Where It Started Before It Started

Try to remember that the young involved in the riots are from all races (white, black, arabs), their main character is to be young&poor.
The fact that Nicolas Sarkozy is a short guy is also very important to the poses he takes and his facial expressions are fast moving from gentle smile to carnivorous one.
Yes, French police looks like these pictures show and bad ass is a lcear dajective for it.
Thanks for this wonderful and insightful site and excuse my bad english.

I don’t know about the photos here, but I would caution anyone who thinks the ‘riots’ in France are Sarkozy’s fault. Or primarly about Sarkozy. There may be a lot more going on here than meets the eye. I ‘m waiting to see if this rioting spreads to other parts of Europe. It has been reported in Denmark and Norway. But that has not gotten the national press that the riots in France have.

“Do most French police look so bad ass, or does Nicolas’ people select out the type? Is it just me, or do at least two of these shots conjure skinheads.”
On the first, second and fourth pictures, these are not just “police”, as in neighborhood police, they are CRS (Compagnies Republicaines de Securite), roughly translated as riot police. They are almost paramilitary.
In fact the French equivalent of a US State Police is the Gendarmerie, which is a branch of the military, although reporting to the Ministry of the Interior. The CRS are part of the Gendarmerie.
So maybe that’s why they look like badass. Because of their military hairdos.

I wonder how Sarkozy’s own immigrant background plays into this. According to his biography: ” He is the son of a Hungarian immigrant, and a mother whose family was Greek and Jewish, he was never the classic insider.” Maybe Sarkozy is tough on the immigrants because he feels that if he could make it on his own, they should be able to make it, too. I’m struck by the top picture of him tieless, with his hands in his pockets. He’s Mr. Tough Guy. The riots and the French hostility to the immigrants has given Sarkozy an opportunity to show how “French” and assimilated he really is compared to those “others”–the Africans.

Top photo is great! I love the expressions on those watching Sarkozy’s mouth move! I appreciate the French posts, giving me more context. I see Sarkozy as thinking he is gaining votes here and perhaps he is. Time will tell.

I think the “Do Not Enter” sign at the top of the first photo is very interesting. It matches the CRS badges.
On another note, the French have packed any discussion of race and class away in a little corner for a long time. Unlike in the US, where lots of people come to work in the cities where the poor and minority are visible, the French deposit their poor and minority in gigantic filing cabinet apartment buildings in the suburbs, while the centre-villes remain immaculate.
The “Do Not Enter” mentality that has arisen on the right wing is a way to avoid dealing with this packed away underclass and the racism and classism that keeps them out of view.

“…the French deposit their poor and minority in gigantic filing cabinet apartment buildings in the suburbs, while the centre-villes remain immaculate…”
And then they complain that they don’t “integrate”.

From WHY IS FRANCE BURNING. Doug Ireland http://www.zmag.org
…”Sarko” made headlines with his declarations that he would “karcherise” the ghettos of “la racaille”–words the U.S. press has utterly inadequately translated to mean “scum” the ghettos of “scum”. But these two word have an infinitely harsher and insulting flavor in French. ” Karcher” is the well-known brand of a system of cleaning surfaces by super-high-pressure sand-blasting or water-blasting that very violently peals away the outer skin of the encrusted dirt–like pigeon shit–even at the risk of damaging what’s underneath. To apply this term to young human beings and proffer it as a strategy is a verbally fascist insult and, as a policy proposed by an Interior Minister, is about as close as one can get to hollering “ethnic cleansing” without actually saying it…I wonder how many Anglo-American correspondents get the inflammatory, terrible vicious flavor of the word in French? The translation of “karcherise” by “clean” just misses completely the inflammatory violence of what Sarko was really saying. And “racaille” is infinitely more pejorative than “scum” to French-speakers–it has the flavor of characterizing an entire group of people as subhuman, inherently evil and criminal, and is, in other words, one of the most serious insults one could launch at the rebellious ghetto youth.
Thanks for posting these photos I will comment on them when I have more time, but thought it was important to fully understand these inflammatory words from a French perspective.

