The Quick and the Dead
The premise of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead is that malevolence can exist in an indeterminate state, neither living nor dead. The question of what state riots in France now occupy is similarly subject to equivocation. Ed Morrisey of Captain's Quarters thinks the riots, though buried in the news, still live.
the measures taken by the French have had mixed results at best. Curfews have convinced the joyriders to stay home, but hardcore rioters remain out in the street. An overnight arrest total of 201 across the country has dampened but not put down the uprising, and the police expect more, not less, this weekend.
Captain's Quarters specifically refers to the fact that "the number of vehicles torched in the areas around Paris rose from 84 to 111" and attaches significance to that fact. The New York Times, Captain Ed argues, has declared the riots dead but the the NYT's "Smith fails to mention Thursday night's continuing violence, nor does he mention the increase in Paris last night".
The Brussels Journal actually claims that the French media at least, are censoring coverage of the riots.
"Politics in France is heading to the right and I don’t want rightwing politicians back in second, or even first place because we showed burning cars on television," Jean-Claude Dassier, the director general of the rolling news service TCI, says. ... Hence Dassier’s channel, which is owned by the private broadcaster TF1, has decided not to show footage of burning cars. Dassier also criticised the “excessive” coverage of the riots by international (read: Anglo-Saxon) news networks. ... Early this week the public television station France 3 had already stopped broadcasting the daily number of torched cars, while other TV stations followed suit. "Do we send teams of journalists because cars are burning, or are the cars burning because we sent teams of journalists?"
The French channels were not of course, talking about events in Iraq. Still there's no denying that by the Car-B-Q metric, events are at a lower pitch now that a curfew has been imposed and additional police have been deployed. Yet appearances can be deceiving. Oxblog's Patrick Belton went to Paris to evaluate conditions at first hand. In the small hours of the morning of October 9, Belton cheerfully reported:
I'd arrived at Aulnay-sous-Bois yesterday expecting a seething cauldron on just the point of boiling over. What I found was quite different, and surprised me. Aulnay has seen the worst violence of any of the banlieues to date, but its housing projects had their windows open, laundry hung out to dry, music and laughter spilling out from within; the streets were filled with children playing. The only odd inkling this was a neighbourhood whose violence this week featured in the news of every newspaper in the world was the procession of the odd burnt car being towed away like a discarded effigy; or, in the case of the Hertz station which lay inconveniently by the Cité de l'Europe, a whole parking lot of them. Someone clearly had a bad experience the last time renting.
Slightly after noon that same day, Belton had some additional information to provide.
I had a little scrape in a cité in north Aulney, and so now need to modify two claims made in my previous post. I have now met some rioters, and I no longer have pictures to share, nor come to think of it, a camera. I got nothing of theirs. On the other hand, taking care of myself decently enough I rather nicely got to keep my unbacked up dissertation, wallet, and the passport and press card I'd kept with me in the off chance I had to give an accounting of myself to police. Nasty horrid villains. Pluck though being a virtue, OxBlog will be out there again tomorrow. With a disposable camera, this time. But a thousand words being worth a picture, I suspect I can make it up to you lads.
What lies beneath. And of course, the key problem with concluding that the riots have ended with the decline in Car-B-Qs is that it doesn't provide a gauge of changes to the consciousness of a specific demographic. Mark Steyn (registration required for the Spectator) at least makes an attempt to root events of the past two weeks in French demography. He makes the large claim that not only has the discontent not ended, it has only just begun, simply because a potential majority will never rest until it is in control.
Let’s take that evasive media characterisation of the rioters — ‘youths’ — at face value. What is the salient point about youths? They’re youthful. Very few octogenarians want to go torching Renaults every night. It’s not easy lobbing a Molotov cocktail into a police station and then hobbling back on your Zimmer frame across the street before the searing heat of the explosion melts your hip replacement. Civil disobedience is a young man’s game.
