November 7, 2005 (excerpted)
CYBER-RIOTING IN FRANCE
"We Aren't Going to Let Up! Are You Stupid?"
By Kim Rahir in Paris
The riots in France are spreading -- and not just to cities across the country. An intense debate is also taking place on the Internet. Many are horrified by the riots. Others are planning them.
Official Paris is in an uproar...
But the real debate about the nightly riots is taking place far from the halls of power. It's taking place on the Internet...
The messages are mostly written in chat jargon full of abbreviations and grammatical errors. "May Allah lead you into Paradise," reads one message addressed to the two boys...
But almost as soon as the riots started in the neighborhood of Clichy-sous-Bois, other messages of solidarity quickly followed. "Thank you Clichy! Montfermeil is with you," read one. Another read simply, "Courage Sevran, we are with you," when that neighborhood became the target of rioting.
Photos soon joined the messages, many of them showing burning cars and police officers chasing down rioters. Not all of it was to the liking of the providers -- the blog www.bouns93.skyblog.com was quickly blocked, "because the rules weren't respected."
On the Internet, though, there are other, more ominous voices to be found. One entry, for example, from the provocatively-named "pureporc," is filled with anti-Islamic and racist insults. The next entry in the list reads simply, "Are we actually in France?"
But just as the Internet has proven useful to those wanting to vent their frustration and anger at the violence enveloping France, others -- those involved in the violence -- have found the Internet a useful organizational tool. Plans for further attacks have made their appearances in different blogs -- like that from "Brahim." "Nice work people," he writes. "The cops are petrified of us, everything must burn, starting Monday, the operation 'Midnight Sun' starts, tell everyone else, rendezvous for Momo and Abdul in Zone 4 ... jihad Islamia Allah Akhbar."
User "Samir's" message is just as threatening. "You don't really think that we're going to stop now? Are you stupid? It will continue, non-stop. We aren't going to let up. The French won't do anything and soon, we will be in the majority here."
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,383682,00.html
This only goes to prove the youths have not assimilated into French society. They don't capitulate. They don't surrender.
Hooligans don't have the advantage of 1,400 years of preparation.