Alain Finkielkraut on the Paris riots

[pieter]

www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/646938.html



Alain Finkielkraut. "When an Arab torches a school, it's rebellion. When a white guy does it, it's fascism. I'm 'color blind.' Evil is evil, no matter what color it is. And this evil, for the Jew that I am, is completely intolerable." (Hannah/Opale)

What sort of Frenchmen are they?

By Dror Mishani and Aurelia Smotriez

PARIS - The first thing the French-Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut said to us when we met one evening at Paris' elegant Le Rostand cafe, where the interior is decorated with Oriental-style pictures and the terrace faces the Luxembourg Gardens, was "I heard that even Haaretz published an article identifying with the riots."

This remark, uttered with some vehemence, pretty much sums up the feelings of Finkielkraut - one of the most prominent philosophers in France in the past 30 years - ever since the violent riots began on October 27 in the impoverished neighborhoods that surround Paris and spread with surprising speed to similar suburbs throughout the country. He has been following the events through the media, keeping up with all the news reports and commentary, and has been appalled at every article that shows understanding for or identification with "the rebels" (and in the French press, there are plenty). He has a lot to say, but it appears that France isn't ready to listen - that his France has already surrendered to a blinding, "false discourse" that conceals the stark truth of its situation. The things he is saying to us in the course of our conversation, he repeatedly emphasizes, are not things he can say in France anymore. It's impossible, perhaps even dangerous, to say these things in France now.

Indeed, in the lively intellectual debate that has been taking place on the pages of the French newspapers ever since the rioting started, a debate in which France's most illustrious minds are taking part, Finkielkraut's is a deviant, even very deviant, voice. Primarily because it is not emanating from the throat of a member of Jean Marie Le Pen's National Front, but from that of a philosopher formerly considered to be one of the most eminent spokesmen of the French left - one of the generation of philosophers who emerged at the time of the May 1968 student revolt.



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In the French press, the riots in the suburbs are perceived mainly as an economic problem, as a violent reaction to severe economic hardship and discrimination. In Israel, by comparison, there is sometimes a tendency to view them as violence whose origins are religious or at least ethnic - that is, to see them as part of an Islamic struggle. Where would you situate yourself in respect to these positions?

Finkielkraut: "In France, they would like very much to reduce these riots to their social dimension, to see them as a revolt of youths from the suburbs against their situation, against the discrimination they suffer from, against the unemployment. The problem is that most of these youths are blacks or Arabs, with a Muslim identity. Look, in France there are also other immigrants whose situation is difficult - Chinese, Vietnamese, Portuguese - and they're not taking part in the riots. Therefore, it is clear that this is a revolt with an ethno-religious character.

"What is its origin? Is this the response of the Arabs and blacks to the racism of which they are victims? I don't believe so, because this violence had very troubling precursors, which cannot be reduced to an unalloyed reaction to French racism.

"Let's take, for example, the incidents at the soccer match between France and Algeria that was held a few years ago. The match took place in Paris, at the Stade de France. People say the French national team is admired by all because it is black-blanc-beur ["black-white-Arab" - a reference to the colors on France's tricolor flag and a symbol of the multiculturalism of French society - D.M.]. Actually, the national team today is black-black-black, which arouses ridicule throughout Europe. If you point this out in France, they'll put you in jail, but it's interesting nevertheless that the French national soccer team is composed almost exclusively of black players.

"Anyway, this team is perceived as a symbol of an open, multiethnic society and so on. The crowd in the stadium, young people of Algerian descent, booed this team throughout the whole game! They also booed during the playing of the national anthem, the `Marseillaise,' and the match was halted when the youths broke onto the field with Algerian flags.

"And then there are the lyrics of the rap songs. Very troubling lyrics. A real call to revolt. There's one called Dr. R., I think, who sings: `I piss on France, I piss on De Gaulle' and so on. These are very violent declarations of hatred for France. All of this hatred and violence is now coming out in the riots. To see them as a response to French racism is to be blind to a broader hatred: the hatred for the West, which is deemed guilty of all crimes. France is being exposed to this now."

In other words, as you see it, the riots aren't directed at France, but at the entire West?

"No, they are directed against France as a former colonial power, against France as a European country. Against France, with its Christian or Judeo-Christian tradition."

`Anti-republicanpogrom'

Alain Finkielkraut, 56, has come a long way from the events of May 1968 to the riots of October 2005. A graduate of one of the chief breeding grounds for French intellectuals, the Ecole Normal Superieure, in the early 1970s, Finkielkraut was identified with a group known as "the new philosophers" (Bernard Henri-Levy, Andre Glucksman, Pascal Bruckner and others) - young philosophers, many of them Jewish, who made a critical break with the Marxist ideology of May 1968 and with the French Communist Party, and denounced its impact on French culture and society.

