they looked to their North African colonies for manpower. They brought them in, gave them jobs, but didn't aid them in providing housing. They were forced to live in slums for quite a while until the government stepped in and built project housing. These "banlieus" or "suburbs" located outside of major cities became the major living space of these immigrants.

A lot of jobs that were given to these immigrants were somewhat hapless: garbage collectors, street sweepers...civil servants basically. The children of these immigrants and their children began to feel like outsiders. On one hand, their parents were Arabs but, the children could not relate to them at all having never grown up in their parents' country. On the other hand they had French nationality, but white French citizens refer to them simply as "Arabs". These 2nd and 3rd generation citizens began accepting Hip Hop and American gang/rap culture into their lives. They could relate to Black Americans who struggle to this day to be fully accepted into society. So unemployment, poverty, gang culture and disaffection: a natural breeding ground for criminal behavior.

When this crime started affecting citizens in the more "white" areas of France, there was alarm for concern. Most of this crime is beatings, bullying, grafitti and theft and the white citizens don't feel safe (this explains the scary popularity of the Front National: a radical right political party bent on restoring France's "soverignty" by kicking out immigrants and creating programs to send Arab citizens back to their "home country") The government in the past few years or so have decided to crack down on spiraling crime rates. They began to get tough in these hard hitting areas that had been largely ignored by police.

You can pretty much guess the vicious circle that this has created: the residents of these poor neighborhoods have had enough of being treated like 2nd class citizens, and the more affluent residents of France tired of all the crime that seems to come from the "banlieus". The two youths that were killed was the straw that broke the camel's back.

So what do you do? As you can see there is no easy solution. You can't just snap your fingers and create respect and jobs for the minority. You can try to fight it, but you're only adding fuel to the fire.

But please know that the fires are caused by a minority, there have been peace protests by the residents of these neighborhoods as well. Not everyone in these neighborhoods are doing this.

I hope I've explained this clearly enough.... I do excuse myself if my rhetoric sounds too simplistic (creating two groups: white and arab/black). I'm just trying to explain as simply as possible.

EDITED for clarity and content.

What’s the internal temperature of a TaunTaun? Luke warm.

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Thanks for the info Mavimao - it's good to get a fuller picture than the one the media gives us.

War does not make one great.

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I hate to sound nationalistic over something so serious, but, I'm serious when I say this: I never want to hear that France ever takes a jab at the US and tolerance here ever again.

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Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
Channel One said basically that the minority communities insist that the cops are discriminating agasint them based on racial issues. The authorities say that they are only trying to make sure there are no terrorist splinter cell's operating in France.

Which makes me wonder if the kids had done nothing wrong, then even if the cops were racist they couldn't LEGALLY do anything to them. And who is dumb enough to hide in a power substation?


You still watch channel one in school? We stopped in 9th grade.
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Has anyone heard of any copycat riots elsewhere in Europe?
Nemo me impune lacessit

http://ttrim.blogspot.com
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I know Belgum is having them now too. Maybe in Germany also, I'm not sure about that one. I know that it started in one town, and now most of France is having them.
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Everything's cool here, although I personally don't consider England to be a true part of Europe, plus we have that lovely bit of water called the channel protecting us from those loonies in France. Over here we're all just kicking back, scratching our heads, shrugging and saying 'bloody French'.

Seriously though, this is bad, and it raises a lot of issues about immigration and the treatment of immigrants. You can only kick a dog so much before it bites you.

War does not make one great.

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I heard yesterday that Jaques has come out and is trying to appease the people, just like the French appeased Hitler and I think we all know what happened then.

I also heard today that the French government is try to rush through their parliment (or whatever they have) a law that would allow city governments to institute curfews.
1. They didn't have that power before?
2. The country itself cannot institute a curfew for the entire country??

I think its safe to say now that Europe has lost the crusades...it just took a lot longer than anyone thought it would.
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wow i was in mississippi after katrina cleaning up for and taking supplies to some relatives, and the National Guards had instituded a curfew and were riding around in Humvees with the police enforcing it...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v170/Kingsama/samasig.jpg
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Its probably not going to end until the French people grow a backbone and stop playing doormat to anyone the gives them a fight
or
someone ends the fight for them (like the US).
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Originally posted by: starkiller
Its probably not going to end until the French people grow a backbone and stop playing doormat to anyone the gives them a fight
or
someone ends the fight for them (like the US).


But all the troops are in Iraq right now
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now they're saying it's spreading to other countries in Europe. This is scary.
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Maybe it will finally wake them up and show them that being corrupt bastions of semi-to-fullblown-coummunist thought doesn't friggin' work.

As much as stuff like this sucks, some good can come of most situations.

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Did anyone actually read Mavimao's post? What are you all talking about communism and the second world war for? This is about taking advantage of a certain group of people (be it class or race) and then when said group finally says enough is enough, not being able to handle it. I enjoy a good stab at teh French as much as the next English or American man, but you guys are, quite frankly, talking sh*t. Pretty much every country in the world is guilty of taking advantage of another country or group at some point, and it usually backfires, which is what is going on in France now. Read what Mavimao said (which, after some research of my own I can confirm is a good summary of the issue) and then make some worthwhile comments or none at all.

Originally posted by: Mavimao

Having lived in France for 5 years, I can tell you a bit more in depth at what's happening.

After the 2nd world war, France needed men to help re-build their country so they looked to their North African colonies for manpower. They brought them in, gave them jobs, but didn't aid them in providing housing. They were forced to live in slums for quite a while until the government stepped in and built project housing. These "banlieus" or "suburbs" located outside of major cities became the major living space of these immigrants.

A lot of jobs that were given to these immigrants were somewhat hapless: garbage collectors, street sweepers...civil servants basically. The children of these immigrants and their children began to feel like outsiders. On one hand, their parents were Arabs but, the children could not relate to them at all having never grown up in their parents' country. On the other hand they had French nationality, but white French citizens refer to them simply as "Arabs". These 2nd and 3rd generation citizens began accepting Hip Hop and American gang/rap culture into their lives. They could relate to Black Americans who struggle to this day to be fully accepted into society. So unemployment, poverty, gang culture and disaffection: a natural breeding ground for criminal behavior.

When this crime started affecting citizens in the more "white" areas of France, there was alarm for concern. Most of this crime is beatings, bullying, grafitti and theft and the white citizens don't feel safe (this explains the scary popularity of the Front National: a radical right political party bent on restoring France's "soverignty" by kicking out immigrants and creating programs to send Arab citizens back to their "home country") The government in the past few years or so have decided to crack down on spiraling crime rates. They began to get tough in these hard hitting areas that had been largely ignored by police.

You can pretty much guess the vicious circle that this has created: the residents of these poor neighborhoods have had enough of being treated like 2nd class citizens, and the more affluent residents of France tired of all the crime that seems to come from the "banlieus". The two youths that were killed was the straw that broke the camel's back.

So what do you do? As you can see there is no easy solution. You can't just snap your fingers and create respect and jobs for the minority. You can try to fight it, but you're only adding fuel to the fire.

But please know that the fires are caused by a minority, there have been peace protests by the residents of these neighborhoods as well. Not everyone in these neighborhoods are doing this.

I hope I've explained this clearly enough.... I do excuse myself if my rhetoric sounds too simplistic (creating two groups: white and arab/black). I'm just trying to explain as simply as possible.


War does not make one great.