Riots in Los Angeles and Paris: A comparison through the perspective of different forms of government

Résumé du document

A few months after the violent events that occurred in Paris suburbs, it was interesting to see how François Mitterrand, the former President of the French Republic (1981-1995) reacted to the Los Angeles civil unrest of May 1992. According to him, the riots were "above all a racial conflict and racial conflict is always wed to poor social programs?. He also went on to say that "George Bush is a generous man, who embodies an extremely conservative political ideology and the American society is conservative and economically capitalist. Here are the results." These criticisms of the American society and the social causes of the riots were among the sharpest at that time. However, it is hard to wonder what would have been François Mitterrand's reaction and comments after the violent Parisian nights of November 2005. These events did not occur in the "conservative and economically capitalist society" as described by the President but in France, a country proud of its Republican model of integration (the so-called "modèle d?intégration") and of socio-economic solidarity ("le Modèle Français"). International observers have not hesitated to point out the French failures in integrating minorities and providing them with decent life opportunities.

Extraits

[...] Many inhabitants of South Central Los Angeles, especially among the African American minority, saw this verdict as unfair. The violence started at the intersection of Florence and Normandie and quickly spread to a large part of the city. Michael Omi and Howard Winant[20] write that “although it began in a black ghetto neighborhood near Watts, it quickly spread out, particularly toward the north.” The police abuses against Rodney King and the institutional racism expressed by the courts thus directly caused the outbreak of violence in the city. [...]

[...] In the French case, it is harder to conclude since the violent events only happened a few months ago but the study of the recent national political debates is interesting since they directly result from the suburbs crisis and are closely related to larger social difficulties currently faced by the country. The French and American governments differ because the former is unitary and the latter federal. These two different forms of government are closely linked to different ways of seeing the national community and how to integrate it. Indeed, French intellectual elites and politicians often compare the so-called “French model of integration” to the American multicultural society. [...]

[...] One may consider that this difference of nature between the two events can be due to the different political and social systems. Indeed, some scholars argue that youths leaving in Parisian suburbs are culturally integrated. Their references are generally not contradictory to the Republican ideals, however they suffer from a strong socio-economic isolation; they feel marginalized. Alec G. Hargreaves, Professor at Florida State University, refers to a study of Michèle Tribalat, De l'Immigration à l'Assimilation: Enquête sur les Populations d'Origine Immigrée, and asserts that, concerning the assimilation of cultural norms dominant in France, the “French model of immigration has been highly successful.” He adds that failures have been in social and economic policy.”[18] Therefore, the rioters raised by Republican schools have integrated the French conception of the state. [...]

[...] He thought that a violent repression would increase the tensions, instead of ensuring public order. Mike Davis asserts in an interview given to the Covert Action Information Bulletin that the crisis federalized within 48 hours of the first explosion of anger.”[30] He adds that the Mayor, Tom Bradley, and the Governor, Pete Wilson, called for help from the federal authorities. In France, the situation is different since there is no institution or police service linked to a special city like the LAPD. [...]

[...] By burning public buildings, marginalized youths show that they have nothing to lose and that they ask the authorities to find solutions to their problems. It does not mean that all of them have political goals. Burning the neighborhood is a way to be considered by its peers. Some reporters even argued that there was a kind of competition between the different (neighborhoods) and that each group had to burn each night more cars than its rivals. The scholars also noticed this phenomenon during the L.A. riots. [...]