Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

France responds to urban crisis (BBC: de Villepin "strike the right note". Yeah right)
BBC ^ | 8 November 2005 | By William Horsley

Posted on 11/07/2005 5:32:11 PM PST by NZerFromHK

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin seemed to strike the right note in his response to the riots.

But his proposals also showed up the scale of the changes called for in society, to heal the deep wounds that have been exposed.

Mr de Villepin has made a start. No more evasion, and not too much rhetoric about the "values of the Republic."

He has called the situation by its real name - "a crisis in France's cities."

Others have called it a rebellion by an angry underclass.

Mistakes admitted

The French prime minister struck a balance between denouncing the violence and focusing on the future.

The government's response would be "firm and fair". All acts of law-breaking were to be severely condemned.

But France, he acknowledged, had made mistakes in its treatment of its immigrants, especially those from Africa.

Giving a response was a tricky task for a prime minister known for his dashing style but also his record of never having been elected.

He is also known for his romantic notions of French history, but his main goal now is to rescue the sagging reputation of his mentor, President Jacques Chirac.

If Mr de Villepin can fight his way out of this black period he may succeed Mr Chirac as president. If he fails, that prize could go to his arch-rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, or another.

After 12 days and nights of riots and car-burning, the prime minister's much-awaited response was in two parts - restoring law and order, and tackling the problems of unemployment of up to 40%, and deep alienation on the part of many among France's more than five million people of Arab and African descent.

Mr de Villepin stressed the government's first priority was to restore calm and stop the nightly violence in the cities and suburbs. He announced:

* Continuing large-scale police deployments, including 1,500 extra reserve officers, in troubled areas

* Swift and effective justice for all law-breakers

* A judicial inquiry into the deaths of two teenagers in Clichy-sous-Bois, Paris, which sparked the riots

* New powers for the mayors of French cities and municipalities, to impose curfews and maintain order

* A restoration of spending programmes (recently cut back) on community associations of all kinds, to promote social solidarity

'Harassment'

Community leaders from France's main ethnic minorities have demanded new laws to end discrimination in jobs and housing, and an end to what they say is police harassment.

They resent police searches for "sans-papiers" - illegal immigrants - and the constant threat of deportation hanging over them. They also want the right to vote, even for those without French citizenship.

In response, Mr de Villepin proposed:

* A tripling of state scholarships in poor areas, and increased spending on training schemes for under-achieving young people. Some 150,000 children, mainly from immigrant families, are leaving school without any qualifications

* A lowering to 14 of the age when children wanting to quit school can begin an apprenticeship; this idea was at once criticised by some teachers' leaders

* More company job training schemes in problem areas. Immigrants with a college degree complain they rarely even get job interviews because of blatant discrimination

* An urban renewal programme, re-building districts damaged by the riots and building more humane living environments

* More, unspecified, sanctions to counter social discrimination of all kinds

The prime minister skirted round the highly sensitive issue of Islam, the religion of the great majority of the immigrants and their offspring.

Many French Muslims demand more public recognition by the state, and resent the law which bans the wearing of Muslim headscarves.

Mr de Villepin said only that in France all faiths were respected. He acknowledged public concerns about the growth of radical Islamic thinking, but played down the urgency of the issue.

The recent riots are called the worst since 1968. The government has taken its stand on how to repair the damage.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bbc; cheeseeating; devillepin; dominiquedekerry; france; fwance; insurgency; intifada; jihad; msmbias; parisriots; quagmire; surrender; terrorism; uprising
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-68 next last
William Horsley is the BBC European Affairs correspondent.

Does anyone know ways the wake the BBC from its alternative universe?

1 posted on 11/07/2005 5:32:14 PM PST by NZerFromHK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK

How unexpected. France just surrendered....


2 posted on 11/07/2005 5:36:50 PM PST by freebilly (Go USF Baseball!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK
The government's response would be "firm and fair". All acts of law-breaking were to be severely condemned.

If that's firm, God save us from squishy.

3 posted on 11/07/2005 5:37:21 PM PST by dighton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK

LOL! Give em all Cadillacs and a million dollar check. That will fix everything! * rolling eyes*


4 posted on 11/07/2005 5:37:58 PM PST by Normal4me
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK

They keep this up, and I might start rooting for the muslim hordes.


