French Racial Riots

There have been a violent spate of riots in France in recent times, starting around the end of last year. The riots were triggered by the deaths of two youths of African descent . The two youths were troublemakers in Clichy-sous-Bois. They were pursued by policemen and accidentally electrocuted to death while hiding in a power station. Cars have been set alight every night and much instability has been brought to the country itself. Although the riots have mainly happened around Paris suburbs that are mostly ethnic ghettoes, they underline a fundamental problem in France's immigration policy.

Firstly, as from what I've read, the French hope to create a common French identity in everyone residing in France. In short, it means that there can only be one culture, and that is the French culture. However, immigrants would cherish the unique characteristics of their country of origin, so they would also seek to pass down some cultures and customs. This is also a reason why they are not very able to fit in with the French mainstream society. They do feel marginalised, and this leads to the formation of ethnic ghettoes which make them further segregated from the French society.

Secondly, not everyone is given equal opportunities, especially the immigrants. They tend to face more discrimination. Unemployment in these ethnic conclaves can reach as high as 10%. The youth dropout rate of school is also very high. These youths turn out to be vagabonds, roaming the streets at night and creating trouble. Without proper jobs and proper education, these immigrants will always be trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, which will lead to further social segregation and inequality in the country.

Thirdly, France has a very comprehensive social welfare system. Unemployment benefits are given out to people and this greatly reduces their incentive to work for a living. Without a job, some of the unemployed have a lot of free time and they would tend to create trouble.

The solutions are not easy. France has to come up with a policy that would ensure that the rights of all immigrants are protected. Moreover, they have to feel a sense of belonging to France which is not really in existent at the moment. The social welfare system could be modified in such a way to encourage a two-tiered approach among the people and the government to motivate the citizens to be self-sufficient eg. in Singapore, government bodies help people to find jobs instead of giving out unemployment benefits. Finally, "It might be time for some positive discrimination" as mentioned by French President Jacques Chirac. Immigrants could be given certain incentives like subsidised education so that their status in society can be elevated. Moreover, they will be able to break out of their poverty cycle and be better off financially. When people have a higher standard of living, they would be less inclined to indulge in violence and troublemaking.

In conclusion, the French racial riots represents a dormant problem in European society. The tricky problem of tackling immigrants cannot be resolved overnight. Moreover, the fact that such riots also occur in other EU nations eg. Britian, underscores the urgent need for action. Such inequality and unrest could be a potential breeding ground for terrorists as well. This problem, if left untouched, could fester and will eventually affect the stability of the country as a whole. Therefore, it is a pressing imperative for the different governments to formulate suitable policies to bridge the inequalities in the society.