Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
Oct 21st 2006 | 7:11 am
#1
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Posts: n/a
Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/wo.../21france.html
October 21, 2006
Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
By ELAINE SCIOLINO and ARIANE BERNARD
"PARIS, Oct. 20 - When the call went out about a car burglary in the raw
suburb of Épinay-sur-Seine north of here last weekend, three officers in a
patrol car rushed over and found themselves surrounded by 30 youths in hoods
throwing rocks and swinging bats and metal bars.
Neither tear gas nor stun guns stopped the assault. Only when reinforcements
arrived did the siege end. One officer was left with broken teeth and in
need of 30 stitches to his face.
The attack was rough but not unique. In the last three weeks alone, three
similar assaults on the police have occurred in these suburbs, which a year
ago were aflame with the rage of unemployed, undereducated youth, mostly the
offspring of Arab and African immigrants.
In fact, with the anniversary of those riots approaching, spiking violent
crime statistics across the area suggest not only that things have not
improved, but that they also may well have worsened. Residents and experts
say that fault lines run even deeper than before and that widespread
violence may flare up again at any moment.
"Tension is rising very dramatically," said Patrice Ribeiro, the deputy head
of the Synergie Officiers police union. "There is the will to kill."
Last month a leaked law enforcement memo warned of a "climate of impunity"
in Seine-St.-Denis, the infamous district north of Paris that includes
suburbs like Épinay-sur-Seine. It reported a 23 percent increase in violent
robberies and a 14 percent increase in assaults in the district of 1.5
million people in the first half of this year, complaining that young,
inexperienced police officers were overwhelmed and the court system was lax.
Only one of 85 juveniles arrested during the unrest was jailed, it added.
In all of France, according to the Interior Ministry, 480 incidents of
violence against the police were recorded in September, a 30 percent
increase from the month before.
Next Friday is the first anniversary of the electrocution death of two
teenagers as, according to some accounts at the time, they were running from
the police in Clichy-sousBois. The tragedy set off a threeweek orgy of
violence in which rioters throughout France torched cars, trashed businesses
and ambushed police officers and firefighters, plunging the country into
what President Jacques Chirac called "a profound malaise."
Despite numerous vows to make big changes, local officials and residents say
the shock of last year's unrest did not lead to a coherent plan to create
new jobs, better housing and education and more social services - or even to
raise the consciousness of the citizenry.
"Ours is a population that truly has been abandoned to its sad fate," said
Claude Dilain, the mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois and a pediatrician who recently
wrote a book about the plight of his town.
"French society wants the poor to be squeezed into ghettos rather than have
them living right next door," he said. "It says, 'Put the poor out there in
the suburbs, but avoid violence at all costs so that all goes well and we
don't have to talk about them anymore.' Our people feel betrayed. All the
conditions are there for it to blow up again."
Clichy-sous-Bois is worse off than many other suburbs. It has no local
police station, no movie theater, no swimming pool, no unemployment office,
no child welfare agency, no subway or interurban train into the city.
For even some of the most crime-ridden suburbs, it is a 20-minute ride into
central Paris. For Clichy-sous-Bois, depending on whether there is space on
the bus, it can take an hour and a half. Unemployment sits at 24 percent,
much higher among young people. Thirty-five percent of the population
consists of foreigners, many non-French-speaking. The town's only municipal
gymnasium and sports center was torched during last year's unrest.
When Nadia Boudaoud, 27, a part-time educator, was asked why her family
moved from Clichy-sous-Bois two years ago, she gave three reasons: the
noise, the garbage and the rats.
As part of an effort to mark the events of a year ago and to bring a touch
of Paris buzz to the town of 23,000, an ambitious photo exhibit about daily
life there was opened a week ago.
It was a heady evening featuring the works of a dozen world-renowned
photographers, including Marc Riboud, William Klein and Sarah Moon, who
mingled with hundreds of local residents. Visitors were met at the entrance
with long white panels bearing photos of the two teenage victims, Bouna
Traoré, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17.
Mr. Dilain, the mayor, had high hopes for the opening to send a message and
invited many French officials, including Mr. Chirac. A message was sent, but
not the one he had hoped. Not one official showed up. "It is symptomatic of
the absence of interest in us," he said. "I'm ashamed for France."
Interviews with residents and officials in half a dozen similar suburbs
ringing Paris in recent weeks reflected the conviction that the government's
main interest in them is to maintain security in advance of the presidential
election next spring.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and front-runner for the governing
center-right party's nomination, has staked his reputation on an
uncompromising attitude toward young offenders. But his increase in the
number of police officers in the suburbs - many of them from faraway parts
of France - has meant more harassment and random searches of young people,
fueling complaints that they are unfairly singled out.
