How to treat French riots and European immigration

The riots that broke out in the suburbs of France on October 27th have lasted for more than 1 days. At present, there is no sign of ending, but it has gradually escalated and gradually spread to other European countries. Although the French government put forward a number of measures to try to quell the riots as soon as possible, it seems difficult to work in the short term.

The riots highlighted the deep-seated contradictions in French society

The outbreak of this riot was purely accidental, but its rapid spread and huge scale were surprising, which shattered the good impression of French social stability, multi-ethnic prosperity and multi-cultural integration in one fell swoop. The riots concentrated and fully exposed the outstanding problems in French society, mainly as follows: < P > First, the gap between the rich and the poor widened.

France is a big industrial country in the west. However, in recent years, due to the aging social model and intensified global competition, the economic situation in France has continued to deteriorate, making the division of social classes and the widening gap between the rich and the poor more and more obvious. The social stratum in France has undergone important changes in recent years. According to the 1999 census, ordinary employees and workers in France account for 56.9% of the total labor force, while senior cadres and "senior intellectuals" only account for 12.1% of the labor force. The people who enjoy the fruits of France's economic development are mainly the rich, and the national wealth is mainly concentrated in their hands. At the same time, the poor, especially the extremely poor, are getting bigger and bigger. According to data, about 3.7 million people in France live below the poverty line, and more than 1 million people receive the minimum social resettlement fee, while the gap between the rich and the poor in Paris is as high as 1 times. At present, there are 6 million immigrants in France, accounting for 1/1 of the French population, but most of them live in poor conditions, and the unemployment rate is 2-3 times higher than that of the French, which is a "vulnerable group" that has been seriously ignored by society. They are already at the bottom of society, and they have become the first victims and victims of the widening gap between the rich and the poor.

second, ethnic isolation is deeply rooted.

Most French immigrants come from North Africa and the Middle East, and most of them believe in Islam. When France first accepted these immigrants, it adopted the practice of building large-scale and high-density residential areas in the suburbs, allowing immigrants to live together and dividing communities by ethnic groups. Immigrants stick to their own social circles for a long time, adhere to their own cultural and religious traditions, and it is difficult to communicate with the mainstream society, thus forming another "parallel society". The attitude of French society towards immigrants has also changed greatly in recent years. Many people blame immigrants for the disappearance of French national characteristics and poor economic situation, and have no intention of letting immigrants participate more in political life. This kind of injury not only aggravated the decline of immigrants' status in France, but also widened the gap between the "two societies".

In addition, Islam has become the second largest religion in France due to the huge immigrant population. However, in recent years, because Muslim radicals infiltrated Europe and created terrorist incidents in Europe, the prejudice and misunderstanding of ordinary Muslim immigrants in France deepened, and Muslims were regarded as "heterogeneous" to prevent psychological aggravation.

Third, social harmony is seriously lacking.

Immigration has always been a social problem in France. Although successive French governments have emphasized the social integration of immigrants in the past 3 years and advocated improving their living conditions and giving them equal rights in education and employment, in fact, social integration measures are difficult to achieve practical results, enterprises treat immigrants with special respect in recruitment and employment, and immigrants' right to vote has been delayed. Immigrants can't get the "equality" they expect. They generally think that they are victims of social injustice and "second-class citizens" of France. They try to make irrational anti-social actions and attract more attention from "another France". The descendants of these immigrants, because they are from the bottom of society, have poor family conditions, are young and out of school, lack survival skills, and their employment and life are extremely unstable. They feel abandoned by French society, but they have lost their "French heart" as French people. They either steal, rob and deal drugs for a living, or they do nothing, make trouble in the streets and vent their dissatisfaction and hatred to society in the form of violence. According to the statistics of the French Ministry of the Interior, only before the riots this year, there were 7, urban violence incidents in France, of which 442 were gang fights and 28, cars were burned. However, these violent acts did not change their living conditions, but led to the resentment of immigrants in the mainstream French society, and the desire of immigrants to integrate into the mainstream French society was even more difficult to realize.

It will take some time for the riots to subside.

The continuous spread of this riot has brought huge losses to French society. However, as it is the total outbreak of social contradictions accumulated in France for many years, it is not easy to expect to quell this major riot in a short time.

1. The situation of riots is severe and sensitive, which makes it more difficult for the government to effectively quell the riots.

