In the Paris suburn of Savigny Sur Orge, above an invitation to an evening of chanson, young people are reminded of the curfew in place from 10pm to 7am. Curfews, deportations and macho language from Paris may have quelled the unrest in France's troubled suburbs, but the rioting teenagers and burning cars exposed deep divisions in the nation's economy.
It was a French sociologist, Emile Durkheim, who coined the term anomie for the malaise and alienation that result from radical social change. For him, writing in the 19th century, it was the Industrial Revolution that had shifted social boundaries and caused suffering and dissent. Today, as youngsters from the banlieues take to the streets, some experts argue it is globalisation that has caused society's norms to break down.
Income inequality - the gap between the haves and the have-nots - has not increased in France in recent years as it has in the US and UK. But a toxic combination of poor education in poor areas, and in some cases sheer prejudice, creates a vicious circle which means that those from ethnic minorities, heavily concentrated in large estates on the outskirts of cities, can become trapped outside the job market. Muslim fundamentalism, poor parental discipline and the ghettoisation of minorities probably all had their part to play in causing the riots, but economists say chronic unemployment certainly doesn't help. Interviewing the youngsters on the streets, one could get the impression that it is one big party -- or, as one young man for Mali claimed, the rite of passage that he would have had in Mali, but is now deprived of in the back streets of Paris.
Part of the blame can be laid on the French labour market itself, which is frequently criticised as heavily protected and excessively rigid. That means people who are already in jobs are well looked after; it's difficult to fire them and they receive generous benefits. But, paradoxically, those very protections can mean that fewer new jobs are created.
There is evidence that some groups come off especially badly. More than a fifth of youths are unemployed, twice as high as the average rate for adults. For foreign-born workers, it's even worse. Almost one in four is out of work, and in the districts the government has designated 'zones urbaines sensibles' - the most troublesome city areas - more than a third have no jobs. Education levels for foreign-born workers are far lower than those for French natives and the gap is wider than in many other countries. Some of last week's rioters said they were third-generation unemployed.
Those divisions are reinforced by a streak of prejudice. The attitude of employers exacerbates the problem. Studies show that if you say your name is Mohammed and you come from Clichy-sous-Bois, you're less likely to get a job than if you say your name is François and you come from Paris. Plus ca change..........
Just how bad things are for ethnic minorities in France is impossible to say - because it's illegal to try to find out. There is no ethnic monitoring in France, because it is forbidden by the constitution. It's a deeply republican, ingrained thing: all citizens should be regarded as equal.
And, just as in the US, social programmes targeting minorities have been strongly resisted: money is distributed to particular areas of the city, rather than channelled to the most deprived social groups. When the elite Parisian university Sciences Po began an outreach programme to schools in poor areas, some of the objections came from students themselves, who said the value of their own achievement in winning a place at the college would be devalued.
Preparing Europe to cope with the exigencies of globalisation - the 'China Challenge', as Gordon Brown likes to call it - was at the top of the agenda when European leaders met at Hampton Court this month. Sweeping away agricultural protection and using the cash to increase skills, invest in technology and so on may be part of the solution, as Britain argues. But the teenagers from the Parisian banlieues were sending a powerful reminder that European governments will also have to think about those who are left behind
TAGS: Paris Riots
Chateau Lalinde Perigord Dordogne
Holidays in France
References: Le Monde Le Figaro The Guardian The Observer
