Moldy Peaches

French President Jacques Chirac is talking tough in the wake of the eleventh straight day of civil disobedience. Chirac is promising arrests, trials and punishment for those sowing "violence or fear" across France — as the urban unrest that has triggered attacks on vehicles, nursery schools and other targets hit central Paris for the first time.

Apparently the youth are not amused. Shortly after Chirac pleaded for calm, rioters fired at police in a Paris suburb, injuring 10 officers hours. Young men armed with guns fired on the police Sunday night in the suburb of Grigny and seriously hurt two of them, the Interior Ministry said.


Youths set ablaze thousands of vehicles and torched countless businesses, schools and symbols of French authority, including post offices and provincial police stations. The violence took another alarming turn with attacks in the well-guarded French capital. Police said 35 cars were torched, most on the city's northern and southern edges.

The tipping point for the riots happened on the October 27 electrocution deaths of two black teenagers, who climbed an electrically charged fence while running from police. Residents blamed police for the deaths. This is, however, just the straw that broke the camels back.

The root cause of this is French society. Individuals, particularly in Muslim and North African immigrant communities, are expressing pent-up anger at the country's labour market. Many of these individuals are unemployed and finding it exceptionally difficult trying to integrate into French society. Why?

France is one of the most conservative Western Democracies in the world. French farmers are pampered beyond belief, in fact they are dragging the European Union and other countries, including Canada, into an unnecessary trade subsidy war. Next, the trade union movement is far too strong and the labour laws are far too liberal. The French labour movement is too busy worrying about Turks and other Eastern Europeans "stealing French jobs" to actual work hard to get ahead.

The French (society) political culture is so risk and change averse. While the rest of Europe (and the world) adapts to the changing technological based global economy, France has its head in the sand. This combined with their xenophobic attitude towards immigrants is a recipe for disaster.

Hopefully for the people of France these incidents serve as a political and personal wakeup call. It is time for France to get into the 21st century.