Rellen in Frankrijk: Rioters ’ hate figure may have the solutions

[Martijn Meijering]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

http://www.sundayherald.com/52862:
"Many gang members openly admit to being petty thieves and drug-dealers.
If they harbour a hatred for the police and Sarkozy, it may partly be
because he has spearheaded attempts over the last three years to bring the
most dangerous estates back within the rule of law.

As for Sarkozy’s remarks, these have been placed wildly out of context.
His comment that he would clean out crime-ridden neighbourhoods with a
powerhose was made earlier this year to the approval of residents in an
estate where a young Arab boy had been killed by a gangland bullet. His
description of rioters as “racaille” has been widely translated as “scum”
in English, but this is also wilfully inaccurate. The word is in common
usage in French and has nothing of the gut hatred of “scum”. “Yobs” or
“louts” would be nearer. A caller to Europe 1 radio named Mohamed said
last week: “I cannot understand the fuss. Many Arab parents use the word
to their own children when they misbehave.”

Unemployment offers another explanation for the rioting. In many Arab
neighbourhoods 70% of 18 to 25 year-olds are unemployed. A freed up jobs
market, combined with positive discrimination would do more than any
action plans or emergency police powers to reverse the slide to ruin. The
trouble is, the only man advocating these bold initiatives is public enemy
number one in the cités: Nicolas Sarkozy."

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