July 5, 2023 - 5:30pm
Paris
On the second night of the French riots last week, a terrified councilman in Dreux, a small town 50 miles west of Paris, found himself alone and surrounded by some 200 very young rioters in the deserted local police headquarters. The man, who doesn’t want his name published out of fear of reprisals, locked himself up as best he could, and from behind a shutter watched the rioters set fire to cars and dustbins they’d pushed against the station, hoping for the flames to spread to the building. He was rescued a couple of hours later, shaking.
In accounts of the riots it is the age of the rioters, as well as the extreme violence, that crops up again and again. The mayor of Paris suburb Corbeil-Essonnes, Bruno Piriou, told Le Parisien newspaper that he watched “about 300 very young people, some as young as 12, completely organised, preparing their attack”. According to the mayor, “they were all dressed alike, in overalls and face-covering glasses. A group had a circular saw to cut down the CCTV camera poles. On the walls, they wrote ‘We are the law’, ‘Kill the pigs’, ‘A good cop is a dead cop’.
Dr Mathias Wargon, who heads the A&E department at Delafontaine Hospital in the tense northern Paris neighbourhood of Saint-Denis, says that he and his staff were threatened and insulted by roughly twenty young rioters coming to bring their wounded on Thursday night. “Talking heads and pundits in Paris talk of political reasons, but to me there’s just violence and opportunistic looting,” he said. “We underestimate the stupidity of some of these people”.
The political analyst and editor Fabrice Pozzoli-Montenay has collected stories from state and municipal agents across the country. Most are still in shock, and claim that in several cities many records such as housing requests have been torched. “This had little to do with Nahel’s death,” said a policeman. “We saw some of them use drones to watch police movements; there were malicious calls to clog up emergency services hotlines, for instance for the attack on a police station in the Eure [in Normandy]. Often some groups would block off a street to distract the police while their accomplices robbed shops.”
Emmanuel Macron has suggested that social media and video games are partly responsible for this rise of violence, and was predictably ridiculed by many of those who use these sites. The French President also recently claimed that he would “cut off” social media in a dangerous situation. This is a statement that, if read charitably, shows a complete lack of understanding of how decentralised networks work. Further, it denotes that, pushed into a corner, our post-politics President dreams of going a little Xi Jinping on us.
Most of us have forgotten how Tipper Gore, former US vice president Al Gore’s wife, once made it her cause to limit violence in music and film, resulting in her being endlessly roasted for her lack of sophistication. How, the wags asked, could she think viewers would be so easily influenced? But why, then, the constant effort for minority representation and political correctness in television and films in the last half-century?
If popular culture can promote good, it can surely glamourise brutality, nihilism, callousness, ignorance and urban warfare as well. For the lost children who clearly make up so much of this angry movement, who have fled cramped flats to find solace on street corners, whose worldview has been shaped by the violent scenes they consume online and on television because they will listen to no one and nothing else, this is a self-evident reality.
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SubscribeI disagree,what you describe sounds more like the product of careful organisation, and ruthless commitment. These aren’t lost boys, trying to fill their time by joyriding or hustling, but an organised, and combative minority moved by hatred for the civilisation that surrounds them.
Moreover, let’s not exaggerate the levels of poverty, this is not some third world country, France provides these rioters with a free education from day one, free health care, social benefits etc, that poor people in Asia of Africa could only dream about. If these communities are falling behind perhaps they should look more carefully at themselves and their cultural underpinnings and stop pointing the finger to the world.
I think the idea that this is all to do with there being “nothing decent on Netflix tonight” is absurd and Macrons steer in that narrative direction is nonsense.
He is being dismissive and disingenuous as he’s in trouble.
There’s always someone up for some chaos / punchup but France, and much of Europe, seems to be a cauldron of animosity about a variety of issues at the moment from immigration to complacency in high places (measured in decades).
I strongly agree with your assessment of the relative poverty and the huge advantages these “poor kids” have vis a vis their African, Asian and Latinoamerican counterparts. I just wonder whether the degree of insatisfaction tends to be more relative than absolute. I would think that the “poor french” compare themselves with the life of affluent european elites (which they see every day) not with third world’s.
Certainly, the degree of “insatisfaction” is heightened by the relatively new ability to see how the rest of the world lives, which is witnessed on a hand-held device 24/7/365. Never in human history was this possible. We are experiencing the repercussions of this massive change in real time. If we think this example of social upheaval is significant, just wait until malicious, AI-altered content begins to proliferate, if it hasn’t already. Better have some water and food stored up somewhere.
