By
Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent
PARIS,
November 9, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Joining a chorus of thinkers,
activists, officials and the majority of people, a well-known British
writer and thinker said Europe needed to treat its disenfranchised
migrants as "dignified citizens with full rights" to avoid
the sort of unrest France is suffering currently.
"These
riots (in France) are the immediate results of social and economic
crises and have nothing whatsoever to do with religion," Patrick
Seale told IslamOnline.net Wednesday November 9.
Seale
is a specialist in Middle East affairs, who worked for Reuters and The
Observer (London) as Middle East correspondent, and runs a consultancy
on Middle East affairs and writes regularly for Al-Hayat (London) and
Al-Ittihad (Abu Dhabi), as well as The Daily Star (Beirut), The Saudi
Gazette (Jiddah) and Gulf News (Dubai).
He
was commenting to IOL on the French riots that entered a fortnight
Wednesday despite French measures that included invoking emergency
powers for the first time in decades.
But
the state of emergency in flash points failed to stop the 13th night
of rioting in poor city suburbs as youths torched more than 600
vehicles, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Mayors
have already declared separate, local curfews, in Orleans and
Savigny-sur-Orge, both south of Paris, and in Raincy northeast of the
capital.
Across
the country, 617 vehicles were torched overnight, compared to 1,173
Tuesday, said Claude Gueant, a senior aide to Interior Minister
Nicolas Sarkozy. He said 1,800 people had been arrested since the
riots erupted.
Seeing
eye-to-eye with Swiss Muslim thinker Tariq Ramadan and Sheikh Youssef
Qaradawi, Seale cast doubt on claims – floated by French rightists
-- Islam was one cause of the unrest.
"I
don’t believe it is a religious problem, as the youths protest
economic and social injustice," said the British writer.
Prominent
French anti-globalization activist Jose Bove has also blamed the
worsening urban unrest on failed government's integration policies as
well as the social and economic marginalization of immigrants.
On
the possibility of riots spreading to other European countries,
including Britain, Seale distanced London from the rest of the
continent.
"In
Britain, the government had shown more success in integration of
immigrants with their cultural and religious backgrounds preserved.
"Some
clashes may take place some times, but the riots in France can not
reach the British isles," he said.
Yet,
the author added other European countries have to be on alert.
The
Europeans "need to earmark more funds for improving the living
standards in slumps inhabited mostly by the migrants".
"Europe
needs the immigrants as much as they do need Europe," said Seale,
adding that "European countries have aging societies."
Germany
and Belgium can follow suit, he cautioned.
Italy's
main opposition leader Romano Prodi warned over the weekend that an
explosion of urban violence in Italy was "only a matter of
time" as "we have the worst suburbs in Europe."
Prodi,
a former European Commission president, said: "Our suburbs are a
human tragedy, and if we don't take serious action on social and
housing issues we will have many scenes like Paris."
Bremen-based
sociologist Lorenz Boellinger fears violence could flare up quickly in
Germany.
"There
is already an explosive mix which could lead to riots," he told
AFP.
Boellinger
called on German authorities to provide more help for immigrant
families by giving them advice on life in Germany and setting up youth
centers and youth clubs in immigrant areas.
Late
Sunday, five cars were set ablaze in Berlin and six in the western
city of Bremen.
Deplorable
Conditions
 |
|
A state of emergency in flash points failed to stop rioting in poor city suburbs. (Reuters)
|
Seale,
son of Rev. Dr Morris Seale who served as a missionary and an
orientalist, said the youngsters felt degraded in areas where
unemployment rates hit 30%, calling on officials to explore the
suburbs and see for themselves the unbearable living conditions to get
to the core of the problem.
Tough
security measures will not bring the burning situation to a peaceful
end, said Seale in reference to French Prime Minister Dominique de
Villepin's invoking of a 50-year old law that allows local governors
to impose curfews.
French
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's use of disparaging words such as
rabble in describing the rioters was a further illustration of the
government's superiority complex in dealing with the immigrants,
according to the British man of thought, Seale said.
Moved
by fears of further spreading to other French cities as well as
European countries, such as Germany and Belgium, the French government
resorted to use of tough security measures.
Meeting
in a crisis session under President Jacques Chirac, the cabinet
invoked an emergency law, which had ignited the six-year Algerian war
of independence.
The
notorious law permits state-appointed governors to "forbid the
movement of people and vehicles in places and times fixed by
decree" and ban "meetings likely to provoke or fuel
disorder".
A
Chirac spokesman defended the measure as an attempt to "hasten
return to calm".
But
many of the young men involved in the unrest defied the new security
measures.
They
insisted they will "win against Sarkozy".
"As
long as Sarkozy is around, we'll keep burning cars. We'll burn
society," a 17-year-old school drop-out told AFP.
"We
want to make war. To let loose on the cops," he added.
