XD;;;; political stuff?? from me?? ... oh god.

[askerian]

And just after I tell people this is a fandom Lj, too. But several people have asked and I don't want to worry people, so!

What The Hell Is Going On In France At The Moment, from the very limited point of view of Asuka Kureru.

I say very limited because most of the time I can't stomach seeing the news entirely and I'm a real hermit anyway, so it's not like i'm talking to other people about it.

Besides I don't like Sarcozy.

Sarcozy is one of our ministers -- I don't even know which right off the bat, because I'm that "rargh, don't want to know" about it. Interior? He is very strict and outspoken about wanting to reestablish "order" and "security" in France. I didn't know we were THAT bad off in the first place, seriously.

They nickname him "the first cop of France". I think he suffers from a Napoleon complex. Man, he's TINY. Anyway.

So he rants on and on about how the "banlieues" (technically = suburb, but has come to mean something closer to ghetto) are filled with "racailles" and they need to be firm and not tolerate having the law and the cops disrespected! Which is all well and good and i'm all for cops being able to go anywhere they need to go without being assaulted by random passersby. So Sarcozy rants on and on about how racaille is a danger to society and he will be very firm and won't tolerate it.

Problem is, racaille is supposed to mean gangster, thugh, hooligan -- but it has also come to be very close to "young person born from immigrated parents living in a suburb". See the problem yet?

Racaille is not a nice word, but the kids themselves are using it like the blacks use "negro" -- it's not an insult if they're the ones saying it, but hearing it from a minister -- ouch.

So they get angry and offended, because they're already having problems with racism and the fact that there's no job for someone living where they live and having the name they have.

Sarcozy tries saying that he knows the difference between "young person living in the banlieue" and "racaille", except it doesn't really show, and besides they all tend to stand together about that stuff because even those who don't steal and break stuff know someone who does, or have felt like doing it before.

So they get flaming pissed. And they break more stuff. And he sends more cops.

Also, he keeps going on about how he's going to "protect the honest french citizens" by which he means the middle-to-upper class ones. He keeps harping on the fact that he's protecting everyone from the racailles, because they'd love nothing better than to kill poor old people in their sleep or something. So they get even more pissed and even more angry and BAM! self-fulfilling prophecy.

So now there's a fucking curfey for kids (which we have NEVER needed before) and the buses won't run after seven pm, and if you're living in France with a work permit, but not naturalized, and are caught doing bad stuff, you're not even judged and punished -- you're just kicked out of France and forbidden to come back. What The Fuck. Let's wait to see how long it will be to have even the ones who have adopted the french nationality get kicked out if they make a fuss.

~_~ Sure, lots of them ARE mildly violent, and they talk in slang all the time and they have a baaaad attitude, BUT. I keep thinking that if Sarcozy helped develop all these project to help them get a job and get integrated and everything, instead of cracking down on them all like they're wrong for existing and having an Arab name, there wouldn't have been such an explosion. But he's all "no, not backing off, i'm strong and won't break and it's my way or the highway", which is a bad attitude to take when faced with people who have problems with authority in the first place.

So basically, my opinion is that there would have been less of a problem if Sarcozy hadn't MADE it a problem, and now he gets to look good for protecting us all from the horrible, horrible people from the ghettos, who are all thieves and murderers and should be sent back to their countries.

People were worried about that racist son of a bitch Le Pen. In my humble opinion, Sarcozy is a lot more efficient.

/two cents.

I never go out, especially not at night, and I don't live in one of the problematic suburbs, so I'm pretty safe, personally. It's a lot less generalized than some TV stations pretend it is. So there's really no need to worry. ^__^


edit: to clarify -- no, I don't excuse the little bastards who burn cars and break stuff. There are other ways to deal with exclusion, and using the current political climate as an excuse to burn stuff -- well, THEY deserve to be punished. But fuck, what's with the new "us VS them" mentality? Everyone's french here, you bastard, stop trying to turn us against each other.