At present, the riots have spread to more than 3 towns in France, and the French government is trapped in many ways and is tired of coping. Rioters often go out at night, commit crimes, fight and run, and carry out "guerrilla warfare" with the police. Especially recently, it has developed into organized and premeditated activities, in which some criminal groups participate, making it more difficult to quell the chaos. In addition, because most of the rioters are of Muslim descent, the government is moderate, cautious and restrained in the process of organizing counter-insurgency, and does not want to touch sensitive "national nerves" and be labeled as "racial discrimination". In fact, in the early days of the riots, the Minister of the Interior, Sarkozy, used some radical remarks to call those involved in the riots "hooligans" and "social scum", and the public security police were rude in maintaining order, claiming to "raze the mosque" and throwing tear gas at a mosque. These unsettled attitudes aroused the national sentiment of Muslim immigrants and led to more intense riots. In addition, the media revealed that the riots were manipulated by some unknown people. Although there is no definite evidence that Islamic militants are involved, this factor cannot be ruled out. This also makes the riots difficult to control.

second, the disunity of the government delayed the best opportunity to quell the chaos.

when riots broke out, on the one hand, because the situation was not serious, it did not attract the government's great attention. The interior minister took command of the town alone and soon achieved some results. Unexpectedly, the situation deteriorated sharply. Five days after the riots, the government announced that it had entered a "state of crisis management", but the riots had become a prairie fire and it was difficult to control. On the other hand, in the early days of the riots, the government broke ranks, and members of the government blamed each other for failing to quell the riots in time and effectively. In particular, French Prime Minister De Villepin and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy are both strong competitors in the 27 presidential election. In the process of quelling the riots, they inevitably have personal political ambitions, hoping to add points to their image by quelling the riots. Sarkozy fought alone, but de Villepin sat back and did not concentrate all his energy on the riot. In addition, the two of them disagreed. One advocated tough measures and the other emphasized moderate dialogue, which led to problems in the coordination of the government's counter-insurgency policy and the situation escalated rapidly. Although the government has gone all out to increase the police force and put forward a series of plans aimed at solving suburban problems, the opportunity has passed and the riots are even more difficult to contain.

Third, social forces have not been fully mobilized.

First of all, whether it is the socialist party, the left-wing party such as the * * * production party or the far-right National Front, they all play the role of "opposition parties" in name, and are only satisfied with "opposing" and criticizing government policies, trying to create a government crisis and realize their desire to come to power as soon as possible. Human rights organizations and trade unions also added fuel to the fire, calling on the government to take responsibility for the deterioration of social harmony. They are happy to "sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight" and have not really organized themselves to assist the government in its work and strive to quell the riots as soon as possible.

Secondly, the numbness of French society has also caused the rioters to have no fear. Some French people say that it is not surprising that such riots occur once every 1 years on average. Based on this understanding, the French were indifferent to the development of the riots, instead of actively mobilizing to support the government's policy of suppressing them. Although Prime Minister de Villepin has received people from all walks of life for many times and tried to ease the expansion of riots through dialogue, no obvious effect has been seen so far.

The riots have a far-reaching impact

This unprecedented riot will inevitably have a major impact on the future political and social life of France and a subtle effect on the development prospects of Europe.

For France, the main impacts are as follows:

First, France's immigration policy will be tougher. In recent years, France's immigration policy has undergone a major change, from tolerance to restriction. As early as two years ago, the Minister of the Interior put forward the policy of "selective immigration", choosing high-quality immigrants who are "useful" to France, and restricting the use of family reunion, fake marriage and other excuses to enter France. This riot will undoubtedly make this policy prevail in the government and society. In addition, the government will intensify its efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants, expel more illegal immigrants, and prevent radical Islamists from infiltrating France and creating new chaos for French security.

Secondly, the occurrence of riots will profoundly affect the French society's views on immigrants, and the phenomenon of discrimination may increase, and social and ethnic harmony will encounter greater problems.

Third, the riots have also found more evidence for the extreme right's "anti-immigration" remarks, won more sympathy for the extreme right forces and created more space for their development.

finally, for the sake of quelling the riots, members of the government reached a temporary settlement, but after the riots, the competition between political opponents will intensify, fighting for the achievements of quelling the riots and accumulating more capital for the future presidential election.

from the perspective of Europe, the impact will be more obvious. At present, all European countries have the same immigration problem as France. The spread of riots in France shows that the security of the whole European continent is greatly challenged by the immigration problem. In addition to solving their own immigration problems and preventing social unrest, European countries will further strengthen policy coordination in the fields of immigration and justice, and make new progress in their security policies. However, the negative impact of immigration riots on European integration can not be ignored. Many European countries, such as France, have long been dissatisfied with the influx of immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe and the competition with Europeans for jobs caused by the eastward expansion. The outbreak of immigration riots may increase Europeans' hostility to the further expansion of the EU. It is expected that the threshold of the EU will increase, the time for countries in the Balkans and Turkey to join the EU will be lengthened, and the process of European integration will slow down.