Now go back to that bland statistic you hear a lot these days: ‘about 10 per cent of France’s population is Muslim’. Give or take a million here, a million there, that’s broadly correct, as far as it goes. But the population spread isn’t even. And when it comes to those living in France aged 20 and under, about 30 per cent are said to be Muslim and in the major urban centres about 45 per cent. If it came down to street-by-street fighting, as Michel Gurfinkiel, the editor of Valeurs Actuelles, points out, ‘the combatant ratio in any ethnic war may thus be one to one’ — already, right now, in 2005. It is not necessary, incidentally, for Islam to become a statistical majority in order to function as one. At the height of its power in the 8th century, the ‘Islamic world’ stretched from Spain to India, yet its population was only minority Muslim. Nonetheless, by 2010, more elderly white Catholic ethnic frogs will have croaked and more fit healthy Muslim youths will be hitting the streets. One day they’ll even be on the beach at St Trop, and if you and your infidel whore happen to be lying there wearing nothing but two coats of Ambre Solaire when they show up, you better hope that the BBC and CNN are right about there being no religio-ethno-cultural component to their ‘grievances’.
Essentially Steyn is arguing that we have not seen the last of the riots, though they make take another form next time.
32 Comments:
I'm still left with a large degree of uncertainty over the meaning (if any) from these riots. As I've pointed out in previous threads, these riots did not have anywhere near the violence and destruction of the Watts riots or the 1992 LA "Rodney King" Riots. Nor did they have the same geographic spread as the '92 riots, which touched off destruction in most major US cities and as far away as Toronto, Canada.
I remember the 1992 events quite clearly and there was a lot of ominous talk about all kinds of "issues" that would need to be addressed through the discovery of "root causes" (discrimination, racism, etc.) or the violence would only erupt again in a much worse form. It appears as if the "root causes" were never addressed and yet life has been reasonably calm across North America in the last 13 years.
This is not to say that the events in France aren't worthy of taking note of nor that France does not have some pending demographic, cultural, and economic issues to contend with. But are we over-reacting or at the very least allowing ourselves to be taken over by a certain sensationalism which we are allowing to simply cause us to find justifications for our own perspectives? And is this causing us to not really see what is behind these events?
In the aftermath of sensationalistic reporting of Hurricane Katrina, we would be wise to have some degree of caution. Our global communications technology gives us the ability to see a high level of detail in real-time and this, I fear, can lead us to believe we are more informed about "the facts" than we really are. Or at the very least mis-informed. And we need to remember that this information is fed to us by resource hungry networks that feed off of their ability to sustain our attention for as many seconds as possible.
We see what the media wants us to see. This is not only true in the sense of the bias that they want to feed us but also true in the sense that they want to feed us whatever they think will cause us to pay a little more attention and sit through yet another commercial break. Riots are exciting.
I have a friend living in France quite close to some of these events and he was fairly alarmed. But at the same time I had a friend who was in Paris on business and he remarked that it was peaceful and pleasant and had it not been for the news he would have had no idea that anything was occuring.
Intifada or Watts? Jihad or race riot? Maybe nothing other than some kind of bizarre meme eruption and crowd reaction that has occured for reasons we've not yet entertained. While I hate to be dismissive of the reality of the number of cars burned or the potential of sinister forces that may seek to exploit such "unrest" in the future, I think it may be prudent to not jump to a conclusion too quickly. The left and the right are both apparently seeking to use this to justify their world views and the threat of that is the real reasons continue to be obscured or someone does something that only makes the problem worse.
The AP is reporting that:
Published: Nov 12, 2005 -- PARIS (AP) - The number of cars torched overnight in France climbed slightly over the previous night to 502 in a 16th night of unrest that took its heaviest toll on the French provinces, police said Saturday.
I wouldn't read much into this except to say that the increase is in the face of the curfew and emergency measures. It's an interesting situation that bears watching.
The French created this problem, I fear it will spread through Europe and become a series of small highly violent events.
Wretchard,
I found this interesting. . . from the AP article you linked to:
"Two Molotov cocktails were tossed at a mosque Friday evening in the southern town of Carpentras, but it was not immediately clear whether the attack was linked to the unrest that has wracked the poor suburbs and small towns of France since Oct. 27. President Jacques Chirac demanded that investigators quickly find out who was behind the attack."