The anger of those young men is apparent in music popular in the suburbs. In
her latest album, the rap singer Diam's accuses Mr. Sarkozy of being a
demagogue and the police of hypocrisy. The rapper Booba proclaims in one
song, "Maybe it would be better to burn Sarko's car," while Alibi Montana,
another rapper, warns Mr. Sarkozy, "Keep going like that, and you're going
to get done."
The front-runner for the Socialist Party, Ségolène Royal, has offered her
own proposals to curb youth violence, including military-led training
programs to deal with young offenders and mandatory counseling for parents
of unruly primary school children.
Clearly the French favor a tough line on security issues. According to an
Ifop poll for Le Figaro published last month, 77 percent said the judicial
system was not harsh enough on young offenders and 74 percent said the
police should be given more powers to fight crime in the suburbs.
In the wake of the unrest last fall the government announced measures to
improve life in the suburbs, including extra money for housing, schools and
neighborhood associations and counseling and job training for unemployed
youths. None have gone very far.
Legislation promoting the "equality of chances" that was passed with much
fanfare last March has been largely ineffectual. An initiative to create
blue-collar apprenticeships for teenagers from the age of 14, for example,
has been criticized for removing children from the public education system
at too early an age.
Another law, aimed at curbing illegal immigration - and deporting youthful
offenders - ignored the fact that most suburban youths are French. A law to
spur youth employment was abandoned after huge street demonstrations against
it last spring.
The government said this week that it needed more "experimentation" before
carrying out an initiative requiring corporations with more than 50
employees to use anonymous résumés. That was aimed at curbing discrimination
against job seekers with foreign-sounding names from troubled neighborhoods.
In any case, many young job seekers and community activists consider the
initiative gimmicky, even humiliating.
"We have to fight discrimination, not disguise differences as if differences
are a crime," said Samir Mihi, a founder of Aclefeu, an association created
in Clichy-sous-Bois to promote the suburbs.
In an exercise that aims to celebrate the identity of the job applicant,
another organization, A.P.C., has started an alternative project - the
videotaped résumé - that trains job seekers how to sell themselves on
camera.
At a training and taping session in the Paris suburb of Nanterre this week,
Mariama Goudyaby, 33, said she had been looking for a job as a receptionist
for six months but had been turned down 15 times.
"When I come, they see 'she is black,' " she said. "And then they say, 'We'
ve already found somebody.' With the video I get my revenge on
discrimination: 'You like me, it's me. You don't like me, too bad.' "
Certainly there have been changes since last year's unrest, although many
are symbolic or cosmetic.
The television channel TF1, for example, assigned Harry Roselmack, 33, a
black broadcaster of French Caribbean descent, to anchor the main evening
news for six weeks this summer, the first time a Frenchman of color has
served as an anchor. He became an overnight sex symbol and national hero.
The Henri IV public high school, one of the best in Paris, last month
recruited 30 students from underprivileged backgrounds for its preparatory
program, which feeds some of France's most elite universities.
Marking anniversaries is deeply embedded in French tradition, so a number of
events are scheduled in the prelude to Oct. 27. But at a town meeting in the
suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois on Wednesday, some speakers worried aloud about
the street chatter they were hearing from young people about "celebrating"
it.
"The most violent of them think of it in terms of a celebration," said
Franck Cannarozzo, a deputy mayor there. "For them, last year was a victory
over authority."
But for a 25-year-old man who lives in Clichy-sous-Bois and declined to give
his name, the day will be one of mourning, not celebration. He said he had
been showing the two teenagers how to play a new video game in his building'
s basement the night before they were electrocuted.
"It is the anniversary," he said, "of a death."
</>
October 21, 2006
Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
By ELAINE SCIOLINO and ARIANE BERNARD
"PARIS, Oct. 20 - When the call went out about a car burglary in the raw
suburb of Épinay-sur-Seine north of here last weekend, three officers in a
patrol car rushed over and found themselves surrounded by 30 youths in hoods
throwing rocks and swinging bats and metal bars.
Neither tear gas nor stun guns stopped the assault. Only when reinforcements
arrived did the siege end. One officer was left with broken teeth and in
need of 30 stitches to his face.
The attack was rough but not unique. In the last three weeks alone, three
similar assaults on the police have occurred in these suburbs, which a year
ago were aflame with the rage of unemployed, undereducated youth, mostly the
offspring of Arab and African immigrants.
In fact, with the anniversary of those riots approaching, spiking violent
crime statistics across the area suggest not only that things have not
improved, but that they also may well have worsened. Residents and experts
say that fault lines run even deeper than before and that widespread
violence may flare up again at any moment.
"Tension is rising very dramatically," said Patrice Ribeiro, the deputy head
of the Synergie Officiers police union. "There is the will to kill."
Last month a leaked law enforcement memo warned of a "climate of impunity"
in Seine-St.-Denis, the infamous district north of Paris that includes
suburbs like Épinay-sur-Seine. It reported a 23 percent increase in violent
robberies and a 14 percent increase in assaults in the district of 1.5
million people in the first half of this year, complaining that young,
inexperienced police officers were overwhelmed and the court system was lax.
