Posted on 11/03/2005 9:40:34 PM PST by ncountylee
CLICHY-SOUS-BOIS, France Talk to people outside the Bilal mosque in this rundown suburb north of Paris and they will tell you what has gone wrong: why rioters for the past week have confronted the police in overnight bursts of anger in the streets, torching cars, hurling rocks and even firing bullets in the worst civil disobedience in France in more than a decade.
Beyond the poverty and despair of life in the shoddy immigrant communities ringing the shining French capital, local Muslims say, there is no one left with any sway over the rioting youths. Parents, the police and the government have all lost touch, they say.
On Thursday, after rioters disregarded an appeal for calm by President Jacques Chirac, firing bullets at the police for the first time as the rioting spread for a seventh consecutive night, the government held emergency meetings throughout the day. But despite Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's vow that "law and order will have the last word," the police were bracing for more violence as night fell.
In Clichy-sous-Bois on Thursday afternoon, outside the entrance of the Bilal mosque - a converted warehouse where a tear-gas grenade landed on Sunday, stoking fury against the police - celebrations of the end of the monthlong Ramadan fast were overshadowed by the widening disturbances.
Opinions about the riots among people gathered at the mosque differed, but everyone from the deputy imam to local council workers and men leaving the midday prayer agreed that the trouble has been compounded by a vacuum of moral authority.
"If you want authority over these kids you need their respect - but all the normal channels of authority lost their respect a long time ago," said Ali Aouad, 42, who has lived in this northeastern town for two decades. "They feel neglected
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Occupation "forces"???
"Force" is a strong word.
These are the French, after all!
When was the last time you saw a journalist clarify that Dominique was, indeed, a man's name? ;)
Of course it's a joke. Or some terrible writing/editing.
Thank God. Amazing how something like that could truly be believable......
Nothing surprises me any more.
Yes, the whole website is full of fun stuff.
http://www.scrappleface.com/
Gee... maybe inviting all those immigrants to settle in France wasn't such a good idea after all.
In post 7, you need to id the source as sarcasm from SCRAPPLEFACE.
You make it seem like the frogs actually said this when you do not source your material adequeately.
Thanks George.
The sad reality is the scrapple face nuances are probably very close to the truth.
Thank you. You have a good point. I will try to make it more clear in the future.
Please also refer to post # 17 and to post # 24 where Scrabbleface is linked and noted.
"The sad reality is the scrapple face nuances are probably very close to the truth."
That's why it's so funny.
You are correct. Good parody is so close to the truth, that they are often hard to separate.
What a dumb article. The whole thing was about how they had to open some sort of "dialogue" with the rioters thorugh mediators. Except for the fact that the police are trying to prevent crime in the high crime suburban areas, using reasonable means this is all just a bunch of nothing. The reality behind the fog of political correctness is probably Islam vs France.
I have enjoyed your thoughtful posts.
Have you seen this recent joke?
The IHT is owned by the NYT.
The ironic thing about the weak kneed, accomodationist, anti-hero worshipping left is it is a product of the 1960s plan of the Soviets to distablize the west using the ideas of Antonio Gramsci. See John Fonte's excellent "Why We Have A Culture War" article for a backgrounder. It used to be before the Soviet's scheme that any smart person could make observations and speak on topics and his idas could apply to all people. Now, only Muslims are allowed to speak for muslims, only blacks are allowed to speak for blacks, etc. This is the concept of "organic intellectuals" which Gramsci pioneered.
Now the Arabs who were unaffected by the soviet cultural campaign and still playing by 19th century rules are charging into the ideological vacuum that has been created now that the Soviets have lost interest.
Yeah....and there also seemed to be a plug in there for midnight basketball...they were lamenting the cutting back on sports programs for the yout's.
Will the french get the balls and call out the military? I don't think so, not until the government itself is threatened by the rioters. This will happen soon, however.
Send in the UN! Where's Koffi??
LOL...That is very good.
At least we can have some fun while we fight the good fight.
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