The Brussels Journal has more detail on the most recent goings-on. The gist is that the French government is making a really big thing of the molotov cocktail thrown into the mosque where it virtually ignored the firebombing of two churches only a few days ago. It makes sense in way. The Christians are a nonvolatile population and there is little danger that riots will spring from church-burnings, but mosque burnings are something altogether different. The other point the Brussels Journal tries to make is that the pattern of violence is disturbing in other ways because it has crept, in a small way to provincial French towns and even Belgium.
I don't think the data is conclusive, such as it is. However, recent attempts by the French to clamp down on news coverage in an effort to deny the rioters the oxygen of publicity will mean that any bad trends may remain undiscovered until they are full-blown.
James said: "But at the same time I had a friend who was in Paris on business and he remarked that it was peaceful and pleasant and had it not been for the news he would have had no idea that anything was occuring."
I agree with a lot of what you say in your post James, but it has always been my experience, when traveling on business, to be as far removed from trouble spots of any city so a business traveler's impression is probably a little skewed.
Just a thought.
RE changes in state and self censorship :
The prescient military analyst William Lind, in his latest comment "On War" - #139 C’est la Guerre - opines that 4th generation warfare has broken out in France. http://www.d-n-i.net/lind/lind_11_09_05.htm
Almost MORE interestingly, DNI published the piece with some hand wringing introductory disclaimer, while Lind's usual outlets sftt.org and military.com have at this time not touched it at all.
Problem is simple...
Israel should give more land to the palestinains, this will lead to global peace...
The building pressure in the pressure cooker comes from the remarkable birthrates of new and unassimilable immigrants to France. Nothing has happened to reduce that, or to make inherently separatist immigrants more assimilable. Muslims do not want to assimilate. It is part of the faith to be separate, and eventually to triumph.
Ethiopia's state-run television reports police have released 2,417 people arrested during last week's deadly clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters.
A statement broadcast Thursday says the prisoners were freed from the central police station in the capital, Addis Ababa, the Ziway detention camp south of the city and the Dedesa military camp, west of the capital.
They were released after the authorities determined they were not involved in last week's unrest, which left at least 46 people dead.
Police opened fire on anti-government protesters who torched tires and smashed cars in Addis Ababa and elsewhere to protest the results of parliamentary elections that gave the victory to the ruling party.
Interesting compare and contrast....
As the French self censor there are two options readily seen. As W postulates, either the lack of oxygen slowly smothers the flames of the Francofada or the Insurgents up the ante.
It is a dangerous game the censors play. If the underlying cause of the Francofada is news coverage, well, the smothering may work. If, however, it is as Mr Styne and I believe, that this Francofada is but the first shot in a long battle. Well then, Katie bar the door. Bombings will soon break the news blackout.
Time will tell.
In another venue Mr Victor Davis Hanson writes abpit:
'Moving On'
Rhetoric at war with reality
" ... So by castigating the U.S., critics forget that their long-term welfare is not the same as the short-term interests of America. Open markets, military alliances between liberal democracies, and sober joint actions now to prevent worse threats later on are to everyone's advantage. But for right now, the United States might benefit by not welcoming any additional free and unfair trade with South America, or spending billions on European defense, or taking on any more burdens in the Middle East.
In contrast, an India, Japan, and Australia are proud and confident nations. They don't indict our citizens and often appreciate an American global role, whether outsourcing jobs or patrolling regional waters. Unlike the U.N., the EU, and South America, they spare us the sanctimonious lectures and look forward rather than nurse wounds of the past.
The world is changing as we speak. The great untold story of our age is that others need to get a life and the United States needs to move on. ..."
I remember hearing about an experiment. Scientists would put a rat into a cage with two buttons, one right next to the other. If the rat pressed one button, a little mechanism on the outside of the cage would release food. If the rat pressed the other button, a signal was sent to a device implanted in the rat's hypothalamus to release a set quantity of endorphins. The rat had a choice: he could eat, or he could fall into an opium-like stupor. He could not do both.
The scientists performed the experiment many times over a period of a year, and every time they got the same result. Sometimes it took a few days, sometimes a little longer, but inevitably they would walk into their lab one day and find a dead rat. The cause of death? Starvation.
France is dying, and she can save her life simply by pushing the other button. Her salvation is right there--easily within reach--but it might as well be a thousand miles a way.
I pray we survive the sickness. I no longer hold any hope for France.