Only one of 85 juveniles arrested during the unrest was jailed, it added.
In all of France, according to the Interior Ministry, 480 incidents of
violence against the police were recorded in September, a 30 percent
increase from the month before.
Next Friday is the first anniversary of the electrocution death of two
teenagers as, according to some accounts at the time, they were running from
the police in Clichy-sousBois. The tragedy set off a threeweek orgy of
violence in which rioters throughout France torched cars, trashed businesses
and ambushed police officers and firefighters, plunging the country into
what President Jacques Chirac called "a profound malaise."
Despite numerous vows to make big changes, local officials and residents say
the shock of last year's unrest did not lead to a coherent plan to create
new jobs, better housing and education and more social services - or even to
raise the consciousness of the citizenry.
"Ours is a population that truly has been abandoned to its sad fate," said
Claude Dilain, the mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois and a pediatrician who recently
wrote a book about the plight of his town.
"French society wants the poor to be squeezed into ghettos rather than have
them living right next door," he said. "It says, 'Put the poor out there in
the suburbs, but avoid violence at all costs so that all goes well and we
don't have to talk about them anymore.' Our people feel betrayed. All the
conditions are there for it to blow up again."
Clichy-sous-Bois is worse off than many other suburbs. It has no local
police station, no movie theater, no swimming pool, no unemployment office,
no child welfare agency, no subway or interurban train into the city.
For even some of the most crime-ridden suburbs, it is a 20-minute ride into
central Paris. For Clichy-sous-Bois, depending on whether there is space on
the bus, it can take an hour and a half. Unemployment sits at 24 percent,
much higher among young people. Thirty-five percent of the population
consists of foreigners, many non-French-speaking. The town's only municipal
gymnasium and sports center was torched during last year's unrest.
When Nadia Boudaoud, 27, a part-time educator, was asked why her family
moved from Clichy-sous-Bois two years ago, she gave three reasons: the
noise, the garbage and the rats.
As part of an effort to mark the events of a year ago and to bring a touch
of Paris buzz to the town of 23,000, an ambitious photo exhibit about daily
life there was opened a week ago.
It was a heady evening featuring the works of a dozen world-renowned
photographers, including Marc Riboud, William Klein and Sarah Moon, who
mingled with hundreds of local residents. Visitors were met at the entrance
with long white panels bearing photos of the two teenage victims, Bouna
Traoré, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17.
Mr. Dilain, the mayor, had high hopes for the opening to send a message and
invited many French officials, including Mr. Chirac. A message was sent, but
not the one he had hoped. Not one official showed up. "It is symptomatic of
the absence of interest in us," he said. "I'm ashamed for France."
Interviews with residents and officials in half a dozen similar suburbs
ringing Paris in recent weeks reflected the conviction that the government's
main interest in them is to maintain security in advance of the presidential
election next spring.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and front-runner for the governing
center-right party's nomination, has staked his reputation on an
uncompromising attitude toward young offenders. But his increase in the
number of police officers in the suburbs - many of them from faraway parts
of France - has meant more harassment and random searches of young people,
fueling complaints that they are unfairly singled out.
The anger of those young men is apparent in music popular in the suburbs. In
her latest album, the rap singer Diam's accuses Mr. Sarkozy of being a
demagogue and the police of hypocrisy. The rapper Booba proclaims in one
song, "Maybe it would be better to burn Sarko's car," while Alibi Montana,
another rapper, warns Mr. Sarkozy, "Keep going like that, and you're going
to get done."
The front-runner for the Socialist Party, Ségolène Royal, has offered her
own proposals to curb youth violence, including military-led training
programs to deal with young offenders and mandatory counseling for parents
of unruly primary school children.
Clearly the French favor a tough line on security issues. According to an
Ifop poll for Le Figaro published last month, 77 percent said the judicial
system was not harsh enough on young offenders and 74 percent said the
police should be given more powers to fight crime in the suburbs.
In the wake of the unrest last fall the government announced measures to
improve life in the suburbs, including extra money for housing, schools and
neighborhood associations and counseling and job training for unemployed
youths. None have gone very far.
Legislation promoting the "equality of chances" that was passed with much
fanfare last March has been largely ineffectual. An initiative to create
blue-collar apprenticeships for teenagers from the age of 14, for example,
has been criticized for removing children from the public education system
at too early an age.
Another law, aimed at curbing illegal immigration - and deporting youthful
offenders - ignored the fact that most suburban youths are French. A law to
spur youth employment was abandoned after huge street demonstrations against
it last spring.
The government said this week that it needed more "experimentation" before
carrying out an initiative requiring corporations with more than 50
employees to use anonymous résumés. That was aimed at curbing discrimination
against job seekers with foreign-sounding names from troubled neighborhoods.
In any case, many young job seekers and community activists consider the
initiative gimmicky, even humiliating.
