Will riots in France push Western Europe to the Right?

[Silverhair]

I instantly admit that the causes of the riots in France are complex, BUT the average person of any country is going to look for simple reasoning. The common European will see Islamic raising hell in a European country, and will not look any further.

RW candidates in Holland are already taking advantage of the political murder by an Islamic group a few months ago. The riots by Islamics have been going on for almost two weeks now, and are getting worse. Last night the riots spread to over 200 locations and over 1,100 cars were torched.

This WILL produce a backlash. The question is: How big will that backlash be?

I predict that there will be a significant rightward move in French politics, and to a lesser extent, a rightward move in the politics of other European countries too.

[billbuckhead]

1. The last time they had riots in France the rightwing government fell

Just a fact. The 2005 riots are actually the failure of a rightwing governments even further rightwing interior minister.

[tx_dem41]

2. If you're talking 1968, the Gaullists stayed in power.

DeGaulle retired, but his party retained power in the next elections in June 1969.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Look At The U.S. In The 60's...

This is the results of generations of segregation and economic exploitation. It's been a long festering problem in many European countries.

Few of our "brainy" media has delved into the relationship the French have had with various Arab cultures and, in many ways, how it parallels our problems with Blacks. I haven't heard any mention of the occupation of Algeria and the resulting flow of young Algerians (Arabs) into France in the 50's and 60's...followed by Tunisians and Morroccans and then later by "guest workers" from other Arab states. This was an underclass for decades that has festered in the "anti-terror" "red scare" of the past several years.

The backlash of these riots aren't how they will affect French politics as much as if these riots spread to other Arab or minority communities that have suffered similar discrimination...the Mollocans in the Netherlands, Libyans in Italy, Turks in Germany and so on.

The French will have to come to grips with the change in the culture they've long resisted. Just like this country struggles to be diverse while being unique, the French have put unique about diverse and their cities are burning for it.

[Silverhair]

5. The American race riots of the 60's produced the "Law & Order"

politicians. The American voting public moved to the right as a backlash against the riots.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Vietnam Affected That, Too

I remember watching the riots of April '68...seeing the West Side of Chicago go up in flames and some of those areas haven't recovered...nearly 40 years later.

Yes, the riots did a lot to help both Nixon and George Wallace and divide the Democratic party...making the Southern Strategy possible.

I don't condone these riots, just am trying to understand the causes of them. To paint it as a "Moslem" problem as though this has some connection to this country's "war on terror" is a wrong characterization and one the corporate media seems comfortable with playing with.

One difference I see in this country in those days that I don't see in France is that by '68...when the worst riots occured and the swing to the right began (the next real bad riots I can remember were in Miami in the late 80s) there had already been more than a decade of civil rights strife and activity...including the '65 Voters Rights act. The Arab minorities in France have been considered a sub-class for generations and the change, if it ever is to occur, will be glacial.

Cheers...

[Silverhair]

9. Agreed. But the average person does not look deeply at an issue.

The average person looks on the surface only. And the surface pictures is of Islamics raising hell. That is what they will be reacting to.

[passy]

4. This has nothing to do with religion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501515_pf.html

Read this article to get a good understanding of the situation and its origins.
It has more to do with poverty than religion, the majority of these rampaging youths do not have much faith, they usually spend their time high on hash just hanging about.
This is a cry of frustration and they see the possibility of being heard, these people are normally marginalized, kept in their concrete ghettos with no job and no future, their situation is not unlike that of many black americans living in urban areas; run down housing, no job opportunities and a prevalent drug and crime culture stemming from the lack of any foreseeable change in their lives and the society around them.

As for turning to the right, the racist and extreme right party the national front in France is already very strong obtaining in some elections close to 20%.

If you had read the comments made by the French prime minister last night you would have realized that the measures he proposes are far from being to the right. His measures are socialistic in nature, his aim is to use the infrastructure of the state to help those who need it the most.

The last two weeks are actually pushing the rightist government of Chirac to move to the left in its policies. This is not a new problem, this kind of incident has been predicted for the last 20 years and yet nothing was ever done to solve it. The government must take its share of the blame for what is happening now.

I hope that the events of the last two weeks will actually lead other European nations with large numbers of immigrants to face up to their problems.

[Silverhair]

6. Did you even read what I said?

I will repeat my opening: I instantly admit that the causes of the riots in France are complex, BUT the average person of any country is going to look for simple reasoning. The common European will see Islamic raising hell in a European country, and will not look any further.

Did I say it was about religion? NO I DID NOT. I said that the AVERAGE person will see a paticular group (Islamics) that are doing the rioting, and will respond negatively - commonly called a backlash.

My question was regarding how big the backlash will be. It would be interesting if you might speculate on that.

[passy]

8. The common European is a bit more informed than you think.

No I do not think that the average European thinks that this is about muslims raising hell. They are generally very aware of the society they live in, especially those living in big cities.
Due the propaganda of the government and the mass media, Europeans are actually more wary of older muslim men with long beards that might be planning terrorist attacks than disaffected youths.
Although it might anger a large number of people, most realize that this is a societal and cultural problem not a religious one.
Therefore the backlash you speak of will not be against muslims, they already have to deal with being of the same fate as OBL, which is enough.
If there is a backlash it will most likely be against the government for having failed to make the country safer as promised in their political campaigns. The actions of the Interior minister, who many see as courting extreme right wing voters, have only helped to exacerbate the situation. His policies are not appreciated by the French at large. Chirac's party is also very weak having suffered huge losses in local and european elections. And since this seems to be a situation where a group is fighting the government, the majority of people will side with the opposition.
So no, I do not think that there will be a backlash either against muslims in general or the poor citizens of the suburb-ghettos.

[Silverhair]

10. Thank you for addressing the question. Hope you are correct. NT

[billbuckhead]

11. The rightwing only has a hammer as a tool so they look for nails

This can be an opportunity for the left.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

12. It worries me

The far-right parties, who have been (helped by some of the media) spreading lies & hatred about immigration & asylum, are crying "we told you so". Eg The British National (Nazi) Party:

"It is becoming increasingly obvious to all indigenous Europeans that the multi-cultural experiment, forced upon almost every western European country in the past 40 years has well and truly failed, and all those European nations which contain a potential fifth-column of inassimilable Muslim and African immigrants, from the UK to Italy, Spain to Sweden must question just how those in charge of law enforcement are today prepared to deal with a similar situation across towns and cities in their respective nations."

http://www.bnp.org.uk/news_detail.php?newsId=609 and

"The British are indeed tolerant. We have tolerated, we have endured 50 years of immigration forced upon us by successive Labour and Tory governments. We never asked for our society to be changed wholesale, we never wanted our daughters to wander the streets of our housing schemes only to fall prey to gangs of predatory ethnic attackers, thieves, rapists and paedophile groomers. We never wanted our sons to be afraid of the “no-go” areas that exist for indigenous people in many of our towns and cities. We never wanted our ancient liberties of free speech, our free right of expression and our free right of association to be stolen from us by politicians desperate to keep a lid on criticism of their multi-cultural project. We have been tolerant, we have been patient, but that toothache in our society is getting worse by the day and surgery is now needed and it is surgery we now demand."

http://www.bnp.org.uk/news_detail.php?newsId=614

Thankfully - at least over here - from what I've seen, the right-wing press has been (for them anyway) reporting the French riots pretty sensibly & not making sweeping statements.

[BoomerSoonerOKU]

13. While they may not see it as raising hell

there is still a big possibility of voters shifting to the right just to "take care" of the problem.

Many people see anything but violence used to solve violent situations as inaction.