Riots

Bonjour tout le monde. I've gotten a lot of questions, comments, and concerns about the violence in France right now. I'm really not sure how American media is portraying it, but from what I can guess I'd say they're blowing it way out of proportion as a way for the ever-misled Bush administration to further prove French "inferiority". I realize the situation has been going on for almost two weeks now, but to give you an idea of how low key it is here, I knew nothing until Sunday. No big newspaper headlines, my host family didn't mention it, nothing in Politics class, nothing. So here's the lowdown...

There has been civil unrest in certain French cities, originating from Paris suburbs following the death of two adolescents who were fleeing from the police and sought refuge in a power station. After climbing the protective fence, the two were electrocuted in a part of the facility. (I still fail to understand how the death of these young men is anyone's fault but their own. Some say they were running from the police, the police deny it, but regardless these two young men chose to climb into a power sub-station in their Parisian suburb... what did they think was going to happen?! Perhaps it was the straw that broke the camel's back or it was just an excuse to take out other anger at the government... but continuing)

This coupled with a particularly violent rhetoric from the Minister of the Interior directed towards the criminal elements of certain communities, that some of the community members have understood as being directed at their communities as a whole, has provoked a rash of incidents. I personally believe that the fact that the majority of the violence is being carried out by immigrant youths stems back to the fires in Parisian illegal housing, which the government didn't do much about, over the summer...

Numerous cars have been burnt as well as symbols of public authority such as schools and police stations. Usually youths on motorscooters ride around and throw Moltov Cocktails into car windows. The "violence" has reached Grenoble, but is restricted to two main areas, both commonly known to be of high immigrant populations. These places are easily avoidable, but car fires and such are only carried out after dark (about 9pm here) so it's really not a problem.

No one in Grenoble seems affected by any of this. My friend Tiffany and I were discussing how, if something like this were happening in the US, there would be armed guards on public transportation and police absolutely everywhere and people would stay in all the time... thus further propagating the sense of fear that those starting the violence wish to spread. However, the French don't really seem all about allowing those who use illegal and dangerous methods to get what they want... (hmmmm... and we wonder why they didn't support the Bush Administration's decision to invade Iraq...) So life here hasn't really changed at all, I still have friends going to Paris to visit, and Tiffany and I are headed to Bordeaux this weekend. We're all perfectly safe, and as long as I continue using common sense I won't ever be put in any danger. Hope everyone reading this is having a great week!! Talk to you later!!

For more information and updates in general I reccomend http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4413964.stm but please remember that things happening in suburbs of Paris are MUCH MUCH worse than things here. Also please feel free to e-mail me or snail mail me with any questions, I'd be happy to answer anything.

d-weigel@onu.edu Dana Weigel, 3 rue John Kennedy, 38100 Grenoble, France