"We have to fight discrimination, not disguise differences as if differences
are a crime," said Samir Mihi, a founder of Aclefeu, an association created
in Clichy-sous-Bois to promote the suburbs.
In an exercise that aims to celebrate the identity of the job applicant,
another organization, A.P.C., has started an alternative project - the
videotaped résumé - that trains job seekers how to sell themselves on
camera.
At a training and taping session in the Paris suburb of Nanterre this week,
Mariama Goudyaby, 33, said she had been looking for a job as a receptionist
for six months but had been turned down 15 times.
"When I come, they see 'she is black,' " she said. "And then they say, 'We'
ve already found somebody.' With the video I get my revenge on
discrimination: 'You like me, it's me. You don't like me, too bad.' "
Certainly there have been changes since last year's unrest, although many
are symbolic or cosmetic.
The television channel TF1, for example, assigned Harry Roselmack, 33, a
black broadcaster of French Caribbean descent, to anchor the main evening
news for six weeks this summer, the first time a Frenchman of color has
served as an anchor. He became an overnight sex symbol and national hero.
The Henri IV public high school, one of the best in Paris, last month
recruited 30 students from underprivileged backgrounds for its preparatory
program, which feeds some of France's most elite universities.
Marking anniversaries is deeply embedded in French tradition, so a number of
events are scheduled in the prelude to Oct. 27. But at a town meeting in the
suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois on Wednesday, some speakers worried aloud about
the street chatter they were hearing from young people about "celebrating"
it.
"The most violent of them think of it in terms of a celebration," said
Franck Cannarozzo, a deputy mayor there. "For them, last year was a victory
over authority."
But for a 25-year-old man who lives in Clichy-sous-Bois and declined to give
his name, the day will be one of mourning, not celebration. He said he had
been showing the two teenagers how to play a new video game in his building'
s basement the night before they were electrocuted.
"It is the anniversary," he said, "of a death."
</>
Oct 21st 2006 | 11:35 pm
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
Sure. But Paris is still safe to travel to.
Enjoy.
"Gregory Morrow" <gregorymorrowONACLEARDAYYOUCANSEEALOAFHEAD@earthl ink.net>
wrote in message
news:[email protected] link.net...
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/wo.../21france.html
> October 21, 2006
> Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
> By ELAINE SCIOLINO and ARIANE BERNARD
> "PARIS, Oct. 20 - When the call went out about a car burglary in the raw
> suburb of Épinay-sur-Seine north of here last weekend, three officers in a
> patrol car rushed over and found themselves surrounded by 30 youths in
> hoods
> throwing rocks and swinging bats and metal bars.
> Neither tear gas nor stun guns stopped the assault. Only when
> reinforcements
> arrived did the siege end. One officer was left with broken teeth and in
> need of 30 stitches to his face.
> The attack was rough but not unique. In the last three weeks alone, three
> similar assaults on the police have occurred in these suburbs, which a
> year
> ago were aflame with the rage of unemployed, undereducated youth, mostly
> the
> offspring of Arab and African immigrants.
> In fact, with the anniversary of those riots approaching, spiking violent
> crime statistics across the area suggest not only that things have not
> improved, but that they also may well have worsened. Residents and experts
> say that fault lines run even deeper than before and that widespread
> violence may flare up again at any moment.
> "Tension is rising very dramatically," said Patrice Ribeiro, the deputy
> head
> of the Synergie Officiers police union. "There is the will to kill."
> Last month a leaked law enforcement memo warned of a "climate of impunity"
> in Seine-St.-Denis, the infamous district north of Paris that includes
> suburbs like Épinay-sur-Seine. It reported a 23 percent increase in
> violent
> robberies and a 14 percent increase in assaults in the district of 1.5
> million people in the first half of this year, complaining that young,
> inexperienced police officers were overwhelmed and the court system was
> lax.
> Only one of 85 juveniles arrested during the unrest was jailed, it added.
> In all of France, according to the Interior Ministry, 480 incidents of
> violence against the police were recorded in September, a 30 percent
> increase from the month before.
> Next Friday is the first anniversary of the electrocution death of two
> teenagers as, according to some accounts at the time, they were running
> from
> the police in Clichy-sousBois. The tragedy set off a threeweek orgy of
> violence in which rioters throughout France torched cars, trashed
> businesses
> and ambushed police officers and firefighters, plunging the country into
> what President Jacques Chirac called "a profound malaise."
> Despite numerous vows to make big changes, local officials and residents
> say
> the shock of last year's unrest did not lead to a coherent plan to create
> new jobs, better housing and education and more social services - or even
> to
> raise the consciousness of the citizenry.
> "Ours is a population that truly has been abandoned to its sad fate," said
> Claude Dilain, the mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois and a pediatrician who
> recently
> wrote a book about the plight of his town.
