The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris (The Underclass in France)

City Journal ^ | Fall 2002 | Theodore Dalrymple

[dennisw]

Thanks for the ping

[FreedomPoster]

If this one is half true, the French will be forced to speak Arabic to their rulers in my lifetime (I'm early 40's).

[dennisw]

I am reminded of a Black American and former communist (whose name I can't recall at the moment), after visiting the Soviet Union in the 70's and walking around Moscow's enourmass depressing housing projects said to himself "Shit- this is what I want to turn America into?"
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Paul Robeson? Plus I thought you had left FR for good.

[FreedomPoster]

Ferdinand and Isabella bump! They didn't just fund the exploration of America.

[FITZ]

It seems many Europeans feel happier with Islamic culture than their own. They're ready to let the barbarians be in charge. Spain must also have been that way at one time, it took them 700 years to get rid of Islam.

[Letitring]

This was great, and so very true.

[Burkeman1]

No- He died unrepetentant. He actually had a Russian Jewish Novelist friend who was taken into NKVD custody and his case became one of the few acknowledged by the American Left as perhaps unjust in the "Perfect" Soviet Union. Robeson met with him in a room with NKVD agents and told friends in private that he was distressed by his appearence as he had been obvioulsy tortured. But what did he say to the American Leftist press? He was fine. The Jewish novelist was latter executed. Robeson was given an award by Clinton I think a couple of years ago for being some sort of great American. Sickening.

And yes- said I would leave- tried a few other forums- Lucienne.com - was expelled from there within an hour. Came back to the home ground. FR- love it or leave it. I guess I love it. This is the most tolerant forum on the net for opinion. I didn't know how well I had it until I tried some others.

So mea culpa- I am back to annoy and challenge you.

[DoctorMichael]

......but......but........this CAN'T be the France that all these Hollywood liberals like Baldwin, Altman and Streisand want to run to.

[SauronOfMordor]

France is a semi authoritarian state ruled by about 1000 famlies and has been for centuries. It has only a veneer of democracy. The population are sheep and even people who "work" in France are partially on the dole.

The underclass is needed by the elite, both in the US and in Europe. The underclass is the threat the elite hold against the middle-class: keep paying taxes and don't complain, or we will unleash our animals against your neighborhoods

Visualize Paris or New York or Los Angeles the day after the welfare checks didn't come

[CatoRenasci]

Important Post Bump!

Thanks, Knighthawk!

[dennisw]

This is the most tolerant forum on the net for opinion. I didn't know how well I had it until I tried some others.
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I feel the same way. And thanks for the material on Paul Robeson.

[Burkeman1]

That has an element of truth in it. Keep paying your taxes and towing the line or else you will live among the animals.

[mountaineer]

Fascinating article. I returned from Paris yesterday, and while I didn't witness any crimes, I did see about 7 cops - with guns - surround and take a guy into custody in one of the Metro stations for something.

[FITZ]

Visualize Paris or New York or Los Angeles the day after the welfare checks didn't come

You're right.

[RodgerD]

This aricle shows why it's so vital that the Clinton-Bush open-borders crowd be driven out of Washington ASAP. Of course, this will be difficult, if not impossible to do, however, since immigration-fueled rot comes on gradually. By the time the harm is apparent, the "aggrieved" new groups have achieved critical mass - and have been taken up as allies by the self-hating left.

[Prodigal Son]

Now that is what journalism should be about. Apparantly France has a very serious problem brewing.

I've got to admit, I lived in France for about 9 months- half of that I lived in Paris. I never had the first problem with crime- but then, I'm not an idiot either. While we were searching for a flat sometimes we'd emerge from the Metro station and survey the neighborhood the flat was in and just turn around and hop back on the train. We lived in the 12th. Didn't seem to be that many immigrants there.

But it's true, if you get on the RER and ride to the outlying areas of Paris, it's a whole different world. It's kind of the reverse of a lot of American cities. The affluent people are in the city center itself and the "burbs" are populated by the underclass. But in Paris central as long as you avoid certain areas (Like Bois de Vincennes and Bois de Bologne after dark) and certain Metro stations, it's safe enough- for a city its size.

Like another poster mentioned though and the author himself touched on in the article- when that underclass decides to get on the Metro/RER and storm the city- the elites will have no place to go.

I think the wife and I are going to have to hop on a train and take a trip through the Chunnel and go see what's up for ourselves. I never had any desire to go see these cite areas- but the author has piqued my curiosity.

Thanks for posting this- good stuff.

[TheMole]

Dalrymple megabump. The explanation of the mentality in the HLM suburban ghettoes was superb. I've been to France twice in the past 10 years and as far as I can tell everything he writes is true. The strong unions/high unemployment syndrome is a major problem. Some FR posters don't appreciate how good things in the USA actually are with regards to jobs and employment for virtually everyone.

BTW, I went to the City Journal site for a look at the latest, and found a second article by Dalrymple that is, seriously, another masterpiece. Check it out.

Oh to be in England - The Starving Criminal

[Travis McGee]

Phenomenal read! Long but gripping, an incredible vision of a socialist multicultural hell.

We will see EURABIA in our lifetime, since the Europeans are too tired and beaten to offer resistance.