Yesterday evening, I was surprised to see that a good friend of mine was online when in her time zone it was well past one in the morning.
“What are you doing still up?” I asked her.
“I’m watching my car to make sure no one sets it on fire,” was the response.
Living in France over the past few weeks has been a surreal experience for those close to me, with the insurrection of an underclass, long held to be poorly integrated, and the emergence of sleepy-eyed and bewildered politicians trying to string the right words together to convey that they plan to get to the bottom of the problem.
Last weekend, among other atrocities, the number of cars torched across the country was well over 2000, elementary schools were destroyed, a disabled woman was badly burned when she couldn’t exit a blazing bus fast enough, and a 61-year-old man was beaten into a coma.
News reports have shown the French of both North African and European origins are trying to make sense of the chaos. With rioters committing acts of such senseless violence, they have been appropriately labelled thugs and hooligans. However, a history of racial divisions has relegated the use of these terms (which accurately describe the behaviour) to bigotry and intolerance.
Clearly the problem is systemic as racial minorities have been denied the same level of access to work and upward socio-economic mobility as their white compatriots. While the anger these groups are experiencing is justified, the choice of behaviour is not. Politicians are now scrambling to come up with something that can quell the worst civil unrest since the student demonstrations of 1968, some concerned citizens are taking to the streets in small groups in an attempt to speak to youth and convince them that engaging in violence is not the answer.
Back in 2003, Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy suggested that France adopt its own version of employment equity: “discrimination positive.” The French have generally perceived such legislation as violating ideals of universal equality of rights. The evident problem, however, is that no other remedies to systemic discrimination have been proposed or tried, so the racial divide persists and this universal equality of rights in practice is a farce.
Past legislation and persisting racist attitudes have created a culture that makes upward mobility for non-white and immigrant groups very hard. Up until 1984, for example, foreign-born citizens were neither allowed to work in the public service nor were they permitted to work in certain professions. They weren’t allowed to practice law, for example.
Further, in a country where who you know is as important as what you know, racial minorities and foreign-born citizens are often excluded from important social and professional networks. Hence, the need for some of Sarkozy’s proposals such as anonymous resume submission procedures, for example.
In the wake of the current unrest, French government is now proposing to make some of the poorer areas “tax-free” zones in order to attract business; they are further stating that assistance in employment will be forthcoming. While such measures may not immediately diffuse a thug with a fire-bomb in the Lyon subway, they could eventually offer him a viable alternative to violence, which is the foundation for a longer term solution. It is certain that the thuggery and hooliganism must come to an end, but when it does, there must be viable alternatives for this generation of youth. Otherwise, the violence will only begin again.
I turn my attention back to my friend in France.
“In Canada,” I tell her, “we turn the garden hose on late night Halloween tricksters armed with toilet-paper or eggs. What will you do if people come to light your car?”
“I’ll open fire,” was the response.
“You have a gun?”
“Well, the fire arms are locked in a cabinet to which only my Father has the combination and he’s not here right now, so all I can do if they come and light my car, is throw the cabinet on their heads.” And, after a moment’s pause: “I’m actually thinking of moving to live in Canada. Do you know of any internships or openings that I might be eligible for?”
I think about Canada relative to France. We too are an immigration country, and while we generally seem to favour an influx of newcomers as part of our nation-building policy, we haven’t yet built a system that welcomes them in and helps them find work, or even gives them an idea of their prospects before they arrive.
We are so focussed on getting them here, that we don’t evaluate the quality of life our nation offers them once they arrive. We know we have doctors driving taxi cabs and other professionals working in entry-level positions and yet before we even solve that problem, we open the doors wider and try to lure more people here on false promises. One of the economic benefits of immigration to a nation has been argued as the degree to which our labour market can exploit newcomers. I wonder how many of the ingredients of social – and racial – tension that are currently exploding in France, are also simmering beneath the surface over here.
