Re: <nettime> Paris Burning [u]

[natmagnan@altern.org]

hi I'm french, live in paris intra-muros, white dyke.

nettime-fr is most often announces, and have sometimes a good discussion, the most
important writings have been filtering through the list but Multitudes has
historians and philosophers on it, hence is always very talkative, the discussion
is more lively and detailed there.

What's most surprising to me is the black out on the news/ and control of what's
being said.  In fact the fire burned longer and all the way into rural area, and
unless one has a friend or family on the spot, there were no ways to figure out
what was going on.

Everyday all the TV channel picked up an item, it's the one single idem across the
channels that was startling, one could make almost make list : an item a day,
hence, very roughly the story as told by TV went like : - 2 kids dead running away
from the police, fire in the street (the designation as provocation took some time
to emerge and is still not quite settled) - fire in solidarity in other suburbs
(the suburbs being the poor and poorest part of France, run down projects, hardly
any public transport, no visibility in the news but for the "bad news"...) -
careful rectification of Sarkozy's image, backing & justifying his use of
insulting vocabulary. Images of fire were shown, an emerging speech of victims
(people who got car burned) - the word is out : it's a result of the cuts by this
government of all subsidies of educational non-profits and proximity police, lack
of jobs for the youth, discrimination, - eventually but not very loud, it comes
from police provocation. Sarkozy thanks and glorify heroic police and firefighters
(long idem). -Villenpin TV intervention of 20 minutes : 15' on repression, 5' on
education, not one address to the kids rioting, (subsidies for nonprofit will be
back, and contrary to the social advances in the last century in a half, now
kids in France will be allowed to have a job from age 14 !, it was obligatory
schooling until 16) -Security demos in the suburbs, security talk on TV
(surveillance camera become the magic solution) - Neutralision of the
"contamination" of the fire, by not telling the number of cars burning, nor the
places where there are burned anymore. You know "the kids were having
competition on how big, how much the fires were" we were told. - in fact we have
no ideas of who is burning what, apparently the right-wings add a few spectacular
fire. - State of emergency declared, a law that has been use only against the
colonial rebels : Algerians in 1961 and Kanack nouvelle cal=E9donie in 1985.

furthered for 3 month, the left barely refused the prolongation.  It is perceved
as a law special for "them". - awarness of the France image in world TV, I must
say that the graphic of foxTV news with the word muslim under each fire is a
pretty good one.... - Chirac posing as a gran-pa addressing the rioter "les fils
et les filles de la r=E9publique" (at least it was an address) & ferm.... - The
word" polygamy" as one possible cause.... picked up after the very
racist&conservative intervention of Carriere d'Encausse on russian TV that
Patrice is talking about. Wha'st reallly surprising is that the idem was either
ignored or lightly criticised, next day headline and top story in the news, not as
a criticism, but as an idem that may explain why riots.....Le Monde headline ::
"Le ministre de l'emploi fait de la polygamie une "cause possible" des violences
urbaines" Difficult to be more racist , - Security during the period allowed
criminals to be tracked down - ... this list could be much more detailed but
that's the idea.

Then there is - one day of Antenne 2 (national TV) news broadcast taken off the
archives website, - canal+ anchor was asked to invite a right wing person to
speak in order to balance the words of a non-profit spokewomen africa93, that just
said what was becoming the most obvious, that the crisis was taken care of as a
colonialist crisis, same methods, same laws. - the parodic "guignols de l'info" ,
puppets decoding news every evening, did 3 minutes silence on prime time 'to
think'. - 3 blogs were censured and taken off the web - Karl zero, on canal+ doing
the closest to investigation journalism that can be seen (and it's not that great)
wasn't broadcasted this week because sport took the entire week-end.  His
previous broadcast spend 1/4 of his time on the eternal item "mafia in scicily"
something he probably had ready to go whenever needed. - Journalists hard drive
evaporating from their offices (there are report of at least 5 of them
disappeared) - Daily newspaper Liberation is (justly) on strike, heavy cuts in
staff for economical reason.  It's probably a coincidence, however, lately
Liberation was a fairly good source of info and resistance. I'm not trying to do
conspiracy theory it's just a never ending long long list.....

And most surprising of all - no major demo against the state of emergency, and in
solidarity with the suburbs.  No union or major organization called for them,
instead there is strikes against privatisation, but apparently not really strong
(but for one in Marseille on public transport).

The official left is deep into internal fights, the alternative news/TV/press/
isn't that strong, but for those of you speaking french, to add too Patrice list,
there are a few things in terms of symbolic contaminating resistance - an IITV of
Balkani (a politician, close to Sarkozi but deep into unclear financial deal as
he was in office low def : http://www.samizdat.net/balkany/balkany-mini.mp4
heavier : http://www.samizdat.net/balkany/balkany-moyen.mp4

there is also :
http://rewriting.net/EtatdUrgence.htm
and a compilation of sevral things on :
http://www.talkiewalkie.org/modulddawa


a final point : i was made fairly uncomfortable by the story on this list of
lesbian of color bashing, it's not for me to deny her experience, it does happen,
and when racism is high homophobia isn't far, noor to speak of sexism, but ... +
traditionally there is no women in cafe in southern countries (sicilly, north
africa....) so there is no reason why there should be more in north african
neighborhood cafe in Paris. It's a drag, alright, but not a surprise + We are
coming out of 3 years of heavy social regression, of no possible discussions with
and nasty repression by the government (retirement, teachers, health, sans papier,
high-school kids), of inflating discourse on security and privatization of many
state owned industries. Since this summer evictions are heavy and nowdays people
are sent to their "origins" (africa....) by entire planes...

it's a good things that weapons are not circulating here as they are in the
states, but it's bleak

I shure I forget a lot, but that's the fast picture

a+
N



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