In 1987, he published his book "The Defeat of the Mind," in which he outlined his opposition to post- modernist philosophy, with its erasure of the boundaries between high and low culture and its cultural relativism. And thus he began to earn a name as a "conservative" philosopher and scathing critic of the multicultural and post-colonial intellectual currents, as someone who preached a return to France's republican values. Finkielkraut was one of the staunchest defenders of the controversial law prohibiting head-coverings in schools, which has roiled France in recent years.

Over time, he also became a symbol of the "involved intellectual," as exemplified by the postwar Jean-Paul Sartre - a philosopher who doesn't abstain from participation in political life, but instead writes in the newspapers, gives interviews and devotes himself to humanitarian causes such as halting the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia or the slaughter in Rwanda. The danger he wishes to stand up to today, in light of the riots, is the growing hatred for the West and its penetration into the French education system.

Do you think that the source of the hatred for the West among the French who are taking part in the riots lies in religion, in Islam?

"We need to be clear on this. This is a very difficult question and we must strive to maintain the language of truth. We tend to fear the language of truth, for `noble' reasons. We prefer to say the `youths' instead of `blacks' or `Arabs.' But the truth cannot be sacrificed, no matter how noble the reasons. And, of course, we also must avoid generalizations: This isn't about blacks and Arabs as a whole, but about some blacks and Arabs. And, of course, religion - not as religion, but as an anchor of identity, if you will - plays a part. Religion as it appears on the Internet, on the Arab television stations, serves as an anchor of identity for some of these youths.

"Unlike others, I have not spoken about an `intifada' of the suburbs, and I don't think this lexicon ought to be used. But I have found that they are also sending the youngest people to the front lines of the struggle. You've seen this in Israel - they send the youngest ones to the front because it's impossible to put them in jail when they're arrested. But still, here there are no bombings and we're in a different stage: I think it's the stage of the anti-republican pogrom. There are people in France who hate France as a republic."

But why? For what reason?

"Why have parts of the Muslim-Arab world declared war on the West? The republic is the French version of Europe. They, and those who justify them, say that it derives from the colonial breakdown. Okay, but one mustn't forget that the integration of the Arab workers in France during the time of colonial rule was much easier. In other words, this is belated hatred. Retrospective hatred.

"We are witness to an Islamic radicalization that must be explained in its entirety before we get to the French case, to a culture that, instead of dealing with its problems, searches for an external guilty party. It's easier to find an external guilty party. It's tempting to tell yourself that in France you're neglected, and to say, `Gimme, gimme.' It hasn't worked like that for anyone. It can't work."

Post-colonialmindset

But what appears to disturb Finkielkraut even more than this "hatred for the West," is what he sees as its internalization in the French education system, and the identification with it by French intellectuals. In his view, this identification and internalization - which are expressed in shows of understanding for the sources of the violence and in the post-colonial mindset that is permeating the education system - are threatening not only France as a whole, but the country's Jews, too, because they are creating an infrastructure for the new anti-Semitism.

"In the United States, too, we're witnessing an Islamization of the blacks. It was Louis Farrakhan, in America, who asserted for the first time that the Jews played a central role in creating slavery. And the main spokesman for this theology in France today is Dieudonne . Today he is the true patron of anti-Semitism in France, and not Le Pen's National Front.

"But in France, instead of fighting his kind of talk, they're actually doing what he asks: changing the teaching of colonial history and the history of slavery in the schools. Now they teach colonial history as an exclusively negative history. We don't teach anymore that the colonial project also sought to educate, to bring civilization to the savages. They only talk about it as an attempt at exploitation, domination and plunder.

"But what does Dieudonne really want? He wants a `Holocaust' for Arabs and blacks, too. But if you want to put the Holocaust and slavery on the same plane, then you have to lie. Because [slavery] wasn't a Holocaust. And [the Holocaust] wasn't `a crime against humanity,' because it wasn't just a crime. It was something ambivalent. The same is true of slavery. It began long before the West. In fact, what sets the West apart when it comes to slavery is that it was the one to eliminate it. The elimination of slavery is a European and American thing. But this truth about slavery cannot be taught in schools.

