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 ...
The French should be asking themselves the question,
"What have we done to make them hate us?"
Bawhahahahahahaha.
I think you are right. The present situation arises from the end of French rule in Algeria. The immigration of many partly assimilated Arabs into France was followed by many of their relatives who were not. The immigrant communities
have turned into ghettoes because few of the "Berbers" have become French.
His spin about this should really be a wonder to behold.
Like my old man used to say, "Take out your driver's license and look at it...THAT'S who you are."
1,295 cars torched, 312 arrests Sunday night.
Viva la France
1.295 véhicules ont été incendiés et 312 personnes interpellées dans la nuit, le bilan le plus lourd depuis le début des émeutes.
They're 'my kids' and all they want is recognition. Get out the hankies. Doesn't that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside? Ahhh.
I almost missed this part: 'We want to change the govt.,' he said. Uh oh. It sounds as if they aren't willing to wait thirty years until they've got a plurality. Is anyone in France listening? Anyone who thinks life will go back to 'normal' after this is crazy.
How many have adopted the simple expedient of giving their children French names?There are plenty of "John" Garcias in the United States.
Tomorrow's WashPost story will focus on shattered Parisian dreams, boyhood hopes forged in bakery (or drug dealing) dissolve in the reality of French Intifada....and it's Bush's fault! These 'yout's are only expressing their frustration over 'the war in Iraq, Bush's refusal to sign Kyoto, Bush's cowboy ways'....or you fill in the blank, but Bush is at fault.
Hey maybe we can start midnight basketball and build them a community center...(/sarcasm off)
"You suck, ya stupid Moo."
When these 'poor, impoverished, neglected' youts take flying lessons which don't involve landing instructions, Paris should worry. Until then, go back to sleep.
Denmark isn't even on the MSM's radar.
It sounds as if Ms. Rezzoug recognizes the difference between the American dream and the French dream. That should make de Villepin and Chirac wince.
San Francisco, Seattle...are two US cities with silent marches at the top of the to do list when firebombed for a week.
Iran's top whacko has already ordered all Muslims to take to the streets and burn down France.
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