Sophia Phoster has a VERY relevant observation, and it reflects back on the situation in France:
Muslims (or at least Muslim leaders) DO NOT INTEGRATE.
Muslims DO NOT tolerate. They'll wait on imposing Shari'a for a short while, but
Muslims are GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE, the Best-Loved and ONLY TRUE Humans chosen by God!
They recognize and submit to their understanding of what Muhammad brought, and they insist that He is THE last Prophet and so there can't possibly be a Messenger from God to bring a further outpouring of the love and knowledge of God.
Muslims, remember, KILLED the Holy One promised by Jesus, the Holy One Who came May 23, 1844 (1260 AH) and was martyred July 9, 1850 BY MUSLIMS.
They DO NOT want to tolerate us until we accept dhimmitude and accept their dominant superiority and moral superiority to us.
The US will be faced with this sometime down the road as well, so we shouldn't smirk.
We've got guns. And a long long history of using them to defend ourselves. If the government won't step up to the plate and do what's necessary, I have no doubt whatsoever that our Constitutionally-protected "armed militia's" will.
Dubya said a couple of years ago, "Bring it on," and I think a lot of American citizens are eager for the chance to whack a Muslim since they haven't really been faced with their evil-osity yet, and since we've been accused so many times already of being mean to them just by "looking at them funny."
"We haven't played cowboys and Muslims yet." I'll betcha our Mexicans and Asians and other immigrants will want to play, too, if it means defending our society.
nahncee sez: "We haven't played cowboys and Muslims yet."
Very true. I rather think that if that time should come, those who've come here intending to cause us harm will have a difficult time succeeding, unless they pursue tactics that keep them out if arms reach.
Because of 9/11, there will never again be a successful hijacking of an American airliner - the passengers will tear the hijackers into DNA fragments with their teeth rather than just sit quietly and rely on the kindness of Muslim hijackers to keep them safe.
Our Theo van Goghs are probably similarly unarmed, but many of those walking the same sidewalk are likely to be carrying. A daylight exection-style killing will not be allowed to reach its awful conclusion, for the Muslim perp will be shot, probably many times.
And don't even think about burning one of my cars. Where I live (we lost a fine neighbor in the North Tower), if I come out shooting, people are most likely to say "THAT'S what I'm talkin'bout!"
Still, one has to wonder if the French govt will reach the "we don't give a sh!t what everyone else thinks, we're gonna squash our Muslims like cockroaches." Sorta like they've handled various situations of unrest in former French colonies in years past.
If such a thing occurs, no doubt it'll be hailed as the correct pragmatic response by the Left, since someone who's tried so hard to cause problems for "W" must be supported at any cost.
rufus
After the Big One, WWI, the only breeding stock left for France were the faint of heart. The pride of France, destroyed in the Great War against the Germans. They have been on a down hill trajectory ever since. They still retain their Napoleonic egos, though, Mr Chirac a self styled Empire Builder, until his own people said, Enough! and vetoed the EU Constitution.
Wonder how those "Rioting Youths" voted on that measure?
Without mass expulsions the game is over within the next generation.
But Algeria won't accept this exodus.
The only truly workable plan is to invade Algeria and ship the youths over. Soooo nasty.
The West has to stop feeding these lands subsidized foodstuffs.
France triggered a human population bloom with its Common Market Agricultural Policy.
We speak of our dependency on oil. What of Arab dependency on our food?
Should any OPEC ban occur again: blockade food to pan-Arabia.
Because of the opaque nature of the French media I have a hard time determining what is actually happening. Thus, I will have to go with Liberal Larry's projection ;)
"The past two weeks have been a hell worse than EuroDisney for our beloved French cousins, but the violence is finally showing signs of slacking off. There were only 1200 cars burned on Monday - 200 less than the night before. Last night, it was down to a paltry 500. At this rate, the rioting should finally come to an end right around the time France runs out of cars..." -Liberal Larry
See: France Reborn
I would not count the Gauls out, yet.
The Mohammedans, however, want to assimilate France, not be assimilated. They already ARE Frenchman, born and bred, they are not Gaullist, though.
The greatest of Frenchmen was a Corsican, who knows maybe the next French Emperor/ Emir will be named Mohammed al Lyoni
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chiglum - "Discrediting their political opponents is all they care about."