> "French society wants the poor to be squeezed into ghettos rather than
> have
> them living right next door," he said. "It says, 'Put the poor out there
> in
> the suburbs, but avoid violence at all costs so that all goes well and we
> don't have to talk about them anymore.' Our people feel betrayed. All the
> conditions are there for it to blow up again."
> Clichy-sous-Bois is worse off than many other suburbs. It has no local
> police station, no movie theater, no swimming pool, no unemployment
> office,
> no child welfare agency, no subway or interurban train into the city.
> For even some of the most crime-ridden suburbs, it is a 20-minute ride
> into
> central Paris. For Clichy-sous-Bois, depending on whether there is space
> on
> the bus, it can take an hour and a half. Unemployment sits at 24 percent,
> much higher among young people. Thirty-five percent of the population
> consists of foreigners, many non-French-speaking. The town's only
> municipal
> gymnasium and sports center was torched during last year's unrest.
> When Nadia Boudaoud, 27, a part-time educator, was asked why her family
> moved from Clichy-sous-Bois two years ago, she gave three reasons: the
> noise, the garbage and the rats.
> As part of an effort to mark the events of a year ago and to bring a touch
> of Paris buzz to the town of 23,000, an ambitious photo exhibit about
> daily
> life there was opened a week ago.
> It was a heady evening featuring the works of a dozen world-renowned
> photographers, including Marc Riboud, William Klein and Sarah Moon, who
> mingled with hundreds of local residents. Visitors were met at the
> entrance
> with long white panels bearing photos of the two teenage victims, Bouna
> Traoré, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17.
> Mr. Dilain, the mayor, had high hopes for the opening to send a message
> and
> invited many French officials, including Mr. Chirac. A message was sent,
> but
> not the one he had hoped. Not one official showed up. "It is symptomatic
> of
> the absence of interest in us," he said. "I'm ashamed for France."
> Interviews with residents and officials in half a dozen similar suburbs
> ringing Paris in recent weeks reflected the conviction that the
> government's
> main interest in them is to maintain security in advance of the
> presidential
> election next spring.
> Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and front-runner for the governing
> center-right party's nomination, has staked his reputation on an
> uncompromising attitude toward young offenders. But his increase in the
> number of police officers in the suburbs - many of them from faraway parts
> of France - has meant more harassment and random searches of young people,
> fueling complaints that they are unfairly singled out.
> The anger of those young men is apparent in music popular in the suburbs.
> In
> her latest album, the rap singer Diam's accuses Mr. Sarkozy of being a
> demagogue and the police of hypocrisy. The rapper Booba proclaims in one
> song, "Maybe it would be better to burn Sarko's car," while Alibi Montana,
> another rapper, warns Mr. Sarkozy, "Keep going like that, and you're going
> to get done."
> The front-runner for the Socialist Party, Ségolène Royal, has offered her
> own proposals to curb youth violence, including military-led training
> programs to deal with young offenders and mandatory counseling for parents
> of unruly primary school children.
> Clearly the French favor a tough line on security issues. According to an
> Ifop poll for Le Figaro published last month, 77 percent said the judicial
> system was not harsh enough on young offenders and 74 percent said the
> police should be given more powers to fight crime in the suburbs.
> In the wake of the unrest last fall the government announced measures to
> improve life in the suburbs, including extra money for housing, schools
> and
> neighborhood associations and counseling and job training for unemployed
> youths. None have gone very far.
> Legislation promoting the "equality of chances" that was passed with much
> fanfare last March has been largely ineffectual. An initiative to create
> blue-collar apprenticeships for teenagers from the age of 14, for example,
> has been criticized for removing children from the public education system
> at too early an age.
> Another law, aimed at curbing illegal immigration - and deporting youthful
> offenders - ignored the fact that most suburban youths are French. A law
> to
> spur youth employment was abandoned after huge street demonstrations
> against
> it last spring.
> The government said this week that it needed more "experimentation" before
> carrying out an initiative requiring corporations with more than 50
> employees to use anonymous résumés. That was aimed at curbing
> discrimination
> against job seekers with foreign-sounding names from troubled
> neighborhoods.
> In any case, many young job seekers and community activists consider the
> initiative gimmicky, even humiliating.
> "We have to fight discrimination, not disguise differences as if
> differences
> are a crime," said Samir Mihi, a founder of Aclefeu, an association
> created
> in Clichy-sous-Bois to promote the suburbs.
> In an exercise that aims to celebrate the identity of the job applicant,
> another organization, A.P.C., has started an alternative project - the
> videotaped résumé - that trains job seekers how to sell themselves on
> camera.
> At a training and taping session in the Paris suburb of Nanterre this
> week,
> Mariama Goudyaby, 33, said she had been looking for a job as a
> receptionist
> for six months but had been turned down 15 times.
> "When I come, they see 'she is black,' " she said. "And then they say,
> 'We'
> ve already found somebody.' With the video I get my revenge on
> discrimination: 'You like me, it's me. You don't like me, too bad.' "
> Certainly there have been changes since last year's unrest, although many
> are symbolic or cosmetic.
