Quote Originally Posted by Meneldil
Now you have a point of view that I can't agree with: for you, the problem lies in the racism shown by the (white) frenchmen towards the arab community. For me, the racism lies in the problem caused by the arab community.
I think the influence of years of racist attitudes is important, and the fact that government officials now seem to echo those attitudes only compounds the situation. I do not understand why you call 90% of the sururban migrants savages when 85% of them have work and only a small group of youths, and youths only, are actually rioting and destroying the cars, schools and shops of other, older migrants. This is clearly a problem of the migrant community itself just as much as it is a problem of the entire French society.

As for solutions, I already gave you my best shot. I would suggest that you support positive movements and developments in those suburbs as much as you can. Education, womens rights, community-centred initiatives, 'close' policing instead of no policing at all. Oh, and don't fire tear gas into mosques, that isn't helpful at all. The BBC-site I linked to describes some of these initiatives. By all means, prevent the youth gangs and religious zealots from taking over community property, public space and social intercourse in those suburbs. That is the worst that can happen. People of good will should not be allowed to be intimidated by them (nor have their cars burned by them).