Didn't know they had Democrats in France
rufus - "When the time comes there will be muslim bodies piled five high all over the ghetto."
I am with you Rufus. I don't know what it will take for self-preservation to kick in, but it eventually will. Even a cornered rat will stand up and fight. Power is what drives politics...the French will fight if it comes to that.
My grandfather won the Croix de Guerre in WW1. It is popular to say that the French will retreat but evidence is scarce to back that up. Apparently they are among our stoutest allies in the covert world.
Regardless it is entirely possible that Villipen and Chiraz will be around long enough to do some very serious damage to France. Above and beyond the terrible damage of simple demographics.
The "youths" have absolutely no desire to "fit" in be part of French society, be loved, swap spit, or any of the other nicities of Western Life. They simply want to run their show.
The question remains are there any Frenchmen around who believe that France is worth fighting for? Many of them left for countries where hardwork was not frowned upon.
We shall see, the Second Battle of Tours has gone against the French so far...we all should pray that they are strong finishers. Losing Force Frappe to our Muslim brothers might not be as much fun as dealing with French arrogance and a lot more painful.
Viva la France!
Mearcstapa said...
What's happening in France is that there is a baby-boom among one distinct population, and no matching boom anywhere else. Where are the gangs of Euro-French kids responding to this? There aren't any.
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you have a point. I'm thinking sharks and jets as in west side story.
no jets.
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I hope it doesn't come to "Lafayette we are here.....again"
But pierre, you are here, not there. If your Grandfather survived the War, he or his progeny obviously abandoned France. Their loss is our gain, but make no mistake, it was their loss.
These "new" French Mohammedans are just as "French" as any Corsican. They just are not as European, by choice.
"Allah Akbar" the new slogan of the French Revolution.
Our curiosity is naturally prompted to inquire by what means the Christian faith obtained so remarkable a victory over the established religions of the earth. To this inquiry, an obvious but satisfactory answer may be returned; that it was owing to the convincing evidence of the doctrine itself, and to the ruling providence of its great Author. But as truth and reason seldom find so favorable a reception in the world, and as the wisdom of Providence frequently condescends to use the passions of the human heart, and the general circumstances of mankind, as instruments to execute its purpose, we may still be permitted, though with becoming submission, to ask, not indeed what were the first, but what were the secondary causes of the rapid growth of the Christian church. It will, perhaps, appear, that it was most effectually favored and assisted by the five following causes:
I. The inflexible, and if we may use the expression, the intolerant zeal of the Christians, derived, it is true, from the Jewish religion, but purified from the narrow and unsocial spirit, which, instead of inviting, had deterred the Gentiles from embracing the law of Moses. †
II. The doctrine of a future life, improved by every additional circumstance which could give weight and efficacy to that important truth.
III. The miraculous powers ascribed to the primitive church.
IV. The pure and austere morals of the Christians.
V. The union and discipline of the Christian republic, which gradually formed an independent and increasing state in the heart of the Roman empire
Edward Gibbon
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Chapter XV
Thought this seemed relevant.
Dan, Gibbon takes the presenting dynamics and articulates them correctly enough, but IF there is only One Creator, then the Christian faith was one more unfolding chapter of the same, unified story.
The points listed in yr quote of Gibbon are, interestingly enough, NOT present any longer in any recognizable 'Christian' religion, but such purity of morals, devotion to living the life, unity of purpose, intellectual integrity and compassionate practice IS evident in the world community of the humans Dedicated to the Glory of God.
But then, Jesus promised that the Holy One would come, with a New Name and leading followers with His New Name, didn't He? (see Rev 2:17, 3:12)
How long until this starts to draw foreign fighters? It seems the chaos is already at a point that would give them the cover they need to operate.
Also are the French the cowards everyone seems to think they are? If so it doesn’t mean they will not put this down, although, they will hate the “youths” for making them face their cowardice and they will most likely be very brutal and cruel when the do put it down.
Patrick went into this situation carrying his only copy of his dissertation? That's dumb. (But his reporting is great.)
Three years ago Theodore Dalrymple had a scary premonition of what's going on now. The sign of a catastrophe were clearly visible three years ago. Welcome to the catastrophe...
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