NATIONAL MESS

Street riots are nothing new or unusual in France. But they have not been so large-scale until late June and early July. For several days, thousands of migrants and local youth have gone on the rampage on the streets of French cities after the killing of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on June 26. A native of Algeria worked as a courier and was stopped by police for violating traffic rules. According to the police, he tried to flee and one of the policemen shot him.

The incident can at least explain the reasons for such a large-scale riot. The real problem occurred when the protests turned into real pogroms with no obvious goals or special demands. Rioting mobs in Marseille, Grenoble, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Lille, Paris and other cities smashed shops, broke, looted and set fire to everything they found on their wat. Hundreds of personal and police vehicles, buses, and various buildings, including schools, museums, and libraries were torched.  Stones, sticks and firecrackers were thrown at law enforcers and other authorities. The wife and child of the mayor of L'Aille-les-Roses were injured when the protesters rammed their house and attempted arson. In Lyon, a demonstrator fired at officers using his rifle and injuring seven of them. To bring the situation under control, 45,000 police and gendarmes and thousands of firefighters were mobilised nationwide on July 1-2.

Police arrested about 3,400 people during the riots. According to the BBC, the arrested include paramedics, restaurant workers, factory workers, students and the unemployed.

In fact, there still exist ghettos in many of major French cities, where life is different from the rest of the neighbourhood. For example, the infamous Clichy-sous-Bois, or the Paris suburb of Nanterre, home of the Algerian boy Nahel deadly shot by the police. Next to Nanterre is the wealthy ultra-modern business and residential district of La Défense, where the standard of living is quite different. As many protesters said, police would never have used guns in a similar situation against a white young man from a wealthy suburb of Paris. Young people from poor neighbourhoods have regular clashes with law enforcement. Ghetto residents call it racism, which extends to blacks and Arabs.

French subcultures

There is a paradoxical situation in the French society. The indigenous population say they are tired of migrants and related criminality, while the French authorities constantly talk about a multicultural society, tolerance and human rights. But only in words. In reality, little is done to really integrate migrants into the society. How can one become a law-abiding citizen with no chance of encountering good role models, or attending good schools to receive good education since the childhood? There are, of course, exceptions, but this is the situation France has in general.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, said that "for France, the riots are a moment to seriously address the deep problems of racism and discrimination in law enforcement". But it is worth remembering that the eradication of racism and discrimination must also be based on economic, social and cultural rights, well-designed educational programmes, and moral values. But the international human rights system tends to ignore this aspect of human rights. Therefore, the result is an insoluble tangle of contradictions, where everyone seems to be both guilty and innocent at the same time.

How come there are so many well-organised youth gangs in France? Did the police know about them before, and what were they doing about it? Are there similar gangs in other European cities? After all, many of the larger ones have migrant neighbourhoods, which law enforcement agencies try to avoid. Does it mean they have their own, special laws? Is it like a state within a state, or is it called something else? If so, how should we call them, given the applicable laws of France and the EU? Remarkably, President Emmanuel Macron blamed "video games" for the outbreaks of violence. According to him, apart from coordinating the protest movement, Snapchat and TikTok also encourage the youth to engage in violence. It is reasonable to ask then why children have no alternatives to video games.

Past debts

Another important point is that the murdered Nahel was from Algeria. So those familiar with the chronicles of the eight-year Algerian war in the middle of the last century, regard the recent incident in France in a very different context. According to statistical data, more than 1.5 million people were killed during the French rule in Algeria (1830-1962). The skulls of Algerian freedom fighters are still kept as war trophies in a Paris museum. France also conducted nuclear tests in Algeria and literally dotted the Algerian territory with mines. However, the Algerian war was only the culmination of the French colonial history.

In the 20th century, France also has a tangible presence in Morocco, Tunisia, Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, Chad, Madagascar, and Cameroon. This list can be extended... Now the natives of these countries heading to Europe as migrants sometimes claim that Paris owes to them. Interestingly, some of the French claim the same.

In his keynote address at the ministerial meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Baku on July 5, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev noted that one of the countries that continued the policy of neo-colonialism was France. He recalled that Paris, which positions itself as a defender of human rights and international law, continued to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. Mr. Aliyev also underlined that the recent withdrawal of French troops from Mali and Burkina Faso once again demonstrated that "France's outrageous policy of neo-colonialism in Africa was doomed to failure".

"Unfortunately, France is trying to impose the same vicious practices in the South Caucasus, supporting Armenian separatism in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan and using geopolitical rivalry, foreign military presence and the colonial policy of Orientalism... France even bans the Corsican language and does not accept the concept of ethnic minorities, trying to present itself as a defender of the Armenian minority in Azerbaijan. This is nothing but hypocrisy and double standards... Instead of trying to lecture others, the French authorities should fight such disturbing trends in their own country. The killing by French police of a 17-year-old Algerian teenager is yet another sign of racism and Islamophobia in France. We join the UN statement deploring the police shooting and calling on France to seriously address the deep problems of racism and discrimination in law enforcement agencies," President Aliyev said.  

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed a similar view, noting the root of the outbreak of violence in France to be its colonial past and institutional racism. He also recalled the recent incident with five wealthy tourists who died at the wreck site of the Titanic where they travelled in a special bathyscaphe. The media all round the world have unsuccessfully followed the search and rescue operations of the tourists, publishing many interviews and expert opinions, reviews, and anxiously wondering how much air they could need to survive and sympathetically describing possible scenarios of their death. Meanwhile, shortly before, several hundred migrants on an overcrowded boat, which took off from African shores, had sank off the coast of Greece. But this incident was not discussed so widely.  Maybe because it has happened many times before. And each time such tragedies are quickly forgotten.

As a means of political struggle

Does it provide an excuse for pogroms? Does it justify violence? Of course not. Especially since none of the pogromists operated with such facts. It is unlikely that they are even good students at school and know history.  Protesters have neither a leader nor specific demands. Rather, what we see are just pogroms for the sake of pogroms. Sometimes one needs to open the lid of a boiling pot to keep it from blowing off.

And here we have yet another nuance of the recent incident in France.  Migrant communities in this country are also a very good and powerful tool in the political struggle. For example, during the 2005 pogroms, Nicolas Sarkozy was the Minister of the Interior, who managed to cope with the situation and then used it in his presidential campaign. Apparently, Macron is following in Sarkozy's footsteps.

Especially since the riots have left behind the yellow waistcoats' protests, who pose a more tangible threat to the incumbent French government than aggressive teenagers without a goal, leader or direction. People are unhappy with the unpopular pension reform and tired of the economic crisis. Therefore, the June-July 2023 protests cause even more fatigue and fear among the ordinary law-abiding citizens. In such conditions, one has nothing to do but agree to any conditions in attempt to make everything the same as it was before—international couples from strolling near the Eiffel Tower and tourists leisurely sipping wine and coffee in summer cafés on the peaceful streets around the Notre Dame.

It seems that the situation in France has normalised. But the reasons behind the riots are still there. And all the questions remain unanswered.