> The television channel TF1, for example, assigned Harry Roselmack, 33, a
> black broadcaster of French Caribbean descent, to anchor the main evening
> news for six weeks this summer, the first time a Frenchman of color has
> served as an anchor. He became an overnight sex symbol and national hero.
> The Henri IV public high school, one of the best in Paris, last month
> recruited 30 students from underprivileged backgrounds for its preparatory
> program, which feeds some of France's most elite universities.
> Marking anniversaries is deeply embedded in French tradition, so a number
> of
> events are scheduled in the prelude to Oct. 27. But at a town meeting in
> the
> suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois on Wednesday, some speakers worried aloud about
> the street chatter they were hearing from young people about "celebrating"
> it.
> "The most violent of them think of it in terms of a celebration," said
> Franck Cannarozzo, a deputy mayor there. "For them, last year was a
> victory
> over authority."
> But for a 25-year-old man who lives in Clichy-sous-Bois and declined to
> give
> his name, the day will be one of mourning, not celebration. He said he had
> been showing the two teenagers how to play a new video game in his
> building'
> s basement the night before they were electrocuted.
> "It is the anniversary," he said, "of a death."
> </>
>
Enjoy.
"Gregory Morrow" <gregorymorrowONACLEARDAYYOUCANSEEALOAFHEAD@earthl ink.net>
wrote in message
news:[email protected] link.net...
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/wo.../21france.html
> October 21, 2006
> Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
> By ELAINE SCIOLINO and ARIANE BERNARD
> "PARIS, Oct. 20 - When the call went out about a car burglary in the raw
> suburb of Épinay-sur-Seine north of here last weekend, three officers in a
> patrol car rushed over and found themselves surrounded by 30 youths in
> hoods
> throwing rocks and swinging bats and metal bars.
> Neither tear gas nor stun guns stopped the assault. Only when
> reinforcements
> arrived did the siege end. One officer was left with broken teeth and in
> need of 30 stitches to his face.
> The attack was rough but not unique. In the last three weeks alone, three
> similar assaults on the police have occurred in these suburbs, which a
> year
> ago were aflame with the rage of unemployed, undereducated youth, mostly
> the
> offspring of Arab and African immigrants.
> In fact, with the anniversary of those riots approaching, spiking violent
> crime statistics across the area suggest not only that things have not
> improved, but that they also may well have worsened. Residents and experts
> say that fault lines run even deeper than before and that widespread
> violence may flare up again at any moment.
> "Tension is rising very dramatically," said Patrice Ribeiro, the deputy
> head
> of the Synergie Officiers police union. "There is the will to kill."
> Last month a leaked law enforcement memo warned of a "climate of impunity"
> in Seine-St.-Denis, the infamous district north of Paris that includes
> suburbs like Épinay-sur-Seine. It reported a 23 percent increase in
> violent
> robberies and a 14 percent increase in assaults in the district of 1.5
> million people in the first half of this year, complaining that young,
> inexperienced police officers were overwhelmed and the court system was
> lax.
> Only one of 85 juveniles arrested during the unrest was jailed, it added.
> In all of France, according to the Interior Ministry, 480 incidents of
> violence against the police were recorded in September, a 30 percent
> increase from the month before.
> Next Friday is the first anniversary of the electrocution death of two
> teenagers as, according to some accounts at the time, they were running
> from
> the police in Clichy-sousBois. The tragedy set off a threeweek orgy of
> violence in which rioters throughout France torched cars, trashed
> businesses
> and ambushed police officers and firefighters, plunging the country into
> what President Jacques Chirac called "a profound malaise."
> Despite numerous vows to make big changes, local officials and residents
> say
> the shock of last year's unrest did not lead to a coherent plan to create
> new jobs, better housing and education and more social services - or even
> to
> raise the consciousness of the citizenry.
> "Ours is a population that truly has been abandoned to its sad fate," said
> Claude Dilain, the mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois and a pediatrician who
> recently
> wrote a book about the plight of his town.
> "French society wants the poor to be squeezed into ghettos rather than
> have
> them living right next door," he said. "It says, 'Put the poor out there
> in
> the suburbs, but avoid violence at all costs so that all goes well and we
> don't have to talk about them anymore.' Our people feel betrayed. All the
> conditions are there for it to blow up again."
> Clichy-sous-Bois is worse off than many other suburbs. It has no local
> police station, no movie theater, no swimming pool, no unemployment
> office,
> no child welfare agency, no subway or interurban train into the city.
> For even some of the most crime-ridden suburbs, it is a 20-minute ride
> into
> central Paris. For Clichy-sous-Bois, depending on whether there is space
> on
> the bus, it can take an hour and a half. Unemployment sits at 24 percent,
> much higher among young people. Thirty-five percent of the population
> consists of foreigners, many non-French-speaking. The town's only
> municipal
> gymnasium and sports center was torched during last year's unrest.
