Perspectives

The French Intifada, one year later

The causes and consequence of the Paris riots

By Megan Sego
From the February 2007 Print Edition

            Last year, headlines were filled with the riots in Paris suburbs — with the burning cars, banlieues, and beaten police officers. However, the emergence of riots did not correspond with the beginning of Islamic violence in France, and the violence’s disappearance from the front pages did not indicate its end. A year later, the situation continues to worsen and raises concerns that the new Intifada will spread to the rest of Europe.

Despite the descriptions by the Washington Post, New York Times, and even Fox News of the rioters as “youths” affected by France’s oppressive labor laws, it has become obvious that the violence is perpetrated by Muslims in France seeking to quell Western influences. Some sources estimate 2,500 policemen were injured by these riots in 2006 alone, amounting to a staggering 14 officers injured per day. The London Times estimates that the number of burned cars averages to 114 per day. These demonstrations were termed political — and, therefore, solvable.

However, acts of violence continued even after French President Jacques Chirac bent to the demands of the mob in April 2006 when he scrapped the “First Job Contract.” The peaceful demonstrators dispersed, but the raging vandalism persisted. Those throwing Molotov cocktails weren’t union members or students, they were immigrants and children of immigrants living in segregated ghettoes called banlieues; places police are now afraid to enter or even pass through because of the repeated attacks by their inhabitants. 

These attacks have been called an “Intifada,” meaning “shaking off” or “uprising” in Arabic, a term that refers to the Arab-Israeli conflicts of the ’80s. Unsurprisingly, the French conflict parodies the Palestinian situation with thrown rocks and cries of “Allahu Ahkbar.” The largest call for concern, however, is the degree of organization the demonstrations and attacks have attained.

The South Asian Analysis Group cites the demonstrations as gaining momentum under the direction of Hizb Ut-Tehrir. Meaning “The Party of Liberation,” Hizb Ut-Tehrir’s official site lists it as “The Party whose ideology is Islam,” and whose main goal is the re-establishment of the Caliphate. SAAG cites Hizb Ut-Tehrir as using Parisian sleeper cells combined with operatives from England “to stoke the anger of the youth and exploit it for their purpose.” Though the party claims to support change through demonstration and not terror, buses continue to burn. 

But even if the media doesn’t adequately report how the violence is fueled by Islamic influences, the emigration statistics for those leaving France should illuminate the issue. The perennial enemies of radical Islam — the Jewish people — are emigrating in record numbers. The number of Jews leaving France for Israel has doubled since 2001, and the number of Jews leaving France for Montreal has increased by more than 700 percent, according to the Canadian National Post. The Islamic sponsors of French violence as well as their traditional and Western targets are clearly documented. 

The cause of this violence is a history of failed assimilation. Since France’s days as a colonizing country, immigration to the hub of the empire has been diverse. Assimilation and France’s strict laws regarding separation of church and state since 1905 have proved to be major provocation of rage within the immigrant communities. The 2004 law on secularity that bans religious symbols from public schools has become known as the “headscarf law” due to its prohibition of the hijab worn by Muslim women and girls, although it also bans crosses, skullcaps, and Stars of David. This law is an effort to promote a common, secular, public space where citizens are French first. But immigrants, especially those of Muslim background, will not assimilate. France is partly to blame for this: in post-WWII legislation, work permits for short time periods were used to encourage Arab laborers to immigrate en masse. This began the trend of cultural segregation, settlement in poor areas, and disincentive to assimilate.

Unfortunately, the immigration problem is not confined solely to France. Across Europe, socialized medicine and high minimum wages have attracted millions of immigrants from impoverished countries looking for a better life. Often, once they’ve arrived, the onus to participate in society stops cold. More harmful than failed assimilation is the deliberate exploitation of the immigrant communities by radical Islamic groups. Sleeper cells like those of Hizb Ut-Tehrir have fueled much of the recent terror across Europe, hijacking small-scale or nonviolent movements and blowing them to titanic proportions. The Danish Muhammad cartoons, the Pope’s quotation of a 14th-century document, and a German Shakespeare production featuring decapitated heads of Jesus and Muhammad were seized upon to stoke the flames of racist hatred. 

Europe’s supposed tolerance of “diversity” has allowed radicalized immigrants to freely defame, denigrate, and destabilize the society that affords them their livelihoods. Groups that ought to be red-flagged are frighteningly permitted to travel freely throughout Europe. Fear of offending Muslims causes Europeans to shy away from enforcing their laws, leaving the rest of society unprotected. These issues will not end until Europe realizes that the problem is radical Islam, and the solution is enforcement of laws. Otherwise, radical Islamists have already accomplished their goals.

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