The title itself is spot on, and that closer is the cherry on top
The riddle that grips this country today is one it has long professed to have solved: How do you make a multiethnic nation of equal citizens believe that liberté, égalité, and fraternité truly exist? Until that question can be answered in a convincing way, France’s politics will continue to be made pathetically in the streets.
I couldn’t agree more, and we see it a lot. Strikes work a bit, but riots don’t. Unions can get the workers their rights over time, and in France we have so many rights and laws. You can just go down to the library, or search them online and get the gist. But, last month’s riots? Well, people and politicians often say, “we don’t have that problem, it isn’t a systemic thing, the police don’t represent the state, France is not racist; it is a country of human rights” so how to make any headway? And then the riots peter out and tourism picks up and we go on our merry way. A little pathetic, but they didn’t really make a formal demand. And, how could they? Who would represent them? What precisely did they want? How would they control the more extreme rioters who want to loot and destroy and convince them that progress cannot happen overnight?
Timing was also horrible. France is trying to gear up for the Olympics (it might be a shit show, who knows?), and that means all sorts of new laws are popping up: video surveillance, facial recognition, drones, demanding access to encrypted chat apps, and that new one this week about being able to remotely activate cameras and microphones of connected devices if you are suspected of terrorism.
I love France. I have lived here for 17 years now. I am paid well, get vacation, awesome health care, my partner had paid maternity leave, I get sick days, I get bonuses and meal vouchers and you name it. I do not, however, know what it is like to live in the suburbs of Paris, commute everyday, and be treated like an outsider — and that is awful.
The United States has very similar problems. The oppressed are encouraged to work within the system if they want things to change. They go to the system, and find it broken. So they protest, and the moment the protests turn violent-- or appear to turn violent-- the oppressed are labeled as being impatient or perhaps even deserving of being marginalized. Cries for freedom are willfully misinterpreted as the howling of barbarians, and used as populist propaganda.
Like you, I don’t know what it’s like to be treated like a second-class citizen in my own country, but I do know that racism doesn’t go away simply because the government declares that it won’t be tolerated. It’s hard to come up with any specific solution to this particular problem though, when it’s a conflict that humans have struggled with for their entire existence. Back in 2020, people were just trying to get the message out that black lives matter. Even when taken as a plea for solidarity with no specific policy demands, somehow that statement proved controversial.
The title itself is spot on, and that closer is the cherry on top
I couldn’t agree more, and we see it a lot. Strikes work a bit, but riots don’t. Unions can get the workers their rights over time, and in France we have so many rights and laws. You can just go down to the library, or search them online and get the gist. But, last month’s riots? Well, people and politicians often say, “we don’t have that problem, it isn’t a systemic thing, the police don’t represent the state, France is not racist; it is a country of human rights” so how to make any headway? And then the riots peter out and tourism picks up and we go on our merry way. A little pathetic, but they didn’t really make a formal demand. And, how could they? Who would represent them? What precisely did they want? How would they control the more extreme rioters who want to loot and destroy and convince them that progress cannot happen overnight?
Timing was also horrible. France is trying to gear up for the Olympics (it might be a shit show, who knows?), and that means all sorts of new laws are popping up: video surveillance, facial recognition, drones, demanding access to encrypted chat apps, and that new one this week about being able to remotely activate cameras and microphones of connected devices if you are suspected of terrorism.
I love France. I have lived here for 17 years now. I am paid well, get vacation, awesome health care, my partner had paid maternity leave, I get sick days, I get bonuses and meal vouchers and you name it. I do not, however, know what it is like to live in the suburbs of Paris, commute everyday, and be treated like an outsider — and that is awful.
There are many examples of riots working, and many examples of strikes that don’t.
Consider: https://bigthink.com/the-present/5-times-rioting-worked/
The United States has very similar problems. The oppressed are encouraged to work within the system if they want things to change. They go to the system, and find it broken. So they protest, and the moment the protests turn violent-- or appear to turn violent-- the oppressed are labeled as being impatient or perhaps even deserving of being marginalized. Cries for freedom are willfully misinterpreted as the howling of barbarians, and used as populist propaganda.
Like you, I don’t know what it’s like to be treated like a second-class citizen in my own country, but I do know that racism doesn’t go away simply because the government declares that it won’t be tolerated. It’s hard to come up with any specific solution to this particular problem though, when it’s a conflict that humans have struggled with for their entire existence. Back in 2020, people were just trying to get the message out that black lives matter. Even when taken as a plea for solidarity with no specific policy demands, somehow that statement proved controversial.