The rioting and civil insurrection now sweeping across France has led certain sectors of the American media–including blogs–to see it somehow as a “French intifada,” or worse. Even normally neutral observers are drawing a false conclusion from an assortment of fact; they’re “connecting the dots,” but coming up with the wrong picture.
What is going on in France is a revolt of immigrants who have been kept–intentionally or not–at substandard levels of society. Among those immigrants are many Muslims. That, however, does not make this a “Muslim revolt.” Also among those rioting immigrants are Africans from the Sub-Sahara, many of whom are Christian. There are also reports of Eastern Europeans taking part. The issues are social and economic: they are not religious.
Attempting to solve a social/economic issue as though it were a religious issue is not going to work. The wrong diagnosis never leads to the correct prescription.
While this is not a religious revolt, it could become one. Everyone with a political stake will be seeking to frame these riots to further their own agendas. That could include Islamists and already includes the far-right and far-left of the French political spectrum. But that’s what it could become, not what it is.
For other views of what I consider the correct diagnosis, take a look at:
Dave Schuler’s The Glittering Eye
and a post by Aziz at Dean Esmay
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November:08:2005 - 06:01
Here comes the terrorist French Fries.
November:08:2005 - 07:33
[...] As I’ve noted in other places, the riots in France and little to do with religion. Trying to prove that the religion of most (not all) of the rioters is the direct cause of the violence is not only absurd, but impossible. While it does play a role, it’s not a cause, but rather one reasons they are in a situation which led to the violence. The looting in New Oreans had nothing to do with Christianity just as the LA riots were equally secular. Crossroads Arabia chimes in with more wisdom for you islamophobes out there: [...]
November:09:2005 - 00:05
Thanks, as usual, for a more measured response to an inflammatory situation. Those not subject to hyperventilating seem to be left out of the debate, don’t we?
I am amazed at how quickly events get framed into whatever viewpoint is held by the framer. It works for left and right alike. Pat answers abound.
Meantime, and I said this in my last post, I am coming to the conclusion that Islamophobia is fast becoming the New Anti-semitism.
November:09:2005 - 09:30
There are certainly a lot of similarities, but–thankfully–not the history.