Paris in Flames; No End in Sight

After 12 days of rioting in suburban Paris and elsewhere, the French government has finally gotten around to declaring a state of emergency. This law appears to give the government the power to establish curfews anywhere in France (indeed, it was passed in 1955 to help quell unrest in Algeria, then still a French colony), but not much else.

Twelve nights; and while there is some evidence to suggest that the intensity of violence is waning, the toll is staggering. According to a BBC News piece, through 8 November the riots have seen:

• One man killed
  
• 5,873 cars torched
  
• 1,500 people arrested
  
• 17 people sentenced
  
• 120 police and firefighters injured

And these are just sterile numbers, which don't give the real feeling of a conflagration which has seen rioters torching hospitals, the Sleeping Beauty Nursery School, and a woman on crutches. And this is not simply in Paris, but has spread to areas throughout France.

I'm not at all qualified to comment on the horror, its causes, or its potential sequelae; but it seems to me that the French government, and much of the press for that matter, is obsessed with discussing the inequities and pent-up rage that lies at the root of the problem. And there is certainly a case to be made here: not only do immigrants find it difficult or impossible (or distasteful) to be absorbed into French society--they are also disproportionately out of work in a country where the overall unemployment rate perennially hovers around 10%. The Wall Street Journal even says that "by one estimate, unemployment is 40% among foreign-born residents of France aged 15 to 29."

France has the power to put an end to the unrest and move in a direction that may help prevent such violence in the future; but at the moment, they're consumed by the kind of hand-wringing and finger-pointing that hobbles all democratic governments at such times. The Economist, in the wake of the bungled response (at all levels) to Hurricane Katrina, carried the headline "America's Shame" on the front cover. France's position here is no better: you can only solve the long-term problems if you first put the short-term ones to rest. Hesitation--in the face of a force that has shown it can and will set fire to anything within reach--is certain to prolong your agony and put more of your citizens in harm's way.

Tags: Paris, France, French, Riot, Unrest