You have a good point.
However the question remains, why are these groups so prone to rioting and why are they trapped in this perpetual circle of impoverishment, economic stagnation etc. particularly when compared to other migrant groups like the French-Vietnamese for instance.
Certainly, the degree of “insatisfaction” is heightened by the relatively new ability to see how the rest of the world lives, which is witnessed on a hand-held device 24/7/365. Never in human history was this possible. We are experiencing the repercussions of this massive change in real time. If we think this example of social upheaval is significant, just wait until malicious, AI-altered content begins to proliferate, if it hasn’t already. Better have some water and food stored up somewhere.
You have a good point.
However the question remains, why are these groups so prone to rioting and why are they trapped in this perpetual circle of impoverishment, economic stagnation etc. particularly when compared to other migrant groups like the French-Vietnamese for instance.
I think the idea that this is all to do with there being “nothing decent on Netflix tonight” is absurd and Macrons steer in that narrative direction is nonsense.
He is being dismissive and disingenuous as he’s in trouble.
There’s always someone up for some chaos / punchup but France, and much of Europe, seems to be a cauldron of animosity about a variety of issues at the moment from immigration to complacency in high places (measured in decades).
I strongly agree with your assessment of the relative poverty and the huge advantages these “poor kids” have vis a vis their African, Asian and Latinoamerican counterparts. I just wonder whether the degree of insatisfaction tends to be more relative than absolute. I would think that the “poor french” compare themselves with the life of affluent european elites (which they see every day) not with third world’s.
I disagree,what you describe sounds more like the product of careful organisation, and ruthless commitment. These aren’t lost boys, trying to fill their time by joyriding or hustling, but an organised, and combative minority moved by hatred for the civilisation that surrounds them.
Moreover, let’s not exaggerate the levels of poverty, this is not some third world country, France provides these rioters with a free education from day one, free health care, social benefits etc, that poor people in Asia of Africa could only dream about. If these communities are falling behind perhaps they should look more carefully at themselves and their cultural underpinnings and stop pointing the finger to the world.
Britain showed how to deal with this situation after the riots in 2011: eye-watering sentences for everyone captured in the act of rioting or looting. Courts held 24 hour sessions to get through the cases. Bail denied in almost all cases. 4000 people were prosecuted, 900 got prison sentences.
Including this one:
Crime rates dropped year-on-year for the next 4 years as a good portion of all of Britain’s delinquents were doing time or were on a suspended sentence.
The public was well satisfied with the justice system for once.
Britain showed how to deal with this situation after the riots in 2011: eye-watering sentences for everyone captured in the act of rioting or looting. Courts held 24 hour sessions to get through the cases. Bail denied in almost all cases. 4000 people were prosecuted, 900 got prison sentences.
Including this one:
Crime rates dropped year-on-year for the next 4 years as a good portion of all of Britain’s delinquents were doing time or were on a suspended sentence.
The public was well satisfied with the justice system for once.
One thing that is carefully not mentioned is the ethnicity of the rioters. The current official propaganda that the original Europeans are responsible for many of the ills of the world through racism, colonialism and excessive consumption is inherently likely to make youth disaffected and happy to loot businesses and state organisations.when they have an excuse. No doubt the increasing reluctance to sentence the young to harsh punishment also encourages gangs to employ/encourage the young co commit most of the public offences.
Rioting is clearly not a reasonable response to police violence and prejudice as it alienates the public who might otherwise press more vigorously for the police to be reigned in in the light of the evidence provided by the video recordings of the incident that sparked the unrest.
One thing that is carefully not mentioned is the ethnicity of the rioters. The current official propaganda that the original Europeans are responsible for many of the ills of the world through racism, colonialism and excessive consumption is inherently likely to make youth disaffected and happy to loot businesses and state organisations.when they have an excuse. No doubt the increasing reluctance to sentence the young to harsh punishment also encourages gangs to employ/encourage the young co commit most of the public offences.
Rioting is clearly not a reasonable response to police violence and prejudice as it alienates the public who might otherwise press more vigorously for the police to be reigned in in the light of the evidence provided by the video recordings of the incident that sparked the unrest.
Sounds like organized criminal gangs to me.
Sounds like organized criminal gangs to me.