Correction to the above post citing the American press as mistranslating the French “la racaille” into “scum”: I read a few days ago that the British press (BBC or Reuters, I myself don’t have time to track it down but will later) is credited with the original gaffe. The American press (and others) picked up the story from the British news services, before the word “scum” was corrected to “rabble.”

The police don’t look bad ass to me, and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy looks like a shrimpy rich jerk with a Napoleon complex. He must not have gotten the memo to “ROLL UP THE SLEEVES.”, I mean his hands are in his pocket with his big wine belly sticking out. His eyes are also off kilter like a comic book villian.
If a majority of people support him for anything they will get what they deserve, a terrible leader more concerned with a photo op. He must have a pinup of Bush in this flight suit and cod piece hanging out with real soldiers. To bad all he can do is drive an SUV into a neighbor hood and get photos with cops in thick blue jumpers with colorful merit badges on them. I wonder if the cops he is pictured with are of an LAPD mold/reputation? That would add to the message being sent in his photo ops.
From what I have heard you are right on the money that this is part of a national campaign for him. To bad his strategy is stepping all over the most poor, ostracized, and unemployed people in his country.

The police don’t look bad ass to me, and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy looks like a shrimpy rich jerk with a Napoleon complex. He must not have gotten the memo to “ROLL UP THE SLEEVES.”, I mean his hands are in his pocket with his big wine belly sticking out. His eyes are also off kilter like a comic book villian.
If a majority of people support him for anything they will get what they deserve, a terrible leader more concerned with a photo op. He must have a pinup of Bush in this flight suit and cod piece hanging out with real soldiers. To bad all he can do is drive an SUV into a neighbor hood and get photos with cops in thick blue jumpers with colorful merit badges on them. I wonder if the cops he is pictured with are of an LAPD mold/reputation? That would add to the message being sent in his photo ops.
From what I have heard you are right on the money that this is part of a national campaign for him. To bad his strategy is stepping all over the most poor, ostracized, and unemployed people in his country.

The police don’t look bad ass to me, and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy looks like a shrimpy rich jerk with a Napoleon complex. He must not have gotten the memo to “ROLL UP THE SLEEVES.”, I mean his hands are in his pocket with his big wine belly sticking out. His eyes are also off kilter like a comic book villian.
If a majority of people support him for anything they will get what they deserve, a terrible leader more concerned with a photo op. He must have a pinup of Bush in this flight suit and cod piece hanging out with real soldiers. To bad all he can do is drive an SUV into a neighbor hood and get photos with cops in thick blue jumpers with colorful merit badges on them. I wonder if the cops he is pictured with are of an LAPD mold/reputation? That would add to the message being sent in his photo ops.
From what I have heard you are right on the money that this is part of a national campaign for him. To bad his strategy is stepping all over the most poor, ostracized, and unemployed people in his country.

In this respect, it is worth noting that Sarkozy made his high profile visit to Argenteuil to meet with police forces at a local police station at night, at about 10:30 p.m. The interesting part is that the police station closing hours go between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. so it remained open solely for Sarkozy’s visit. That looks like a political stunt. At the same time, the Mayor of Argenteuil, who belongs to the same conservative party as Sarkozy, said that he only found out about the Minister’s visit through the local newspaper. In other words, he had not been prepared for his visit which may have not helped for things to go sour.
On the other hand, the media are also to be blamed, and that’s particularly true of television. The news all showed Sarkozy using the word “racaille” (often translated by “scum”) but further investigation by other journalists a week later concluded that the word was actually first used by a tenant on the second floor of a high-rise project who was talking with Sarkozy. So the Minister was actually repeating her expression. This may not change anything. After all, he did choose to repeat the word in front of dozens of reporters. Yet, it would have been better to contextualize the while event.
Another example of the media’s responsibility is how they chose to stress the controversial parts of the visit. It seems that the evening was not limited to throwing projectiles at the minister (which did happen) nor to inflammatory words. Sarkozy also had a long discussion with the locals, including youths. The TV reporters were there but chose not to broadcast any of it. I suppose those images of discussions were too peaceful and not controversial enough. A France2 journalist, Françoise Laborde has suggested that the editing may have also been the result of some anti-Sarkozy feelings in the media.
I am not trying to defend Sarkozy but a lack of contextualization could only have added to the growing tension. At the same time, Sarkozy who has based his popularity on his image of a hard-line, law-and-order demagogue indeed could not afford to look weak in the context of his presidential campaign. As mentioned in another comment, his use of words such as “Karcher” for cleaning the ghettos has clearly been seen as a quasi-fascist insult.
So it is this interaction of blood-thirsty TV and a demagogue politician that was the recipe for disaster in an already very precarious situation. Something quite relevant to the theme of your great blog.
Joker-to-the-Thief at http://jokertothethief.blogspot.com/

