I am probably the only blogger that has not addressed the devastation of the riots in France, but hopefully I can make that up today. The French wrote the book on rioting and revolution (although they severely mellowed out between WWI and II), and once again the chefs du pays choose to ignore the source of the violence and concentrate solely on the violence itself. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy have adopted the simplified notions of Gustave LeBon that the rioters are criminals, or as Sarkozy so eloquently put it, "scum and riffraff." What amazes me about State leaders that adopt this mentality is that they fail to realize their contribution to political violence. I personally believe that most people resort to violence as a final resort. When the system fails, what other option is there? Has France forgotten its history? The French Revolution stemmed from the same types of problems that resulted in the 12-day riots occurring now.
Villepin's problems are just beginning. Until the French government addresses the "whys" instead of focusing on the "whats," they can look forward to their dissenting population becoming more organized and eventually substituting Molotov cocktails for more sophisticated explosives.
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