I greatly admire Anne-Elisabeth Moutet’s writing, but in this piece, the content does not appear to support the title “French rioters are bored kids”. The content suggests that, far from being bored, they have been busy preparing for this. France has a very low rate of killings by the police: one every two weeks. So they would not have long to wait.
A more convincing explanation is that the groups doing the rioting are flexing their muscles to intimidate whimp politicians such as Macron.
Agreed. They have learned how gullible politicians can be from the BLM
riotsprotests that garnered hundreds of millions of dollars in de-facto reparations from corporations and other useful idiots.Agreed. They have learned how gullible politicians can be from the BLM
riotsprotests that garnered hundreds of millions of dollars in de-facto reparations from corporations and other useful idiots.I greatly admire Anne-Elisabeth Moutet’s writing, but in this piece, the content does not appear to support the title “French rioters are bored kids”. The content suggests that, far from being bored, they have been busy preparing for this. France has a very low rate of killings by the police: one every two weeks. So they would not have long to wait.
A more convincing explanation is that the groups doing the rioting are flexing their muscles to intimidate whimp politicians such as Macron.
The good news is that riots only come in warm, dry weather.
Will the violence increase with ‘climate change’?
As any change in weather is evidence of climate change more bad weather might reduce riots. Welcome to a post-evidence world.
Let’s hope ‘climate change ‘ agitation restricts itself to throwing orange confetti around tennis courts in south west London
As any change in weather is evidence of climate change more bad weather might reduce riots. Welcome to a post-evidence world.
Let’s hope ‘climate change ‘ agitation restricts itself to throwing orange confetti around tennis courts in south west London
A police officer friend once told me that crime noticeably decreases at temperatures below 38 deg F…….
Will the violence increase with ‘climate change’?
A police officer friend once told me that crime noticeably decreases at temperatures below 38 deg F…….
The good news is that riots only come in warm, dry weather.
I still don’t see any mention of how many of these kids come from homes with absent fathers. Am IP allowed to say that lol. But single Mums cannot raise boys as they do not understand how to manage them.
I think you have to say “absentee non-birthing parent” these days, if you wish to retain banking facilities, that is.
I think you have to say “absentee non-birthing parent” these days, if you wish to retain banking facilities, that is.
I still don’t see any mention of how many of these kids come from homes with absent fathers. Am IP allowed to say that lol. But single Mums cannot raise boys as they do not understand how to manage them.
The writer, like most of her kind show no experience of living in these areas. The question which is vital is ” How many of the looters are children of Islamicists who participated in the Algerian Civil War of 1991 to 2002 ?”.
Algerian Civil War – Wikipedia
The degree of planning suggest that those experienced in subversion are at work. If one looks at the riots in N Ireland they were very precisely organised by the PIRA.Yes there is anger but an angry mob shows no coherence.
A Nigerian friend said there were some whites associated with Trotskyist groups who had been stirring up trouble in Brixton in 1981 who disappeared just before the riots errupted.
I would suggest there is a gap in intelligence gathering between the Police and the security services when obtaining information on these riots. Various political groups work on existing grievances and when an incident such as this shooting occurs are able to mobilise rioter within seconds. The rioters will probably not know they are being manipulated by others for their purposes.
The authorities either need to recruit people living in these areas or people who can move into them and become part of landscape. These areas develop a universal mind and in order to perceive what is likely to occur one needs to be able to tap into it which can only be achieved by living in the midst and connecting. Middle class, especially whites can live in an area and because they never connect to the ” Area Mind ” are completely oblivious to the undercurrents. An analogy is the ability to look at the sea and see the fast and slow currents, changes in directions of the currents, shoals, reefs, sand banks, feel the changes in wind direction, temperature , pressure, look at the clouds, etc an perceive when it is safe and danger is close by.
“If one looks at the riots in N Ireland they were very precisely organised by the PIRA”
Occasionally, of course – but very often not. My mates from W Belfast (the ‘Bone Estate etc) at law college in QUB with me in the 80s used to reminisce fondly about “being out stoning / petrol-bombing the Peelers / Brits” at weekends – it was, if you like, paintballing with an edge lol. Not directed by the ‘RA at all in many cases, simply indulged in for laughs.
