© the eyeranian

Finding "hidden hands"

As I read the warning issued by US embassy in Paris today and watch the "riots" in city's suburbs and elsewhere in France, my thoughts drifted to my own very short exposure to where this is all taking place.

I have been to France and Paris specifically often. Admittedly, most of my visits have been confined to the usual tourist destinations and parts of the capital that do not resemble the neighborhoods that are now in an state of unrest almost every night. Except for one short train ride to Charles-de-Gaulle Airport that is.

Mitra and I took that ride this past very cold February on our way home. Sitting by the window of our RER B express train, I made the comment later about how different the suburbs we passed through are to central Paris. Poverty is one most visible sign of such change and the other is ethnicity. Most residents are immigrants from North and North-East Africa and most homes are rundown apartments and projects with none of the glitz we had just passed by in the city. These are the same quarters I now watch on TV.

The embassy warning read; "although the riots have occurred in areas not normally frequented by U.S. tourists, travelers should be aware that train travel from the Charles de Gaulle Airport to the city center may be disrupted at times, as it passes near the affected area."

I then read this report of French authorities looking for "hidden hands" behind the riots. Well, here are two of those hands: Poverty and Discrimination. Let's attack both.

Posted by Pedram at November 5, 2005 10:25 PM