Comments

[hitori-toshiro.livejournal.com]

J'aime ta façon d'expliquer la situation ^___^ Soit la mère de mes enfants.

[askerian]

étant donné que je suis très probablement stérile, je crois qu'on va se débrouiller pour que tu les portes, okay? ^__^

[complexphoenix.livejournal.com]

*sigh* As an American, I'm MORE than familiar with insensitive, shitty government that doesn't give a shit about poor people, is disgustingly nationalist, and grossly incompetent. This Sarcozy guy sounds all too similar to the turdbrained Shrubbery-minions that infest Washington these days.

[rainbowlasers.livejournal.com]

I heard about it from my teacher- because watching the news ain't for me- and most of my class think it's awful and blahblah the kids are crazy and - well, most of my class deserve a good hit. Several times.

But really, hey, your minister? Really bad. Politicians. -_- heh.

[maldoror-gw.livejournal.com]

People were worried about that racist son of a bitch Le Pen. In my humble opinion, Sarcozy is a lot more efficient.

*snicker* well said. Who's the one to be most careful of after all? The neo-nazi nutcase that 3/4s of the population laughs at, or the demagogue wolf in sheep's clothing who plays on people's fears all too effectively...?

A colleague asked me the other day 'hey, you're French, what do you think of all these immigrants burning cars in your country?'

I answered: 'They ARE French and it's THEIR country too.'

Unfortunately, I think is POV is more prevalent than mine.

Personally, I think we're heading for a worldwide case of Race Riots, and not just in France. The poorer categories of society are getting the short end of the stick everywhere I look. Problems like this are horrendously complicated, terribly hard to unknot; ignoring it for 30 years like we did in France, then hitting them with a cattle prod when things blow up, is sooooo not the solution...*le sigh*

I know the disturbances are very localized, but still, stay safe ^_^ Especially in Lyon, looks kinda bad down there (my folks are in Strasbourg, and strangely enough, it's fairly quiet over there)

[andartha.livejournal.com]

I think this is a classical case of both sides being in the wrong.

1. Anybody who thinks he'll increase his social standing and his acceptance by society through mindless violence against innocent bystanders (amongst other things a kindergarten, seriously! *Sheesh*) is plain dumb and derserves a solid kick in the ass.

2. Anybody who expects a person with a serious grudge to go "Oh you're right, sorry for the inconveniece" when you call them an "asshole" is plain dumb and derserves a solid kick in the ass too.

I guess the conflict will burn itself out within the next few weeks, but a bad taste will linger and it will take quite a bit of work to make things better.

Ah well, at least now the awareness of the problem is a lot higher than it was before and now they know they have to take some serious measures to integrate people, or it will happen again.

[askerian]

1) they don't think they'll increase anything -- these kids are just given an excuse to get violent and break stuff and blame it on a convenient "well, people are mean to me".

2) sarcozy knows exactly what he's doing -- it's my opinion that he wants them as angry as possible, so he can look good for protecting "the respectable folks". And either they submit and he can strut, or they keep struggling and being pissed and he can be the one who "fights the good fight". Any way I see it, he wins.

Divide and conquer, 101. Why isn't anyone able to see that? è.é

[littlegothsin.livejournal.com]

Loin de moi l'idée de soutenir Sarkosy, mais bon cramer des voitures et des établissements, avaec ou sans gens dedans, on a déjà vu plus intelligent, comme moyen de communiquer.

[askerian]

=__= tout à fait d'accord. je dis certainement pas qu'ils ont raison de foutre le boxon, et puis merde quoi ils pourraient pas cramer les leurs de caisses, mais insulter publiquement tous les arabes en plus, ça aide pas. ya des cons des deux côtés; la différence c'est que sarko j'ai l'impression qu'il sait très bien ce qu'il fait.

[miwa.livejournal.com]

Wow. I haven't been watching the news much these past few weeks because of my job and my surgery, and considering that complexphoenix stole what I was gonna say (<3), I guess there's nothing left to say other than...jeez. Stay safe. ^^;

[askerian]

surgery whut? O_O;;;;;; are you okay?

