the french autumn riots of 2005 and the crisis of republican integration

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FRANCIS MESTRIESrepublican equality and a destiny ofunemployment. […] All they dreamabout is having money so that theycan consume like everyone else”(Bouzour, 2005).The lack of criminal recordsamong the riots’ detainees invalidatesthe notion that these revolts were theresult of gang wars over drugterritory. The religious factor does notexplain them either, as the violencedid not have any sort of Muslimcomponent (Wieviorka, op.cit.); infact, some Muslim associations triedto create protection militias, whichwere repudiated by the rioters. Thesame happened with left-wingorganizations, which had nothing todo with the riots, did not foreseethem, and did not understand them.This can partially explain the lack of apolitical agenda in a movement wherethe only demand ever (and onlyoccasionally) voiced was the removalof Sarkozy. This would also explainthe absence of any sort of socialutopia or networks with other popularsectors. In any case, the targets of therioters’ attacks leave little doubtabout the fact that their demands andire were directed at the state.The sociodemographic andsocioeconomic profile of these youthssheds light on the nature of theirmovement: 50 percent of detaineeswere underage, averaging between 14and 22 years of age—some weremerely 11. This explains, for example,the ludic character of the fires, whichwere set by unemployed teenagerswith no access to recreationalactivities. It also shows that thesuccession of riots partially resultedfrom acts of emulation, which werepropitiated by mass media coveragethroughout neighborhoods and cities:“let’s get on TV with more fires.”Thirty-two percent of detainees onlyhad primary education and manywere failing at school, which, inturn, explains their lack of educationalexpectations. Those who were notstudents and were held for trial hadprecarious and badly paid jobs: errandboys, carriers, movers, bakers, etc.(Jeremie, 2006). In short, they werepart of the sub-proletariat.According to a 2006 survey carriedout by sociologist H. Lagrange, theneighborhoods that experienced themost violence during the riots sharedthe same main characteristics:• A high unemployment rate amongthe young.• A high underage population; childrenand teenagers could comprisemore than 35 percent of the population.• A very high rate of large families(over 6 people per family, especiallyamong immigrants from Sub-SaharanAfrica, who have many children andlittle money). This can lead to veryserious family problems, and 83 percentof the rioters lived in small welfareapartments: “They live on top ofeach other; when they grow up theyhave problems with their siblings.Family income is quite reduced andthere is no money left for entertainment(M. Lahtifi, educator, 2005). Accordingto Lagrange, this explosivecombination is the most significantvariable.130SECOND SEMESTER 2007MIGRACIÓN Y DESARROLLO
THE FRENCH AUTUMN RIOTS OF 2005• These are poor neighborhoods inrich cities, and the youths resent thesocial contrasts they face on a dailybasis.• The housing complexes are extremelydeteriorated and waiting tobe demolished.• Black youths were overrepresentedamong the rioting population, afactor that could be linked to theproblems caused by large families livingin small spaces (Lagrange, LeMonde, 2006).CONCLUSIONSThe 2005 riots can be seen as anexplosion of irrational rage involvingpsychological mechanisms of “stigmaretrieval” (Morice, op. cit.), a processwhere the victims of discriminationadopt the characteristics of theascribed stigma and use them as aform of vindication (e.g., thoseclassified as violent gang membersbecome more violent, thosedisparaged as native or black proclaimtheir indigenous character or theirblackness). This mechanism wasanalyzed by Frantz Fanon in histreatise on colonialism, The Wretchedof the Earth.Another possible interpretation isthat provided by Wieviorka, whorefers to floating subjects that cannotquite become actors and insertthemselves into a social, political, orintercultural relationship because theyfeel rejected and unrecognized assubjects. This can lead to angry anddestructive or self-destructivebehaviors when an individual oranother member of the group issubjected to abuse or injustice. Thisviolence can act as a cathartic toolthat tears the individual away from adaily state of passivity and alienationand can lead to a subjectivationprocess that, stemming from aspontaneous feeling of solidarity,could become the first step towardcivic, cultural, sportive, or politicalparticipation on the one hand, anddelinquency and antisocial behavioron the other (Wieviorka, 2005).These riots, however, can alsobe seen a pre-political and antiauthoritarian(rather thananti-capitalist) revolt that seeksrecognition, equal opportunities, andrespect for difference in a society andstate that exclude and humiliate theirbastard children after having exploitedand marginalized their parents. Theviolence enacted by these marginalsubjects represents both protectionand freedom, at least for a while. “Theviolence of the subject is located inthe lacks, the gaps, the decompositionof societal complexes on all levels,from the local to the global”(Wieviorka, 2005).BIBLIOGRAPHYBATAILLE, Philippe (1999), “Racisme institutionnel,racisme cultural et discriminations,”Immigration et intégration:l’état des saviors, Paris, Edit. Dewitte,La Découverte.BODY-GENDROT, Sophie (1999), “Ghetto,mythes et réalités,” Immigration et Integration:l’état des saviors, Paris, Edit.Dewitte, La Découverte.2007 SECOND SEMESTERMIGRACIÓN Y DESARROLLO131
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