Les émeutes and other little details

I'm curious. How many of you have grimaced at my terrible grammar in the title of this blog? It should really be les étrangers, but it's a bit late now. Anyhow, it is definitely <> - and it refers to the eruption of anger that started in the Parisian suburbs and has spread across France in the last 10 days or so. Largely isolated from it because of a lack of tv and sufficient time to listen to the radio, I've seen the BBC perspective online. I do get the impression the foreign media have inflated things somewhat, and certainly the local media have a large degree of responsibility for the spread of things here, as numerous kids have claimed copycat behaviour. We've had only two exposures to the effects of the riots. Firstly, as our car is really pretty dead, and we're not sure what to do with it, a number of friends have suggested which suburb of Grenoble might be the best for disposing of it one of these nights. The second is that the public transport network now stops running at 8:30pm, making it somewhat trickier to get home from our French course each night. But really, we have been untouched.

That's not to say that the riots are without effect, and indeed without, at the core, reason. I don't like the police here, for their very intimidating air (and guns). And I'm a big white man. I have no background to understand the relationship between the French north Africans and the police, where things are much more tense.

Kirstin wrote this earlier:
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The not-so-good-side of France: Made curious by a BBC reference to Amnesty International reports on France, I decided to look up what AI had written -- and was appalled by what I read: not surprising these reports are not referred to in the news here in France! For the past decade AI has been publishing very strong concerns about the truly horrific treatment of non-whites in France at the hands of the French Police. And it has received no acknowledgement from the French government, despite repeated attempts at conversation.
The 2005 report looks like it *must* have been written after the riots -- yet obviously, and tragically, it was written *before.* In the plethora of media discussion, there has been little or no acknowledgement that the French government and police have been *externally* challenged for their human rights abuses, and also repeatedly warned that not dealing with this adequately will probably result in dire consequences. It's incredible to read these Amnesty International reports, flouted by such a powerful EU Member. Unfortunately, after discovering how common racial slurs or jokes are even in 'educated' circles here, I am not shocked....
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