> When Nadia Boudaoud, 27, a part-time educator, was asked why her family
> moved from Clichy-sous-Bois two years ago, she gave three reasons: the
> noise, the garbage and the rats.
> As part of an effort to mark the events of a year ago and to bring a touch
> of Paris buzz to the town of 23,000, an ambitious photo exhibit about
> daily
> life there was opened a week ago.
> It was a heady evening featuring the works of a dozen world-renowned
> photographers, including Marc Riboud, William Klein and Sarah Moon, who
> mingled with hundreds of local residents. Visitors were met at the
> entrance
> with long white panels bearing photos of the two teenage victims, Bouna
> Traoré, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17.
> Mr. Dilain, the mayor, had high hopes for the opening to send a message
> and
> invited many French officials, including Mr. Chirac. A message was sent,
> but
> not the one he had hoped. Not one official showed up. "It is symptomatic
> of
> the absence of interest in us," he said. "I'm ashamed for France."
> Interviews with residents and officials in half a dozen similar suburbs
> ringing Paris in recent weeks reflected the conviction that the
> government's
> main interest in them is to maintain security in advance of the
> presidential
> election next spring.
> Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and front-runner for the governing
> center-right party's nomination, has staked his reputation on an
> uncompromising attitude toward young offenders. But his increase in the
> number of police officers in the suburbs - many of them from faraway parts
> of France - has meant more harassment and random searches of young people,
> fueling complaints that they are unfairly singled out.
> The anger of those young men is apparent in music popular in the suburbs.
> In
> her latest album, the rap singer Diam's accuses Mr. Sarkozy of being a
> demagogue and the police of hypocrisy. The rapper Booba proclaims in one
> song, "Maybe it would be better to burn Sarko's car," while Alibi Montana,
> another rapper, warns Mr. Sarkozy, "Keep going like that, and you're going
> to get done."
> The front-runner for the Socialist Party, Ségolène Royal, has offered her
> own proposals to curb youth violence, including military-led training
> programs to deal with young offenders and mandatory counseling for parents
> of unruly primary school children.
> Clearly the French favor a tough line on security issues. According to an
> Ifop poll for Le Figaro published last month, 77 percent said the judicial
> system was not harsh enough on young offenders and 74 percent said the
> police should be given more powers to fight crime in the suburbs.
> In the wake of the unrest last fall the government announced measures to
> improve life in the suburbs, including extra money for housing, schools
> and
> neighborhood associations and counseling and job training for unemployed
> youths. None have gone very far.
> Legislation promoting the "equality of chances" that was passed with much
> fanfare last March has been largely ineffectual. An initiative to create
> blue-collar apprenticeships for teenagers from the age of 14, for example,
> has been criticized for removing children from the public education system
> at too early an age.
> Another law, aimed at curbing illegal immigration - and deporting youthful
> offenders - ignored the fact that most suburban youths are French. A law
> to
> spur youth employment was abandoned after huge street demonstrations
> against
> it last spring.
> The government said this week that it needed more "experimentation" before
> carrying out an initiative requiring corporations with more than 50
> employees to use anonymous résumés. That was aimed at curbing
> discrimination
> against job seekers with foreign-sounding names from troubled
> neighborhoods.
> In any case, many young job seekers and community activists consider the
> initiative gimmicky, even humiliating.
> "We have to fight discrimination, not disguise differences as if
> differences
> are a crime," said Samir Mihi, a founder of Aclefeu, an association
> created
> in Clichy-sous-Bois to promote the suburbs.
> In an exercise that aims to celebrate the identity of the job applicant,
> another organization, A.P.C., has started an alternative project - the
> videotaped résumé - that trains job seekers how to sell themselves on
> camera.
> At a training and taping session in the Paris suburb of Nanterre this
> week,
> Mariama Goudyaby, 33, said she had been looking for a job as a
> receptionist
> for six months but had been turned down 15 times.
> "When I come, they see 'she is black,' " she said. "And then they say,
> 'We'
> ve already found somebody.' With the video I get my revenge on
> discrimination: 'You like me, it's me. You don't like me, too bad.' "
> Certainly there have been changes since last year's unrest, although many
> are symbolic or cosmetic.
> The television channel TF1, for example, assigned Harry Roselmack, 33, a
> black broadcaster of French Caribbean descent, to anchor the main evening
> news for six weeks this summer, the first time a Frenchman of color has
> served as an anchor. He became an overnight sex symbol and national hero.
> The Henri IV public high school, one of the best in Paris, last month
> recruited 30 students from underprivileged backgrounds for its preparatory
> program, which feeds some of France's most elite universities.
> Marking anniversaries is deeply embedded in French tradition, so a number
> of
> events are scheduled in the prelude to Oct. 27. But at a town meeting in
> the
> suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois on Wednesday, some speakers worried aloud about
> the street chatter they were hearing from young people about "celebrating"
> it.
