Dare said:
This is not a very small group of "agitators" and they are being coordinated, as has been reported by every source I have found. As it stands to reason, such things do not happen en mass spontaniously. In fact, the French Justice Minister has stated they are coordinating their efforts.
As evidence of the coordination, I heard on the radio this morning that several kids that were arrested over the weekend told the cops that the riots would stop if Sarkozy (the Interior Minister) resigned. Who knows if that would actually happen, but Sarkozy, de Villepin, and Chirac have shown themselves to be incompetent boobs over this affair. Sarkozy and de Villepin's presidential ambitions are taking a big hit, and Chirac has cemented himself as a has-been.
They are being encouraged and directed by Islamic militants. So perhaps, it's not entirely a coincidence.. and if it were so, where are the poor Catholic car bombers and poor Buddhist car bombers? Surely not all of the "ghetto" dwelling guest workers are Muslim..
About three weeks ago, we had a group of science fair winners from Seine-St.Denis here at the office as part of a community outreach program. The aim is to get the kids excited about a career in science and technology. We had to cancel the lunch we had planned for the middle of the day, because 9 of the 10 students were observing Ramadan. Obviously this is just anectodal evidence, but the poor areas where the riots are going on are fairly homogenous culturally- not too many Catholics or Buddhists.
And I do not speak of "ghetto mentality" other than to say it is a smokescreen for the true mentality.. which is, ultimately, subjugation. Bigotry? Well, it would seem that there is a genuine threat in amongst this particular group of immigrant bigots, indeed. Considering they are upgrading to rifles now, and after 1,300 burnt cars.. no sign of a decrease.. I wouldn't be surprised to see this spread amongst other European countries.
I would be quite surprised to see this spread to other European countries. France has a long, proud tradition of civil unrest (we have one-day strikes here quite frequently for no reason), and unrest that turns violent- going all the way back to 1789. The last unrest that turned this riotous was probably 1968, but there have been smaller riots since then. For the last couple of New Year's Eves, there have been riots on the Champs Elysées. Torching cars has been a New Year's tradition in Strasbourg for about 5 years, and has spread to other parts of the country. Other European countries aren't quite so enthusiastic about their civil unrest, and are unlikely to follow suit. Of the people that I've talked to about this issue, ex-pats are generally appalled at the violence, Europeans are generally bemused at the situation, and the French tend to chuckle at the lunkheads who burn down their own schools.
EDIT: I've just read that there have been small copycat car-torchings in Brussels, Berlin, and Bremen. Colour me surprised. Still, I doubt that the level of violence outside of France will come anywhere near the level inside...