5 posted on 11/07/2005 5:38:21 PM PST by pissant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK
Giving a response was a tricky task for a prime minister known for his dashing style but also his record of never having been elected.

Never mind the riots and the burnings. Let's get to the really IMPORTANT question. Can de Villepin's political career be saved?

6 posted on 11/07/2005 5:39:03 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK
Having mistreated the African immigrants so poorly. Ah, giving them welfare and homes is such poor treatment. This is an assimilation problem and the French government just tipped their hand at their solution. The rest of France must now assimilate to the whim of the Muslim rioter.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

7 posted on 11/07/2005 5:39:18 PM PST by satchmodog9 ( Seventy million spent on the lefts Christmas present and all they got was a Scooter)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freebilly

Yessiree... that sounds like a surrender to me, too.


8 posted on 11/07/2005 5:39:39 PM PST by XEHRpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK



The immigrants from N. Africa already get so much welfare that they don't have to work. Imagine: you can live in France, in Paris, and not have to work.
That is why everyone comes there.
They are NOT coming, as in the USA, to find work.
There is no work and so they remain unemployed, but on the public dole.
End the welfare, and no one will want to come.


9 posted on 11/07/2005 5:39:57 PM PST by CondorFlight
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK

Guess we worried about the French Commmunists for nothing...


10 posted on 11/07/2005 5:40:04 PM PST by yldstrk (My heros have always been cowboys-Reagan and Bush)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK

Wow. An affirmative action program. How novel. How effective. How pathetic.


11 posted on 11/07/2005 5:40:05 PM PST by surely_you_jest
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK
The government's response would be "firm and fair".

Yeah, a good whack from his purse!

12 posted on 11/07/2005 5:40:14 PM PST by Sociopathocracy (The Left and Islamo-fascism, the twin cancers of human history.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK

So the French gov't is basically paying tribute to the barbarians, hoping they'll stop breaking things. But didn't we do the same thing after the Rodney King/LA riots?


13 posted on 11/07/2005 5:40:19 PM PST by randog (What the....?!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK

Hollywood Responds with "crickets"


Move Hollywood! Move NOW! You folks can afford the commute from France, and if you can't,,, doubt we'd miss you.


TT


14 posted on 11/07/2005 5:41:09 PM PST by TexasTransplant (NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSET)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK

Check out that Hollywood handsome photo of de Villepin! I think the BBC is in love!


15 posted on 11/07/2005 5:43:35 PM PST by LibFreeOrDie (L'chaim!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Normal4me
This guy and his master Jack CheeseRack could be Senators from Massachusetts.
16 posted on 11/07/2005 5:43:39 PM PST by JediForce (DON'T FIRE UNTIL YOU SEE THE WHITES OF THE CURTAINS THEY ARE WEARING ON THEIR HEADS !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: pissant

I have said the same thing. I don't know who to root for. On the one hand France is trying to "France" their way out of this. On the other hand, we don't want to have to go in again and save France from their selfs again. The idea that France will raise taxes to pay for these actions just makes me squirm with glee as they will prove that they are thegutless-socialist-inept-wannabee power sorry country that they are.


17 posted on 11/07/2005 5:47:06 PM PST by Normal4me
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK

The French are on their own.


18 posted on 11/07/2005 5:48:49 PM PST by yldstrk (My heros have always been cowboys-Reagan and Bush)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NZerFromHK
BBC: You see! Socialism is great and it is going to work, everything is going to be all right. That is right, there is no danger whatsoever that the Muslim rioters will be great recruits for Al Qaeda and Al Jamma Al Musalaha Al Islamic (Islamic Arm Group). France is not at all in danger of being attacked by terrorists. Terrorists do not exist in France because France does not want to hurt them unlike those nasty Americans and their cowboy President who want to kill all the terrorists and by doing so make them more angry.

Extreme sarcasm.

19 posted on 11/07/2005 5:49:38 PM PST by jveritas (The Axis of Defeatism: Left wing liberals, Buchananites, and third party voters.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Normal4me

In truth, I like the French much better than the stinkin Algerian bums. But if they keep appeasing, I won't shed a tear when they castrate Chirac and de Villepan and make them wear burkhas!


20 posted on 11/07/2005 5:50:09 PM PST by pissant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-68 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson