Le Flic

Civil unrest, riots, fires and violence; the news over the last few days is chock full of this stuff.

On Sunday S and I took one of our patented Sunday picnics. We pick a small town - people are always telling us ‘Oh, you just have to go to [insert name of small village] it is just the most beautiful little village in France’, and yes all these small towns are quite charming - and we visit it. Then we find a nice overlook outside of town and have a picnic.

The town, this time, was Cordes sur Ciel. Which means ,‘Cordes in the sky’. Which is supposed to be a comment on how close it is to the heavens or something. Anyway it’s on a hilltop north and west of Albi.

It was a cute little medieval village built on the top of a not very tall hill. Full of its own history much of it having to do with the Count of Toulouse and having been one of the first bastides in the Languedoc region. It was basically a medieval city founded to encourage growth. The sovereignty built the center of town and surrounding lands and shops were given to individuals who promised to build up agriculture and commerce for that town and therefore also for the kingdom; a way of creating instant roots for the kingdom. Of course this initial founding is followed by years of religious wars, royal wranglings and of course plagues; things that seem to be a part of most of the medieval cities of this region.

Anyway, the town was charming and the surrounding lands are vineyards for the Gaillac wine region. We ended up having our picnic inside the van as the weather here has finally turned cooler. I think it was 48° outside when we ate at around 1 p.m. S found us a nice hilltop with a view of vineyards and freshly planted wheat fields. We enjoyed some tomato salads with mozzarella (my favorite) and bread and wine (I had water). It was a fabulous outing.

The oddness was in the drive, it was only a short drive from Toulouse, maybe an hour and in that time we saw 5 Gendarme patrols pulling vehicles over for inspection. Now, they looked just like the patrol that pulled me over to inspect my paperwork that one time, but they were looking for something specific. I daresay they were looking for North African/Arabic/Muslim looking men driving vehicles that could be concealing materials used in the making of fire bombs.

The torchings began in Toulouse, and a few small surrounding cities, on Friday night and have continued for about 4 nights. The rioting is small scale and confined to one of the southern neighborhoods, which as you might guess is the tenement area to which all of the North African/Arab/Muslim/disenfranchised/angry youths have been relegated. News says that to date 140 cars have been torched in town and several bins near government buildings have also been set on fire. Thus far the police have managed to use tear gas to effectively disperse crowds and keep the violence contained.

Today I read some recent interviews with some of the arrested youths that have appeared in ‘La Depeche’. These kids describe plans to draw police into the tenement complexes and then ambush them with fire bombs. These are kids of 19, 16 and even 8 years of age who say they have nothing so therefore have nothing to lose. Local officials feel that these kids are just out to imitate what they’re seeing on TV that is happening in Paris. Whatever their reasons they seem quite determined.

I drove into town today to meet someone for lunch and there are Gendarmes everywhere. There is one group stopping vehicles coming into our little town. Nothing has happened here locally and I suppose they want to keep it that way. But in the heart of Toulouse there are patrols at major intersections and even at some minor intersections that lead to neighborhoods that are predominantly Arabic.

So to answer all of your questions, we are fine. The newspaper interviewed the mayor of Toulouse who assures everyone that things are under control and that they expect to see an end to violence soon. Religious leaders are taking responsibility for these youths and measures are being put in place to settle disputes ‘honorably’ though what that means is anybody’s guess. It’s a very long term problem that has been going on for years and will continue for years to come, for a variety of reasons; each only serving to add another complication to an already complicated issue.

You know I've heard, in the past two years, many people refer to this group as 'Arabs', said much in the same way people of the 50's and 60's would have said the word 'nigger'. It's really sad, this country does not believe in affirmative action type laws because it would then be reverse discrimination in the hiring process, so therefore these groups have no protection or legal rights to jobs.

We had tea in this adorable little teashop off one of the main streets in town once, a while back, and it was run by an Arab gentlemen who told us of being harassed by the cops all the time, pulled over because he drove too nice a car for an ‘Arab’, being stopped on his way home because he didn't fit in the neighborhood he was driving in. He even had to pull some tricks to buy a house in the neighborhood he bought in. By the time the neighbors and seller realized who had really bought the house it was too late to back out. But over the years the neighbors have not accepted him and his family, but have at least let them be.

Yes, these people have a genuine beef, but the answers are hard. No one can really see a solution that is going to fix all of the issues. The French simply do not like the North African/Arab/Muslim people and I think that it's primarily a religious thing. The French are predominantly Catholic and have little understanding, patience or empathy for the dress/beliefs/lifestyle of these foreigners in their midst. Not to mention the whole nationalistic/this-is-our-country-so-learn-our-language-and-start-to-look-like-us issue that any US minority will tell you they also encounter.

The origins of the problem go way way back but now the problem has been and will continue to be aggravated by the EU opening borders. As more of the newer EU member countries are Eastern European and therefore predominantly Muslim and they're coming to Western Europe to find jobs these clashes will grow worse. Add in that unemployment among the French is 13 to 15% in parts (over 20% for Muslims) no one is willing to give a perfectly good 'French job' to a foreigner no matter how qualified they are.

So there you have it, my thumbnail analysis of a problem so vast that no amount of burning or rioting will fix it, and one that the French are perfectly willing to keep ignoring once this unpleasantness settles down.