“As for [National Front leader Jean-Marie] Le Pen, he thinks that ‘by attacking the agents and symbols of the State, it is France herself that is attacked, by hordes of people that the so-called anti-racist laws prevent us from calling foreigners.’
Here we can see what the fascists are up to: using racism to divide the masses!This racist propaganda is also a part of the criminalization of the ‘dangerous classes.’
According to the reactionaries it is a matter of passing off the rebellion as part of the gangster tradition of claiming territory.This is the catchphrase used time and again, the ‘gang territory’…” -Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist Maoist) November 2005
Please note that the above text about the past week’s riots in Clichy-Sous-Bois come from the website of the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist Maoist) in France and translated by yours truly(Sketchy Thoughts). I have a “fast and loose” translation philosophy, meaning that when there is a choice between readability and the original phraseology i tend to favour the former, provided that the meaning stays the same. The original document can be seen in French.
Please also note that i am translating this as i have not been able to find any radical accounts of the riots or the police racism that provoked them in English… i do not necessarily agree with the PCMLM’s point of view, nor do they necessarily agree with mine. Si quelqu’un a un meilleur texte à suggérer, svp envoyez-moi le!
” On November 1, Dominique Sopo, the president of anti-racism group SOS-Racism, called for a massive investment plan to redress poverty and discrimination in Paris’s suburbs. According to the November 4 San Francisco Chronicle, Sopo said: “This isn’t a question of failed integration, since many of these youths are second- and third-generation immigrants — they’re French.
“But this situation reflects endemic discrimination — in jobs, in housing, in education — that exists against French of immigrant origin.” “
this is from the Green Left Weekly. http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/648/648p13b.htm
The Denmark riots have got no coverage that i can see, here in the US. nor have the youth and student riots in Ethiopia in regards to political corruption. No suprise.
In my past post on the riots i compared the French marginalization of North African and Middle Eastern immigrants to marginalized sectors here in the States. I would correct that because I feel there are big differences, though there are some aspects shared by them all.
First,immigration within many “core” countries (core countries being the established and tradionally stable nation states) is a crucial issue and will only continue. In Europe there is massive influx, just like here with workers from Mexico, and Central and South America (but also in some places African and Asian peoples). there is simultaneously a shift in capitalist labor, industry and markets. Core countries are seeing greater outsourcing in both manufacturing and now the technical/computer centered fields. this is creating more competion for the remaining manufacturing positions (though in many instances because of unions, many people are “lifers” and will only lose the job when the company pulls out) and competion in the agricultural and servive sectors.
I think this will only increase National chauvanism and anti-immigration tendencies amongst the populace. the argument put forth by the Right is that we dont need more foriegn born workers here when citizens by birth cant find decent work (and from Pat Buchanan’s sphere to the outright fascists this translates to White citizens of European descent) . And then issues around language, schooling and the transformation of actual communities into more multi-cultural centers all is fuel for the fire.
However, here in the States, the two primary marginialized groups I see are Blacks and poor Whites. Like in France, I dont think it is hard to say that these sectors, if a situation develops, could develop some insurgency against their conditions (and the State). But i think it could be real mixed politically where there is a real anti-internationalist, anti-immigrant edge to it.