The unrest in the banlieues here (which are generally large blocks of apartment buildings in quarters outside of the old centers of large towns) began when two ado's (adolescents, generally under 16) were accidentally electrocuted in a Paris banlieue when they hid in an electical substation while being chased by the police for some misdeameanor or another. One was french-arab, one was french-african.

A protest started that night that included the burning of several cars and conflict with the police. The whole thing was escalated when the Minister of the Interior here, Nicolas Sarkozy, refered to the young rioters as "rascaille" which my dictionary translates as "riffraff", but can (evidently) also be translated as "scum" and can have racial overtones.

Over the last three weeks the sporadic late night burning of cars and lighting of fires in trashcans as a protest has spread to other tenement quarters in the larger cities around France.

The burnings appear to be abating, but that could change, I suppose. So far, we haven't seen or felt any affect in Carcassonne, or hereabouts. If you want to read more go to:

Herald Tribune

Thursday, November 10, 2005

FW: "Riots" in France

I am posting this in response to all the kind queries and notes of concern that we have received from our friends and family in the US. I guess from the news there in the U.S., it looks like all of France is burning or something, but that is not the case. And….the “violence” is violence against property (mostly) not against people.

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From: Louisa A. Simpson [mailto:las@lasart.net]
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 2:06 PM
To: 'Karen B. Amarawansa'
Subject: RE:"Riots" in France

Dear Karen –

We are relaxing and enjoying ourselves – it is bad here – but in the “banlieue” or ghetto’s of the cities; it’s kind of like a riot happening in LA and we are living in San Luis Obispo. It’s in the news, but not in our everyday lives in any way.

It’s not quite like the riots in the US. What is happening for the most part is that goups of kids (mostly between 12-16) are roaming around in the largely arab and African ghettos (the “Banlieue’s” are generally areas of large apartment blocks) at night (usually between 2-4 AM) and setting parked cars on fire using Molotov cocktails (evidently there is a certain kind of beer can that is good for this!)– then, of course, they get into scuffles with the police. There have been some more serious incidents, of course, but mostly setting fire to unoccupied cars and some buses.

They have called for a couvert-feu (cover fire) or curfew for kids under 16 years of age as of yesterday in some of the cities affected. Carcassonne has not been involved to date – not really having a “banlieue”, although there are a lot of Arabic people living here. Nevertheless, there have been a couple of car fires set in another provincial town not too far away – a lot of copycat action, I think. Bored* teenagers (called “ados” here) are dangerous – but then again one of the incidents turned out to be related to a feud between two discotheque owners. Perhaps if our garage were big enough we would put our car in it – just in case!

According to the papers, the number of fires set are starting to abate now, hopefully it will be over in a few days, and will not escalate further. This has certainly sparked a huge amount of conversation and dialogue here in France about racism and integration and the economy, etc, etc. Unfortunately, I can’t understand most of it!

I hope you all went out to vote against the Governator…..more dangerous than the kids here, I think.

As far as our own reality goes….the last two days, we took lovely drives in the countryside here, stopping for lunch in quaint villages, and climbing up peaks to medieval fortresses, etc.….. I enclose a couple of pictures taken yesterday and you can see that we are far from any conflicts….(I will put these in a separate posting)

Love to all

Louisa

* It occurred to me later that the use of the word "bored" might sound dismissive of the real plight of the poor and minority people here…I was thinking more about some of the “copycat” car and trashcan burnings that have occurred in the provinces. And boredom is sometimes a product of feeling that there is no future…..

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From: Karen B. Amarawansa

Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 6:00 AM
To: las@lasart.net
Subject: Re: L'Annee D'Ailleurs (The Year Elsewhere)

Dear Louisa and Dave,

Please let us know that you are safe amidst all this chaos. I'm so sorry all of this has happened during a time in which you had hoped to relax and enjoy yourselves.

We are well.

Love,

Karen