[stripedpetunia.livejournal.com]

The closest I can come to all of this is the FLQ crisis in Quebec, and that was like fifteen years before I was even born. Some politicians died; the prime minister was treating Quebec like a war zone (he was Quebecois too); all of Canada was wringing its hands. *shakes head*

So if the world is truly going all to shit, who wants to build a giant spaceship with me and go somewhere far away so we can just sit back and laugh?

[nova-night.livejournal.com]

Me me me please take me with you!

[nova-night.livejournal.com]

*was going to say something very smart and profund but maldoror_gw and andartha has already said it*

I hope that it don't spread to your area, I like it when I know help are safe.

[ycardaria.livejournal.com]

Ah... so that's what's goin' on.

=/

Well, glad to hear your safe. Hopefully some sense will get knocked into him soon.

[bemysty.livejournal.com]

Yo? A few corners of Germany are going batshit now, too, what with burning cars and everything.

I'm living in a mostly Turk neighborhood, though it hasn't got that much a bad reputation (it's only the "third worst part" of my town).

O SHI-?

[windandwater.livejournal.com]

*loves gently*

[mikkeneko.livejournal.com]

I laugh in the face of any American who tries to pull the "Oh, we in America are much better at dealing with race issues than those dumb French are" line.

[malika.livejournal.com]

*snickers* I laugh at anyone who claims their country isn't as racist as [insert country here].

[chibi-faolan.livejournal.com]

*low whistle* I'd read a couple articles that explained a little bit, but I was getting the impression that they were leaving some things out... a lot of things, looks like.

My next thought is to call some radio stations to request they play Sublime's "April 29, 1992" and dedicate it to the French. -_-

*tries to send happier vibes*

[bloodyscary.livejournal.com]

A vrai dire, les casseurs/bruleurs/pseudo revendiqueurs m'enervent autant que l'aut' Sarco XD

[askerian]

-___- ouais, c'est des pauvres cons aussi, mais étant donné que papa chéri vote FN, j'ai tendance à argumenter plus du côté immigrés quand je présente des trucs comme ça. c'est pas que je considère pas les racaille totalement débiles et entièrement responsables de leurs actes, mais ya une différence entre immigré et racaille et ya pas mal de gens que je connais qui la font jamais.

[malika.livejournal.com]

Oh, the parallels. :x I feel bad for thinking this, but it's nice to know that Europe has problems too ^^;; a lot of really liberal people over here are always like, "oh, Europe is so much better blahblahblah more tolerant blahblahblah" when really, they're just human like over here. *shrugs*

I feel so bad for the Arab people in general =\\ they're going through so much crap worldwide it's not even funny.

[chaoswind.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to figure out what was going on, but I don't really watch the news much, so pretty much all I've heard is something about riots and curfews.

Thanks for explaining though. ^_^ No one over here in Canada's really talking about it, because no one really understands, but NOW I UNDERSTAND THANKS TO TEH ASUKA.

Stay safe, and I'll be hoping it's all over for you guys soon. :)

[purple-angel01.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that. It's hard to get a sense of what's happening from the news, they just show 30 seconds of fire and riot police. Damn biased news.

Everyone's french here, you bastard, stop trying to turn us against each other. It's so sad, you could say that about almost every country, just replacing french for whatever nationality it is. *sad face*

[complexphoenix.livejournal.com]

Or you could take it a step further and replace "french" with "human" :)

[froggieogreen.livejournal.com]

Hullo! Lurker de-lurking here. :) Actually, I was watching you over at DA, but I haven't been back there in ages and missed your art. And well, you know, lurking commenced, and I learned that you write too! And you write Team7 lurve!!!! <3 Your Saki-chan stories are highly amusing (and really interesting, actually), too.

