MORE ON THE UPRISING IN FRANCE

'We hate France and France hates us'
From Guardian Unlimited

"On the radio they said the last time they used that law was in the Algerian war. Is that stupid or what? Ninety percent of the people who live here are Arabs. What does that tell them? Fifty years later, you're still different? We're not allowed outside, and everyone else is?" [...] Ali's friend was an Arsenal fan: "Thierry Henry, man! But he never scores for France." Does he feel French? "We hate France and France hates us," he spat, refusing to give even his first name. "I don't know what I am. Here's not home; my gran's in Algeria. But in any case France is just fucking with us. We're like mad dogs, you know? We bite everything we see. Go back to Paris, man."

Sylla summed it up. "We burn because it's the only way to make ourselves heard, because it's solidarity with the rest of the non-citizens in this country, with this whole underclass. Because it feels good to do something with your rage," he said.

"The guys whose cars get torched, they understand. OK, sometimes they do. We have to do this. Our parents, they should understand. They did nothing, they suffered in silence. We don't have a choice. We're sinking in shit, and France is standing on our heads. One way or another we're heading for prison. It might as well be for actually doing something." more

Europe faces 'fear of all things foreign'
From Guardian Unlimited

" ... But problems of discrimination, youth unemployment - half of the detained French rioters are under 18 - racial prejudice, religious intolerance, and xenophobia induced by fear of terrorism and globalisation are entrenched in most European countries, said Aurore Wanlin of the Centre for European Reform. And they have potential to cause more explosions."more

More liberty and equality
From Guardian Unlimited

"When, on Monday evening - the 12th day of the unprecedented wave of violence which has spread throughout France - the French prime minister Dominique de Villepin addressed the nation, he was careful not to say the word.

However, President Chirac and his government yesterday passed a decree giving full powers to the prefects of France to implement curfews wherever they deem it necessary. For the first time in 44 years, the political power in France feels compelled to use the act of April 3 1955, thus declaring a state of emergency, l'état d'urgence. This law was used by General de Gaulle, in 1961, to restore order in Algeria and Paris, where at least 200 French Algerians were shot dead by police." more