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France inflamed: riots and reactions

By Institute of Race Relations

At both the level of policy and of popular discourse, the riots in the deprived French banlieues in October and November 2005 have had reverberations across the EU. And, once again, questions of integration and segregation are being discussed in ways that place security rather than justice at the centre of that debate.

Not only this, but theories that explain urban unrest in terms of cultural deficit, or youth delinquency, have proved popular with media commentators and politicians. Culturalist explanations for urban unrest include ideas that the riots were caused by: self-segregating Islamic communities living parallel lives; the cultural propensity of Black Africans to violence; urban guerrilla warfare, fuelled by drugs and gangsta rap. But while 'explanations' based on such crude cultural arguments may be on the ascendancy in France today, alternative, less shrill and less-heeded, voices in civil society are calling for policies based on 'justice, respect and equality'. Another positive development has been the formation of new grassroots organisations, such as the Banlieue 69 collective, and the Conseil Représentatif des Associations Noires, to mobilise against repression and exclusion.

In the months, and perhaps even in the years to come, the French riots will be seen as a watershed in the struggle to shape a more just agenda for young people of Arab or African descent right across Europe. We hope that this factual, chronological report on the riots and related responses, will be an aid in that dicussion.

28pp. This briefing paper is issue No 54 of the IRR European Race Bulletin, which is published four times a year).

The Institute of Race Relations is precluded from expressing a corporate view: any opinions expressed are therefore those of the authors.

France inflamed: riots and reactions

By Institute of Race Relations

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