The Ugly Truth in France
They're calling it the worst civil unrest in almost 40 years, and now an official state of emergency for up to 12 days has been declared.
And yet while schools are being set on fire, and police are being pelted with gasoline bombs, France's national leaders are expressing sorrow not for victims but for the fact their own sorry socialist system has let them down.
According to an AP news story,
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, tacitly acknowledging that France has failed to live up to its egalitarian ideals, reached out to the heavily immigrant suburbs where the rioting began. He said France must make a priority of working against the discrimination that feeds the frustration of youths made to feel that they do not belong in France.
"The effectiveness of our integration model is in question," the prime minister told parliament. He called the riots "a warning" and "an appeal."
An appeal? The man is clearly not in touch with reality. He goes on to say riot police faced "determined individuals, structured gangs, organized criminality," and that restoring order "will take time." This isn't an appeal. This is sheer violence, started by hoodlums who are complaining about a lack of jobs and discrimination.
Remind you a little of some of the evening news reports in the United States in the 60's?
The difference is that the police here quickly quelled the violence, so that no declarations of up to a dozen nights of a state of emergency had to be declared. Yes, that meant that sometimes the police smashed heads and hands and faces instead of saying "Please, don't do that." But that's the attitude that seems to still be in the air in France.
The AP story says:
The main opposition Socialists, through their parliamentary leader Jean-Marc Ayrault, said they did not oppose the use of curfews but also warned that they should not be used to hide suburban "misery" or become "a new mark of segregation."
Can ANYBODY explain to me how a curfew can "hide suburban misery?"
If this blog sounds a little cruel or insensitive today, let me invite you to look past France--literally--towards other places in Europe.
Like Poland, where the 30% urban unemployment rate is higher than that being quoted for France and where the rural unemployment rate in some villages and towns runs between 60-70%--and has for the last THREE YEARS!
Yet there are no riots, gasoline bombings, school set ablaze or urban terrorism. Nor does the government make idotic statements approach those that that say riots are "an appeal."
The ugliness the world is seeing lit by flames in the streets throughout France is matched by the ugly thinking of its leaders in refusing to acknowledge reality and take the necessary steps involving force to restore peace. Force does not always need to be met with force to quiet civil unrest, but from our part of the world, this is one of those time when it is a viable solution.
And that's the ugly truth.
Click Here for the audio version of today's George Blog
They're calling it the worst civil unrest in almost 40 years, and now an official state of emergency for up to 12 days has been declared.
And yet while schools are being set on fire, and police are being pelted with gasoline bombs, France's national leaders are expressing sorrow not for victims but for the fact their own sorry socialist system has let them down.
According to an AP news story,
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, tacitly acknowledging that France has failed to live up to its egalitarian ideals, reached out to the heavily immigrant suburbs where the rioting began. He said France must make a priority of working against the discrimination that feeds the frustration of youths made to feel that they do not belong in France.
"The effectiveness of our integration model is in question," the prime minister told parliament. He called the riots "a warning" and "an appeal."
An appeal? The man is clearly not in touch with reality. He goes on to say riot police faced "determined individuals, structured gangs, organized criminality," and that restoring order "will take time." This isn't an appeal. This is sheer violence, started by hoodlums who are complaining about a lack of jobs and discrimination.
Remind you a little of some of the evening news reports in the United States in the 60's?
The difference is that the police here quickly quelled the violence, so that no declarations of up to a dozen nights of a state of emergency had to be declared. Yes, that meant that sometimes the police smashed heads and hands and faces instead of saying "Please, don't do that." But that's the attitude that seems to still be in the air in France.
The AP story says:
The main opposition Socialists, through their parliamentary leader Jean-Marc Ayrault, said they did not oppose the use of curfews but also warned that they should not be used to hide suburban "misery" or become "a new mark of segregation."
Can ANYBODY explain to me how a curfew can "hide suburban misery?"
If this blog sounds a little cruel or insensitive today, let me invite you to look past France--literally--towards other places in Europe.
Like Poland, where the 30% urban unemployment rate is higher than that being quoted for France and where the rural unemployment rate in some villages and towns runs between 60-70%--and has for the last THREE YEARS!
Yet there are no riots, gasoline bombings, school set ablaze or urban terrorism. Nor does the government make idotic statements approach those that that say riots are "an appeal."
The ugliness the world is seeing lit by flames in the streets throughout France is matched by the ugly thinking of its leaders in refusing to acknowledge reality and take the necessary steps involving force to restore peace. Force does not always need to be met with force to quiet civil unrest, but from our part of the world, this is one of those time when it is a viable solution.
And that's the ugly truth.
Click Here for the audio version of today's George Blog
posted by George Woods | 4:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home