> "The most violent of them think of it in terms of a celebration," said
> Franck Cannarozzo, a deputy mayor there. "For them, last year was a
> victory
> over authority."
> But for a 25-year-old man who lives in Clichy-sous-Bois and declined to
> give
> his name, the day will be one of mourning, not celebration. He said he had
> been showing the two teenagers how to play a new video game in his
> building'
> s basement the night before they were electrocuted.
> "It is the anniversary," he said, "of a death."
> </>
>
Oct 23rd 2006 | 7:33 am
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:11:47 +0000, Gregory Morrow wrote :
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/wo.../21france.html
>
> October 21, 2006
>
> Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
http://www.ci.broomfield.co.us/polic...date111405.pdf
Tornado to terrorists are you prepared
The Emergency Management Unit has taken the CERT concept and organized it to fit the needs of
our community. Citizen Emergency Response Training (CERT) focuses on all-hazard
preparedness education and benefits individuals, families, and ultimately the community.
The CERT classes, titled Tornadoes to Terrorists, are conducted in the spring and fall in a series
of three 2 hour classes. They focus on personal accountability and provide skills necessary to
survive the initial 72 hours after a disaster.
--
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do
it himself. -- A.H. Weiler
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/wo.../21france.html
>
> October 21, 2006
>
> Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
http://www.ci.broomfield.co.us/polic...date111405.pdf
Tornado to terrorists are you prepared
The Emergency Management Unit has taken the CERT concept and organized it to fit the needs of
our community. Citizen Emergency Response Training (CERT) focuses on all-hazard
preparedness education and benefits individuals, families, and ultimately the community.
The CERT classes, titled Tornadoes to Terrorists, are conducted in the spring and fall in a series
of three 2 hour classes. They focus on personal accountability and provide skills necessary to
survive the initial 72 hours after a disaster.
--
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do
it himself. -- A.H. Weiler
Oct 26th 2006 | 6:46 am
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
On Mon, 23 Oct 2006 21:33:17 +0200, JuanElorza wrote :
> On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:11:47 +0000, Gregory Morrow wrote :
>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/wo.../21france.html
>>
>> October 21, 2006
>>
>> Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
Broomfield, CO 80021
http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate...int-19093.html
crime is really becoming a problem. Mail has repeatedly been stolen from
the mailboxes and from the office. Management's way of solving this
problem is by putting a warning sign on the mailboxes and refusing to
accept packages at the office. Our car was broken into as was a neighbors
(both within 2 months).
AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE.
--
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do
it himself. -- A.H. Weiler
> On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:11:47 +0000, Gregory Morrow wrote :
>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/wo.../21france.html
>>
>> October 21, 2006
>>
>> Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
Broomfield, CO 80021
http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate...int-19093.html
crime is really becoming a problem. Mail has repeatedly been stolen from
the mailboxes and from the office. Management's way of solving this
problem is by putting a warning sign on the mailboxes and refusing to
accept packages at the office. Our car was broken into as was a neighbors
(both within 2 months).
AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE.
--
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do
it himself. -- A.H. Weiler
Nov 16th 2006 | 11:00 am
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
http://ratemyapartments.com is a good place to post issues like this
too--particularly if you are a student.
JuanElorza wrote:
> On Mon, 23 Oct 2006 21:33:17 +0200, JuanElorza wrote :
>
> > On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:11:47 +0000, Gregory Morrow wrote :
> >
> >> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/world/europe/21france.html
> >>
> >> October 21, 2006
> >>
> >> Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
>
> Broomfield, CO 80021
> http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CO-Broomfield-Calavera-Point-19093.html
> crime is really becoming a problem. Mail has repeatedly been stolen from
> the mailboxes and from the office. Management's way of solving this
> problem is by putting a warning sign on the mailboxes and refusing to
> accept packages at the office. Our car was broken into as was a neighbors
> (both within 2 months).
> AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE.
>
> --
> Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do
> it himself. -- A.H. Weiler
too--particularly if you are a student.
JuanElorza wrote:
> On Mon, 23 Oct 2006 21:33:17 +0200, JuanElorza wrote :
>
> > On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:11:47 +0000, Gregory Morrow wrote :
> >
> >> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/world/europe/21france.html
> >>
> >> October 21, 2006
> >>
> >> Anger Festering in French Areas Scarred in Riots
>
> Broomfield, CO 80021
> http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CO-Broomfield-Calavera-Point-19093.html
> crime is really becoming a problem. Mail has repeatedly been stolen from
> the mailboxes and from the office. Management's way of solving this
> problem is by putting a warning sign on the mailboxes and refusing to
> accept packages at the office. Our car was broken into as was a neighbors
> (both within 2 months).
> AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE.
>
> --
> Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do
> it himself. -- A.H. Weiler
