Conffederate
Confederate

May 04, 2007

France Once Again Threatened By Vague Violence, People

Via Rueters:

On the last day of official campaigning, opinion polls showed Sarkozy enjoyed a commanding lead over Royal, who accused the former interior minister of lying and polarizing France.

"Choosing Nicolas Sarkozy would be a dangerous choice," Royal told RTL radio.

"It is my responsibility today to alert people to the risk of (his) candidature with regards to the violence and brutality that would be unleashed in the country (if he won)," she said.

Pressed on whether there would be actual violence, Royal said: "I think so, I think so," referring specifically to France's volatile suburbs hit by widespread rioting in 2005.

[snip]

At the start of her campaign, Royal refused to refer to her opponent, but with time running against her she has changed tactics and has relentlessly lambasted him this past week.

On Friday she said he had exacerbated social tensions during his time as interior minister and added that he was unable to enter some neighborhoods for fear of provoking violence. The suburbs were hit by widespread riots in 2005.

Wouldn't it help if we knew which groups Royal thought might riot, and the nature of the social tensions that would cause them to do so?

If they can't confront the problem enough to even mention who was rioting (primarily poorly assimilated North African Muslim youths) and why (economic hopelessness, cultural divides, among others), then they will never solve the underlying problems leading to this kind of behavior.

Get used to the idea of vague people starting riots for vague reasons in France for many years to come.

Posted by Confederate Yankee at May 4, 2007 11:20 AM
Comments

Hmm, left blasting the right for no rational reason except to get more votes. Sounds familiar...

Posted by: Justin at May 4, 2007 02:15 PM

She's desperate, so she's resorting to mudslinging in a last forlorn attempt to frighten people into voting for her. The french left has been doing that scare tactic for weeks now.

A socialist mate of mine came in the other day saying that if Sarko wins we're all in deep shit. I asked him what he was talking about. Seems he'd read some scary article in a left-leaning magazine about Sarkozy, painting him as some kind of neo-nazi. In reality they're not scared of Sarko, they're scared of the "youths'" reaction to him being elected.

One thing's for sure, just like the increased muslim violence in Thailand (since the putch that gave the country it's muslim PM) is "in spite of" having a muslim PM. Any violence in France, even if it decreases compared to previously, will be "because of" Sarkozy.

Posted by: Aylios at May 5, 2007 06:40 AM

Here's who's rioting.

Unemployed economists.

Posted by: W.C. Varones at May 5, 2007 10:40 AM