We don't get too much in the way of French news over here, just the general car-burning, smashy-smashy stuff. There isn't really all that much in the way of a political explanation as to _why_ all of this is going on, just confirmation that it _is_ going on. Anyway, I'm taking a 19c Art Course right now, and we're studying quite a bit of French history, from the Revolution of 1789 onwards... it's kind of scary how history just keeps repeating itself over and over again, and for pretty much the exact same reason. I don't know how much you know about the Revolutions, but what you wrote reminded me of what was happening in France when Napoleon III "took the throne." Mostly, the general feel of the public or "lower class" towards authority and how the government is doing a bang-up job of defusing the situation. =_=;;;

Wow. That was a serious introduction. I swear, I'm silly and stupid and not really all that clever...

[gsyh.livejournal.com]

Wow, you live in France right now? Ouch, take care.

Mind if I rec this post in my journal or add it to memory?

[askerian]

=___=;;; as I said it's really not as bad as they make it out to be on TV. yay propaganda. I think I would be more in danger if I lived in New York than where I am right now.

Put it in your memories if you want, but seeing it recced would bother me a little -- I don't follow politics at all; what I just wrote is what I gathered from what little I paid attention to. It isn't a comprehensive view, I don't know all the causes and consequences and I usually don't bother thinking long and hard about that sort of subject. I really don't feel qualified to be cited on the issue.

Toootally unrelated to the topic here, but...

[crazy-toffee.livejournal.com]

I'll someday get around to writing this long detailed review of your fics and why I love them, but for now I'm sort of settling for taking time off homework to write Saki-fics (because you sucked me in, big time).

And...er... I guess an opinion would be nice, before I post? (to see if you like where it's going)... so can I mail it to you? ^^U *looks sheepish*

Re: Toootally unrelated to the topic here, but...

[askerian]

heh, you don't owe me a review but if you feel like giving it, eeeeee!!!!<3<3<3<3<3<3

fic? O_O!!! FIC. GIMMEGIMMEGIMME. askerian at hotmail dot com. :33333

[bootoye.livejournal.com]

There's a lot of intolerance brewing on the international arena.
Politicians thrive on it. It makes them look good to some of the people and make them known to the rest of the people.

Unfortunately, we all seem to be touched by this craziness whether we live in Europe, Asia, Africa or America.

That curfew thing sounds like a real bummer. 'Cause even if you don't really like to go out late, you want to have the option.

Please keep safe!

[sailor-comet.livejournal.com]

Thank you for explaining it; I was mostly in the dark about this myself. Makes a lot of sense, the way you tell it. It's worrisome, and I hope the problem can get solved.

[valles-uf.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't say that it's a pleasure to know that something like this is happening, but I am glad to have a fairly concrete idea of what's happining over there.

If it's any consolation, you're ahead of us American dopes in at least one respect.

See? (http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_16.shtml)

Ja, -n

[evocates.livejournal.com]

Finally we get something concrete, and not a report on the burnings and nothing on the reason.

Does the riotors really think they could do anything with violence? By doing this, they're just proving that Sarcozy is right, that they can be dangerous. I hate to play the devil's advocate here, but even if Sarcozy's the one who dealt the first blow, they did return it, and returned it to people who didn't deserve it.

Why the heck does this even matter, anyway? People are people, humans are humans, and, as you said, everybody's french. So why the fuck does Sarcozy think he's doing by turning them against each other?

-frustrated-

[selenna.livejournal.com]

>So why the fuck does Sarcozy think he's doing by turning them against each other?

He is doing himself a big publicity stunt who might serve him well for the next presidential election, next year.

Right now, with all the troubles going on in the "cité", he is building up a picture of saviour, man of action, etc.. wich is totally stupid because he is the one who start that shit because of his bullshiting talks, but aniway, since he is taking spectacular measures and solemn declaration, 52% of the French poeple are thinking that he can solve the problem (lousy poeple >_<)
And thanks to that shitty picture of Defenderesse of the Good people of France (white, of course) against the 'racaille' (preferabily arab or black), he is on his way for the presidential office. *shivers* Holy shit, if he is elected, I'm leaving France -__-;