"That's why these events sadden me so greatly; not so much because they happened. After all, you'd have to be deaf and blind not to see that they would happen. But because of the interpretations that have accompanied them. These dealt a decisive blow to the France I loved. And I've always said that life will become impossible for Jews in France when Francophobia triumphs. And that's what will happen. The Jews understand what I've said just now. Suddenly, they look around, and they see all the `bobo' (French slang for bourgeois-bohemians) singing songs of praise to the new `wretched of the earth' [Finkielkraut is alluding here to the book by the Martinique-born, anti-colonialist philosopher Franz Fanon - D.M.] and asking themselves: What is this country? What's happened to it?"

Since you view this as an Islamic assault, how do you explain the fact that Jews have not been attacked in the recent events?

"First of all, they say that one synagogue has been attacked. But I think that what we've experienced is an anti-republican pogrom. They tell us that these neighborhoods are neglected and the people are in distress. What connection is there between poverty and despair, and wreaking destruction and setting fire to schools? I don't think any Jew would ever do a thing like this."

[bescheid]

Pieter

An excellent exploration of the French problem and Arab question. What to do, how to best handle this, and final question of solution.

Understandably, this is very serious situation of government/public/ private destruction of property and also of that of lives lost. But, it still will not distract from the basic root cause of such mass destruction and the excellent coordination of crowd control (direction given to rioters).

It takes money, funding, disposable cash with out the paper trail of bank notes. To provide financing to fund the cost of professional leadership.

The constituents of this was mainly of young Arab people of university age, seeking recognition, to be part of some thing and gain recognition through this association. (check for your self on this)

Sounds rather out landish? Perhaps so not. These situations are good opportunity for those rare people who are in that business of organization/leadership. For what ever the reason for funding of such nonsense is not within the given scope of common reasoning. We as working people are not expected to be consonant of this type of action.

All crowds, are photographed and individuals identified, cataloged and then shared with other agencies until actual nationality is established, then a common decision made as to what direction of action must be made. It may be to continue surveillance, or arrest/detainment or legal actions, what ever is most appropriate at the time.

www.ejpress.org/article/4093

Haaretz is an excellent publication, I finally was forced to just discontinue receiving it because of the tracers (cookies) I simply got tired of running a computer screen each time on my set.

My reason of post reply on this particular subject is primarily for thought, not reason.

Charles

[jimpres]

A general question on immigration.

Should the people immigrating to a country expect that country to change it social structure/language to accomodate the immigrants?
Seems the case in France. The arabs want to empose there social structure and language on France. They should integrate into the French culture in my humble opinion.

[pieter]

Bescheid,

There were Mololtov cocktials thrown at a Paris sinagogue, and churches, community centers and appartmentblocks
and company buildings were burnt down.
Now I want to say one very important thing, the problem in France lays on both sides.
Since the end of the fiftees in France there has actually been a anti-Algerian and so anti-Arab sentiment (remember
that due to Shimon Peres good coonections France was long time a strong allie of Israel in the fiftees and sixtees,
together with France and Great Brittain, Israel occupied the Suez canal in the fistees, and for decades France
sold Israel Mirage fighting yets and other military material), and the French treatment of Algerian civilians in
Algeria and France was very bad. From the other hand the Algerians, Maroccans and Tunesians who speak perfectly
French did nothing to integrate, created their own territory, were anti-French and Western in their attitude,
and so gave reason for the xenophobia and Islamophobia of the the French.
When such a thing goes on for decades you get something like the American getto's of the 20th century,
and the segregation in the South of the USA, South-Africa and Israël/Palestine.
Seperate societies, differant ethnic groups growing up seperatly, and ethnicity becomes connected to class.
In the Netherlands you have the "white" and "black" schools, black school means immigrant school with
children with a cultural- and language deprivation, illiterate parents and poverty.
White parents put their children on schools they think that are white schools, because they fear that
their children may devellop less in a school with immigrant children.
After decades of egalisation and the creation of a industrial mass-education (Mammoth-law of the sixtees),
the schools became large learning factories here in the Netherlands with a egalitarian schoolsystem.
Besides that you had the special education, which ment Catholic and Protestant primary- and highschools.
The Jewish minority had also it's own religious schools, and the Muslims develloped the same kind of
schoolsystem. Muslims learned form their Orthodox-Jewish- and Christian brethern.
From one side the Muslim communities have seperatist tendensies, and so tend to inwardness (the inner immigration
in Madrassas -Koran schools-, Mosque's, their own community centers, Coffee houses, schools and neighbourhoods)
and alienation from their Duch, French, German and so European (Western) environment and fellow citizens.
The problem lies in the Fundamentalist preachers who literary preach against the Western democracy, liberalism,
freedom and the legal system of the society they live in, because it is a secular system of laws which do not correspond
with their own Islamic law (Sharia). I definitifly do not want to call this Apartheid like many people want to call it because
people are not placed in differant area's, but I do want to state that there is a voluntary segregation between groups going on in our societies. Original Duch families are leaving the big city neighbourhoods, because they can't identify themselves with
the foreign culture which dominates there, and that white flight results in large white Middle class subburbs and the internal immigrantion inside the country from the big cities to surrounding towns and villages which are growing into towns.
The large cities as a result of that are becomming more and more cities of immigrants and the white underclass who can not
afford to leave the city. Much of the problems in the cities are as a result of that problems between the immigrants and the white underclass, but also problems between differant immigrant communities, and between white underclass and white middle class that remained (and suffers from the crime which is created by the immigrants youth and white underclass).
The latest development is that the last remaining white Middle class and highclass leaves the neighbourhoods in the city centers to live in the subburbs, villages in the country or new towns (that grew out of expanding agglomerations of villages,
two or three villages that became united in one town).
The biggest problem is and will stay the fact that immigransts and native Europeans do not mix, live together and work together. I want to say that there are succesful immigrants, Muslims who finished highschool succesfully and went to technical or economical higher education (Institutes of technology- or economy), Universaties or Company trainings (workshops, seminars and assesments) and became doctors, nurses, administrators, lawjers, scientists, intellectuals, professors,
politicians, policemen- and women, shopkeepers, educated workers, busdrivers and taxi-drivers.
Some of them even addobted the lifestile and habits of their native European colleages, friends and relatives (when they married with Secular or Christian Europeans). They also moved to the subburbs and towns outside the big cities.
The problem is that the majority of foreigners did not integrate well, does not speak the language properly, does
not know the European habits, rules of engagement and networkbuilding which could give them a job, social
status and good image in the eyes of the native Europeans in "which" country they live, and because of that
they are unemployed, often poor and in a bad physical and mental state.
In most European countries this is the case, and nobody knows how to change this negative sitaution.
In the meanwhile the gap between the populations and the class of politicians is growing, because the
citizens do not believe anymore in their political system, in Europe and the economy.
It is a double gap between the citizens and their leaders and between the citizens themselves.

