It's a very complex situation and a result of incompetent politics for the past 30 years.

It's not "all over" France yet, just in some suburbs of some of the main cities. You can still hang around safely in most suburbs and city centers. It could however spread rapidly and even more dramatically.

The concerned suburbs were built in the 1960 to welcome most of the immigrating population from North Africa. To this day, this population still represents the majority of the people living there. The configuration of these suburbs has also maintained a certain communitarism. There are also real problems such as racial discrimination in France, especially regarding employment and housing, that have kept a lot (too many) of these people in these suburbs. All this slowing a necessary integration.

The first generation kept silent of all this, too happy to live in appartments with water and electricity, and keen on integrating themselves through their jobs. The second generation, as French citizens, received the minimum education and information to realise the injustices. Some still managed to get out of these ghettos by working twice as hard... Others sucked it in and let it all out through violence against anything that represents the State or wears a uniform, from Policemen to Fire Fighters or even Mailmen. My cousin worked in these suburbs as a fire fighter. He once had to bring a guy that had been stabbed back to life with the stabber holding a gun on his head telling him that if the guy died he would hold him responsible. His truck was thrown stones at when coming in to fight a fire and actually save people... That's how full of nonesense the situation is, that's how deep the crisis gets.

In the meantime all governments failed to realise what was a slowly but surely rottening situation. Through inappropriate coward reforms they just slowed the process at best.

The groups that are rioting these days do not represent the majority of their neighbourhoods. A lot of people in there just want to go on with their lives, but these bastards just want to set things on fire for the sake of pissing the State off. The people in these suburbs have been crying for help, schools, sports arenas, associations and all to get them a life. That's what the bastards are burning today. It just makes no sense. These are a stupid hopeless minority, but the danger now is that integrists, mainly islamists, are behind them as they are also well hidden in these suburbs.It's a safe bet to say they're starting to organise the whole mess.

In reaction, the government is showing all it's incompetence and deconnection from the real world, all the political correctness that makes it so numb.

What France needs now is nothing else than redefine it's institutions, it's education, it's social, immigration and employment plans, etc... Anything else, though probably calming things down for a while, would just delay an even bigger mess.


Ponrauil