I remember once someone in Belfast, some good, kind, well-meaning middle-class soul (as clueless as the folk you refer to re having an “area mind”), tried to run go-karting lessons for joyriders, reasoning that the kids obviously were keen drivers who merely needed an outlet. Of course, take-up was lamentably low. The joyriding kids had limited / no interest in motorsport. No amount of high-speed jinks around a racetrack could ever hold a candle to the sheer adrenalin of possibly being shot dead by the army in hot pursuit.
The over-intellectualisation of the Troubles by earnest middle-class outsiders was a minor personal bugbear of mine for decades. Middle class know-alls in South Dublin and in the Home Counties foisting their undergrad theories onto us etc. Utter nonsense in most cases.
Sometimes, things are as straightforward as they seem …
I accept what you say about much of N Ireland but you are ignoring the Algerian Civil War.Some Algerians ended up, at Finsbury Mosque. It would be interested to compare attitude to France of those Algerians who entered pre 1991 and post 2002. The Islamicists in Algeria were fighting secular socialist pro USSR arabs who governed Algeria which has resulted in them being against most of the values of republican France, especially laicite.
THE SUICIDE FACTORY: Abu Hamza and the Finsbury Park Mosque: Amazon.co.uk: O’Neill: 9780007234691: Books
I accept what you say about much of N Ireland but you are ignoring the Algerian Civil War.Some Algerians ended up, at Finsbury Mosque. It would be interested to compare attitude to France of those Algerians who entered pre 1991 and post 2002. The Islamicists in Algeria were fighting secular socialist pro USSR arabs who governed Algeria which has resulted in them being against most of the values of republican France, especially laicite.
THE SUICIDE FACTORY: Abu Hamza and the Finsbury Park Mosque: Amazon.co.uk: O’Neill: 9780007234691: Books
“If one looks at the riots in N Ireland they were very precisely organised by the PIRA”
Occasionally, of course – but very often not. My mates from W Belfast (the ‘Bone Estate etc) at law college in QUB with me in the 80s used to reminisce fondly about “being out stoning / petrol-bombing the Peelers / Brits” at weekends – it was, if you like, paintballing with an edge lol. Not directed by the ‘RA at all in many cases, simply indulged in for laughs.
I remember once someone in Belfast, some good, kind, well-meaning middle-class soul (as clueless as the folk you refer to re having an “area mind”), tried to run go-karting lessons for joyriders, reasoning that the kids obviously were keen drivers who merely needed an outlet. Of course, take-up was lamentably low. The joyriding kids had limited / no interest in motorsport. No amount of high-speed jinks around a racetrack could ever hold a candle to the sheer adrenalin of possibly being shot dead by the army in hot pursuit.
The over-intellectualisation of the Troubles by earnest middle-class outsiders was a minor personal bugbear of mine for decades. Middle class know-alls in South Dublin and in the Home Counties foisting their undergrad theories onto us etc. Utter nonsense in most cases.
Sometimes, things are as straightforward as they seem …
The writer, like most of her kind show no experience of living in these areas. The question which is vital is ” How many of the looters are children of Islamicists who participated in the Algerian Civil War of 1991 to 2002 ?”.
Algerian Civil War – Wikipedia
The degree of planning suggest that those experienced in subversion are at work. If one looks at the riots in N Ireland they were very precisely organised by the PIRA.Yes there is anger but an angry mob shows no coherence.
A Nigerian friend said there were some whites associated with Trotskyist groups who had been stirring up trouble in Brixton in 1981 who disappeared just before the riots errupted.
I would suggest there is a gap in intelligence gathering between the Police and the security services when obtaining information on these riots. Various political groups work on existing grievances and when an incident such as this shooting occurs are able to mobilise rioter within seconds. The rioters will probably not know they are being manipulated by others for their purposes.
The authorities either need to recruit people living in these areas or people who can move into them and become part of landscape. These areas develop a universal mind and in order to perceive what is likely to occur one needs to be able to tap into it which can only be achieved by living in the midst and connecting. Middle class, especially whites can live in an area and because they never connect to the ” Area Mind ” are completely oblivious to the undercurrents. An analogy is the ability to look at the sea and see the fast and slow currents, changes in directions of the currents, shoals, reefs, sand banks, feel the changes in wind direction, temperature , pressure, look at the clouds, etc an perceive when it is safe and danger is close by.
If we are going to guess ‘reasons’ for the rioting how about a behavioural rebound from lockdown? Or does that cut too close to the narrative that the Powers That Be maintain?