Pieter

[pieter]

The strange things is that most of the blacks and Arab french speak exellent french, do know the French culture from the country they came from, are French citizens, but in the same time are differant than the white frenchmen, because of their
cultural heritage, religion, family cirumstances, education and place in society.
Like in America many of them work together with their French compatriots, share an interest in the same things (soccer,
French cinema, cuisine, going out), but always be differant from eachother, because in Europe that national identity and ethnic cultural background is even stronger that in America, even when you see or experiance it not in public.
It goes very subtle, in language, in social codes, in who meets who after work, what you share with colleages and friends and so on. There is never open Xenophobia, Islamophobia or racism, like immigrants in the compagnonship of native Europeans
will never express themselves directly anti-Western, anti-christian or hostile to women and gays.
Only the small groups of troublemakers, immigrants and white hoodlums are openly radical, xenophobe and racists.
The problem is that in most cases bad people can not be caught, judged and put in prison, because they are too smart
not to commit a crime openly, so that there is evidence against them.
Criminals, Hooligans, political extremists and terrorists are very well organised and very aware of the fact that they
have to operate in the perifery of society and that they have to be invisible in advance.
There is no easy solution for the problems our societys faces, but the quality of the police-, intelligence-, and jurisdiction
and prosecution could and should be done with the utmost care. The bilateral and multilateral cooperation between European states must be improved, and I reaaly think that the must be a European FBI, which is bigger, better and taken more seriously than the Europol (European version of Interpol) we have now.

Pieter

[bescheid]

Pieter

Thank you for your excellent description of the currant and present situation in France. It is very apparent that you possess the ability to make an analysis of the root cause and effect of this problem.

And you are correct with your description of failure of law enforcement to create and maintain, a criminal justice system of records, identification for cross boarder exchange. Interpol is good for cross national lines to some extent. It is limited to the cooperation of the individual agency personnel for divulging information.

Operations of this nature have been in place for many years with the FBI in placing agents for investigation in over seas with permission from the host nation. Social control is fairly universal in application. It is just some differences in culture and local laws.

I think I still may have some information to share with you, that is if I still have not deleted it. Of some solutions arrived for this foreign immigration problem for integration into the population, just across the boarder to your East.

Charles

[bescheid]

Pieter

Appears I deleted the information and the remainder went through the shredder, old habits die hard.

yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=2078

The above url is very similar though.

Charles

[pieter]

Bescheid,

Thank you for your reaction and I think that Europe may benefit from FBI presence, just like the
Continental European countries benefited from the experiance and assistance of Scotland Yard,
the British FBI.

Pieter