Text 16173, 114 rader
Skriven 2005-11-14 08:31:30 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
     Kommentar till en text av Robert Couture
Ärende: Re: Plates
==================
Robert,
 
> That Chirac did not back the USA has nothing to do the riots in France at
> all.  That is the results of the racist biased against the Muslims that
> live in France.  They have been treated as second class citizens all
> along with no chances to get good jobs, education, housing, etc, that
> make up a decent standard of living that they should get.
 
> No, Chirac and the French government are to blame for what is happening
> alone.  It has nothing to do with GWB or Iraq.  It is entirely an
> internal matter.
 
That would be a good assessment of the situation ... in my opinion.
 
For practicality's sake I'll now switch from using "muslim" to "North African
immigrants".
 
It must be painful when one lives in a poor country and notices the richness
and the opportunities in other countries. It is a natural reaction to pursue a
better life, to have better opportunities for one's children, etc... Moving
away from one's ancestral grounds must be a very tough decision, even when one
is needy or hungry. After all you leave part of your identity behind.
 
I had an uncle of mine emigrate to Detroit, USA in 1958. He already had a
daughter there (who had married a US serviceman in 1945, a war-bride), so he
had a stepping-stone. Nevertheless he had a rough time getting settled, getting
started, etc... and without that stepping-stone it would have been a lot
rougher. So I try to imagine what it is like to go to another country with
nothing settled and "try to make it".
 
People looking-in from the outside may easily get the impression it is all milk
and honey here, but they forget we have to work for the milk and honey, work
very hard. They often see the benefits from living here and consider that a
bounty as the biblical "mana" which fell from the skies.
 
Realising it is not like that is a rude awakening.
 
We are talking here about a population with very rudimentary skills, skills
other than being a merchant does not get them very far while prosperity is not
a gift from the government, you have to work for it. That is where the system
fails for these immigrants ... many claim their rights but are unavailable to
fullfill their duties in order to support those rights.
 
Then they start to bond with other ethnic victims of the same kind and where
they settle, they create a kind of ghetto. Ghettos of low-quality housing,
low-qualified people earning low-wages and sometimes even not.
 
Their bad-treatment most-often does not come from the locals but from their own
people.
 
There is an abundance of North-African emigration-offices that will transport
people into Europe for a fee, always way too expensive and near-always illegal.
These "emigration offices" will often house these new arrivals in a place where
they are not noticed, i.e. an already overpopulated neighbourhood composed of
other immigrants and then dropped. They will be housed in overcrowded quarters,
whole families in one room, 3-4 families to an appartment ... inadequate
sanitary conditions, inadequete heating, small kitchen for 30-40 people etc... 
 Most, if not all, of these housing sharks are North African businessmen from
the area where the other immigrants come from. They make a fortune in the
housing-racket.
 
People are forced to hit the streets, get any kind of dirty low-paying job in
order to pay the high-rent, get basic food-stuffs, etc... and are unable to
send children to school for a proper education and climb the social ladder.
Mind you, those that are able to overcome this hurdle are assililated into
society quite easy ... getting there however is the trick.
 
It creates a feeling of despair and that feeling is transferred, voluntary or
involuntary, to the youth who have no experiences about the old home-country.
They merely think they are the bottom of social life with no opportunities to
better themselves. Let that simmer long enough and you have a time bomb at your
hands. This is what happens in France, whether or not the majority of these
people are affiliated to the Muslim-religion is a very unlucky co-incidence but
further has got nothing to do with it.
 
Who is to blame? It depends of what one's position is at the time of the bomb
going-off.
 
Added element is that Moroccans are enchanted by the wage-opportunities. A
slum-wage in France buys them a kingdom at home. Moroccans are encouraged by
their King not to give-up their nationality when moving but to remain Moroccan
and to keep supporting their families in the homeland. So it is estimated that
over 10% of the country's gross national product comes from monies sent home
from abroad. It makes the country fairly rich, also with its phosphate-mines in
the south, with very little incentive to improve the living-conditions at home
since those that work in France (and Belgium and the Netherlands) will take
care of it. The Moroccan royal family as well as the Saudi (!!) royal family
fund the sending of fundamentalist muslim clergy who speak the language of the
immigrants  and keep them in check via their religion thereby avoiding their
assimilation in the French society.
 
When the time-bomb then explodes, part of the explosion is genuine, but part is
pure 100% street-criminality by gangs of youngsters.
 
Last week, in France, an 11-yr old kid was arrested at 4am (!!) while
setting-fire to a car. He eventually confessed several acts of arson and
declared it was fun and exciting to do so. Now does this example fit into the
image that is created by news-services. Of course not, it is just an individual
example. But it makes one truly wonder how much of the street violence we
witnessed is "time bomb"-related and how much is street-criminality?
 
I don't have the answer but I have the strongest of reservations about all the
"time-bomb"-comments as all the leaders of the muslim- or North-African- or
Moroccan religious and/or cultural associations are profoundly shocked as well.
 
My personal observation is that we're witnessing low-level criminality in
France.
 
Take care,
 
 \%/@rd

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 * Origin: "Leonard will be free" - http://www.leonardpeltier.org (2:292/854)