Oh ffs, stop riding your high horse. You reckon those yahoos paid any attention to so-called “lockdowns”, or had jobs to go to in the first place?
Oh ffs, stop riding your high horse. You reckon those yahoos paid any attention to so-called “lockdowns”, or had jobs to go to in the first place?
If we are going to guess ‘reasons’ for the rioting how about a behavioural rebound from lockdown? Or does that cut too close to the narrative that the Powers That Be maintain?
In the USA, every summer some city is set on fire by ‘bored kids’. It’s happens like clock-work.
In the USA, every summer some city is set on fire by ‘bored kids’. It’s happens like clock-work.
These riots reminds me of the riots in Portland and Seattle. Violence for no gain.
I wouldn’t go that far – a lot of them seemed to be more interested in ‘shopping’
I believe the “correct” terminology is protests. Riots is a term reserved for lite beer drinking, overweight, old men who storm capitol buildings in major U.S. cities.
I wouldn’t go that far – a lot of them seemed to be more interested in ‘shopping’
I believe the “correct” terminology is protests. Riots is a term reserved for lite beer drinking, overweight, old men who storm capitol buildings in major U.S. cities.
These riots reminds me of the riots in Portland and Seattle. Violence for no gain.
Here in the US most ethnic groups migrating to the cities have started out with gangs: Irish, Jews, Italians. And then, of course blacks. Now Salvadorians with their MS-13.
Why should France be any different?
Even if one accepts what you say (and I don’t) this goes way past gang violence, which, lets be honest, was mostly confined to internecine violence. This is orchestrated, wide-spead, and aimed at people who have nothing to do with any internal machinations of any particular group.
What about Indian Hindus? Not many riots in Silicon valley.
Irish, Jews, Italians and other gangsters never really doubted the ‘American way of life’, in many respects their first and foremost desire was to become a part of mainstream society albeit by engaging in shady and illegal practices. Put otherwise mafias never question the powers that be, sometimes they work with them, and other times they try to circumvent them, but they never question their usefulness or pretend that they have any other aspiration than making money.
What we see in France on the other hand is a blend of political and criminal insurgencies whose purpose is much more sinister and far reaching than smashing a few cars or stealing stereos.
Even if one accepts what you say (and I don’t) this goes way past gang violence, which, lets be honest, was mostly confined to internecine violence. This is orchestrated, wide-spead, and aimed at people who have nothing to do with any internal machinations of any particular group.
What about Indian Hindus? Not many riots in Silicon valley.
Irish, Jews, Italians and other gangsters never really doubted the ‘American way of life’, in many respects their first and foremost desire was to become a part of mainstream society albeit by engaging in shady and illegal practices. Put otherwise mafias never question the powers that be, sometimes they work with them, and other times they try to circumvent them, but they never question their usefulness or pretend that they have any other aspiration than making money.
What we see in France on the other hand is a blend of political and criminal insurgencies whose purpose is much more sinister and far reaching than smashing a few cars or stealing stereos.
Here in the US most ethnic groups migrating to the cities have started out with gangs: Irish, Jews, Italians. And then, of course blacks. Now Salvadorians with their MS-13.
Why should France be any different?
Even though any details about the demo, psychographic composition of the rioters (E.g., peaceful protesters in America) is not included, I can conjecture that the heart of the matter for most is the need to vent their existential angst: a deep agitation and anger of having been abandoned to godless humanism, relativism, socialism by adults… but especially parents. “Venting” in this way is directed inwardly by means of self-harm, and outwardly by any means possible. Akin so many places on the planet — not the least of which in America — younger generations have been set adrift. Having sown the wind, the whirlwind is taking on many forms… our once-cherished youth being the first on the frontline of carnage.
Only those who survive being aborted, however.
Wow. That’s depressing. Sounds like my neighborhood.
Only those who survive being aborted, however.
Wow. That’s depressing. Sounds like my neighborhood.
Even though any details about the demo, psychographic composition of the rioters (E.g., peaceful protesters in America) is not included, I can conjecture that the heart of the matter for most is the need to vent their existential angst: a deep agitation and anger of having been abandoned to godless humanism, relativism, socialism by adults… but especially parents. “Venting” in this way is directed inwardly by means of self-harm, and outwardly by any means possible. Akin so many places on the planet — not the least of which in America — younger generations have been set adrift. Having sown the wind, the whirlwind is taking on many forms… our once-cherished youth being the first on the frontline of carnage.