readytoblowagasket
Regardless of the original source of the word “scum” I wonder if the American press version of “rabble” is not even a milder form of translation, I suggest another synonym instead—trash. This is about as low as we can go in English in my opinion.

There is so much that I don’t understand about the French riots. We want to fit it into our schemas, but it just doesn’t add up. I have many more questions than answers, so far.
Why so little photocoverage? I’ve seen videos of burning cars, and the NYTimes has a picture today of a few youth lobbing something in front of a symbolic roadsign. But what is the riot’s actual scale? It seems as though perhaps no more than a couple thousand people are involved. Who are they? We are seeing strong anti-riot responses by the Muslim leaders and other community leaders rather than tacit encouragement. Why has it taken the government so long to respond? My French acquaintances don’t seem particularly alarmed.
In this context the first picture is interesting. The man in the blue CRS uniform looks like the Gestapo. All the pictures seem to associate Zarkozy with a “strong law and order” and yet he is being blamed for inciting the violence. Is this another manifestation of the disconnect between the elite and the common man that we also saw when the French rejected the EU constitution?
I just don’t get what is going on.

Photo 1, agree about the tough guy stance. Is the upward (and onward) gaze one of optimism ? The CRT chap is thinking, Yep Boss man this is going to be tough. # 2, The bald head fellow’s downward contented smile suggests he doesn’t have to be told again or reminded. # 3 worried, overworked or just plain tired ? # 4, The very obvious ‘karate hand’ on the baseball capped gent to Sarkozy’s right is one well known to martial arts practitioners, and definitely not a pleasant greeting sign.. Sarkovsky’s handshake is accepted as a formality by the young enthusiastic military postured cop. Some how I don’t see him framing or putting this pic in a scrapbook. Maybe he considers his political Boss as not indigenous or really a true Frenchman. Cops or soldiers relate to their immediate commanders and are often at odds with their political leaders, or at least this has been my experience.

fab, good english.
Thank you BAG, for the insight, again.

Thanks to the group mind for coming up with details that I’m not computer-literate enough to find. I did wonder about his name (heritage) and his height. One, of course, thinks of Napoleon and all that goes with it.
I also think that he, being son of immigrants, is more of the SCOTUS Thomas mentality, i.e., “I got mine and I’m pullin’ up the ladder, suckers.” Or perhaps it’s the hatred of a background/childhood which was painful and best forgotten. He’s pulled himself out of it and doesn’t want to be confronted with it again. So he goes to the poor areas and condemns it/them as though it were not a part of him.
Since the NOLA horrors, I’ve been wondering whence cometh the reaction from blacks and the left. (Okay, 2% approval of Bush is a reaction of sorts.) It’s as if no one knew where to put the rage and helplessness. Maybe we’ve just forgotten how to take to the streets. Or maybe those who used to, just got too old.
I’m old enough to remember watching the 60’s riots spread around the globe. 1965 Los Angeles, then Detroit, New Jersey, etc. Then Paris erupted and spread to Germany then Japan….and all connected, if viscerally, to Viet Nam.
And now we have Iraq……….

“Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy looks like a shrimpy rich jerk with a Napoleon complex….” He looks just like a slinky neo-con type to me. I dont doubt for a minute that there were expert provacteurs involved in the firebombings and that it had been carefully planned.

Made me think of Sharon going to the Temple Mount.