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Rage of French Youth Is a Fight for Recognition
Washington Post ^ | 11/6/5 | Molly Moore

Posted on 11/05/2005 11:12:03 PM PST by SmithL

LE BLANC-MESNIL, France, Nov. 5 -- Mohammed Rezzoug, caretaker of the municipal gymnasium and soccer field, knows far more about the youths hurling firebombs and torching cars on the streets of this Paris suburb than do the police officers and French intelligence agents struggling to nail the culprits.

He can identify most of the perpetrators. So can almost everyone else in the neighborhoods that have been attacked.

"They're my kids," said Rezzoug, a garrulous 45-year-old with thinning black hair and skin the color of a walnut.

While French politicians say the violence now circling and even entering the capital of France and spreading to towns across the country is the work of organized criminal gangs, the residents of Le Blanc-Mesnil know better. Many of the rioters grew up playing soccer on Rezzoug's field. They are the children of baggage handlers at nearby Charles de Gaulle International Airport and cleaners at the local schools.

"It's not a political revolution or a Muslim revolution," said Rezzoug. "There's a lot of rage. Through this burning, they're saying, 'I exist, I'm here.' "

Such a dramatic demand for recognition underscores the chasm between the fastest growing segment of France's population and the staid political hierarchy that has been inept at responding to societal shifts. The youths rampaging through France's poorest neighborhoods are the French-born children of African and Arab immigrants, the most neglected of the country's citizens. A large percentage are members of the Muslim community that accounts for about 10 percent of France's 60 million people.

One of Rezzoug's "kids" -- the countless youths who use the sports facilities he oversees...from Ivory Coast. At 3 p.m. on Saturday, he'd just awakened and ventured back onto the streets after a night of setting cars ablaze.

"We want to change the government," he said,

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: france; frenchmuslims; frenchriots; islam; moossuck; parisriots
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I certainly can recognize terrorists.
1 posted on 11/05/2005 11:12:04 PM PST by SmithL
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To: SmithL

perps are victims ping


2 posted on 11/05/2005 11:14:13 PM PST by Fenris6 (3 Purple Hearts in 4 months w/o missing a day of work? He's either John Rambo or a Fraud)
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To: SmithL
... the French-born children of African and Arab immigrants, the most neglected of the country's citizens.

Well, then. Deport or jail all of the neglectful parents of those kids. Just don't let poor parenting be an excuse for socialist, wasteful, programs...

3 posted on 11/05/2005 11:16:49 PM PST by 69ConvertibleFirebird (Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.)
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To: SmithL

"We want to change the government... There's no way of getting their attention. The only way to communicate is by burning."

No, but apparently thats the only way you know to communicate - blowing up innocents, beheadings, riots. Nice little non-violent culture ya got there, barbarian.


4 posted on 11/05/2005 11:17:04 PM PST by Fenris6 (3 Purple Hearts in 4 months w/o missing a day of work? He's either John Rambo or a Fraud)
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To: SmithL
"It's not a political revolution or a Muslim revolution," said Rezzoug.

That's right Ressoug, keep your head burried deep in the sand. Nobody destorys the country for "Recognition". That's just pure bull.

This is France's 9/11 in slow motion, and in typical French tradition they think its a simple social problem.

5 posted on 11/05/2005 11:17:56 PM PST by adamsjas
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To: SmithL

6 posted on 11/05/2005 11:18:32 PM PST by Slings and Arrows (Nature abhors a vacuum. So do cats.)
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To: SmithL

"It's not a political revolution or a Muslim revolution," said Rezzoug.

Yep and if a nation stays out of Middle East politics it will experience no terrorist attacks either.

When the French decide that they have a problem and start treating it that way at EVERY level (including their government run press) they'll be able to fix it. Until then they'd better dig out the smores.


7 posted on 11/05/2005 11:20:32 PM PST by Tzimisce
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To: Slings and Arrows
Exactly

TITLE NEEDS "BARF ALERT"

8 posted on 11/05/2005 11:22:07 PM PST by Coffee_drinker (Since Bush became president, the taliban are gone, saddam is gone, Khadaffi is neutered, arafat died)
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To: SmithL

"It's not a political revolution or a Muslim revolution," said Rezzoug. "There's a lot of rage. Through this burning, they're saying, 'I exist, I'm here.' "

Heck, at this rate, I can handle American teens wearing PJ's to school and coloring there hair green to ge noticed.


9 posted on 11/05/2005 11:24:10 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Coffee_drinker

TITLE NEEDS "BARF ALERT"

It's from the WaPo - of COURSE it's a barf alert! Doesn't need to be separately stated.


10 posted on 11/05/2005 11:25:09 PM PST by hsalaw
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To: hsalaw

LOL, You are correct.


11 posted on 11/05/2005 11:28:11 PM PST by Coffee_drinker (Since Bush became president, the taliban are gone, saddam is gone, Khadaffi is neutered, arafat died)
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To: SmithL

Recognition? Recognition of what, that cars burn? This is no cry for recognition, it's a bunch of young hoodlums raising hell and getting away with it. Which they will.


12 posted on 11/05/2005 11:28:29 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: SmithL

needs a barf-o-rama alert


13 posted on 11/05/2005 11:29:28 PM PST by GeronL (Leftism is the INSANE Cult of the Artificial)
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To: SmithL

I'm just waiting for the day when I catch one of these Muslims tell the truth.


14 posted on 11/05/2005 11:29:32 PM PST by jwh_Denver (PO'd politically? Write, fax, call, or email your representatives and pitch a pig.)
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To: SmithL
We're here! We're queermuslim! Get used to itburned!
15 posted on 11/05/2005 11:30:32 PM PST by kenth (A zot! A zot! My kingdom for a zot!)
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To: Billthedrill

The French Police should come down really hard on these kids and give them very long prison terms. Of course they will likely get a slap on the wrist because they were just trying to be heard. :(


16 posted on 11/05/2005 11:30:40 PM PST by Coffee_drinker (Since Bush became president, the taliban are gone, saddam is gone, Khadaffi is neutered, arafat died)
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To: metmom

I think what these Muslim parents better figure out in the next two or three days...is the amount of counter-rage going on...and that non-Muslim gangs are about to start walking the streets in revenge for what is going on. If the cops can't control the mess...then French citizens will. The last time this occurred...if you remember...there was a little revolution...and an awful lot of dead Frenchmen. In this case...you will start to notice reports of a dozen Muslim youths found...dead...on city streets. When you read those reports...things will start to become even more critical.

These Muslim parents have to reign in their punk kids. If they can't control them....they will be burying them.


17 posted on 11/05/2005 11:32:32 PM PST by pepsionice
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To: SmithL
"Rage of French Youth Is a Fight for Recognition"

Yea, Target recognition, acquisition and fire. Or to let the rest of the world know who the real enemy is. There is no excuse for France or any other country to tolerate this. Wipe the scum of the face of the earth now or suffer far worse in the future.
18 posted on 11/05/2005 11:32:39 PM PST by PositiveCogins
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To: SmithL

Its just a matter of time before Al Quada begins arming these little darlings.

Then this wanker can talk about his "victim" kids


19 posted on 11/05/2005 11:32:51 PM PST by Greenpees (Coulda Shoulda Woulda)
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To: SmithL
"They're my kids," said Rezzoug, a garrulous 45-year-old with thinning black hair and skin the color of a walnut.

Well, hello Mister Fancy-Pants. I got news for you: you ain't got nothin' but Jack and S***. And Jack just left town.

20 posted on 11/05/2005 11:33:34 PM PST by Prime Choice (I can open hearts and minds effortlessly. I have a hacksaw.)
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