Conflict Management - Parisian Style
Copyright 2006 Harrison Monarth
Conflict Management - Parisian Style (part 1)
The suburbs of Paris are in flames. For the last couple of
months civil war like conditions have reigned in the suburbs of
the French capital/metropolis. Arson attacks are rampant.
Thousands of cars and buses are being set ablaze. Also among the
targets were a synagogue, warehouses, auto dealerships, schools
and other public institutions. Even members of the local Police
and Fire department are being bombarded with crude firebombs,
rocks, bottles and other injury-causing items. The wave of
violence throughout many of Paris' suburban areas was rooted in
the accidental electrocution-deaths of two North-African
teenagers, which prior to getting killed were chased by police.
As hundreds of protesters were arrested, French Prime Minister
Dominique de Villepin summoned his Interior Minister Nicolas
Sarcozy, as well as other cabinet members for a crisis
conference in the French Capital. But Sarcozy's emerging
conflict-communication style has the rest of the world,
including his most ardent supporters, scratching their heads.
Fighting Fire with Gasoline
The world's perception of the French government's handling of
this national crisis is one of helplessness and paralysis. Their
struggle to find an effective solution is apparent to France's
own citizens as well as a stunned global audience. Add to that
the minister of the interior's inflammatory rhetoric, calling
the rioters "scum" on national television that needs to be
"cleansed out of the suburbs". The resulting effect: The
so-labeled "scum" promptly reciprocated with increased violence,
rioting and arson attacks.
Battle-rhetoric and insults are becoming a signature style for
Nicolas Sarcozy, as he's repeatedly labeled the rioting, mainly
Arab and North African, immigrant youths as "scum" and
"gangsters".
Predictably, the aggressive tone and inflammatory rhetoric of
the 50-year old presidential candidate served only to further
ignite the aggression and violence that garnered world-wide
attention as arson attacks on vehicles and schools and
wide-spread rioting increased night after night in the suburbs
around Paris. The frustrations of thousands of young immigrants
continued to be fueled by the battle-declarations of Sarcozy, as
their actions suggest a battle of the wills with their primary
hate-figure in the conservative French Government.
"It is our job to eliminate this cancer and rid ourselves of
this scum," rants a defiant Sarcozy. His plan, according to
insiders, is to "cleanse" the Parisian suburbs, counting on
support from French right-wing voters. Similar to his radical
political colleague, Jean Le Pen, Sarcozy is well aware of the
emotional push-buttons of the average French citizen, and their
attitude towards the "hooligans and rioters" from North Africa.
"Hostile rhetoric is often the cause of hostile actions, and
hostile actions often escalate into violence, conflict and
worse."
UN Secretary General Kofi Anan in a Speech in Salzburg Austria,
April 2001 titled "Dialog Among Civilizations"
In the meantime, the French government, under the leadership of
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, is struggling to contain
the violence and rioting. Facing relentless onslaught, even law
enforcement officials are speaking out against the
counter-productive language of Interior Minister Sarcozy.
"The situation in the suburbs is at a boiling point, and we're
in the middle of it 24/7, so the last thing we need is to pour
gasoline into the fire with comments like 'cleansing the
cities'. It's inappropriate and counterproductive," says Francis
Masanet, Vice Secretary General of France's Police Union.
Escalating Frustrations
While experts, politicians and sociologists debate the likely
reasons for the recent ongoing violence and riots, fingering
everything from failed integration policies to a rise in poverty
and unemployment in the suburbs, particularly among young
immigrants, many agree that the interior minister's aggressive
rhetoric and inflammatory language sparked an already simmering
fire of unrest, igniting a wave of destruction from thousands of
desperate and frustrated young rioters, tainting the French
governments image as it struggled to maintain control amid the
escalating violence.
One Mayor in the French suburb of Rosny-sous-Bois likened the
situation to "Guerilla Warfare" and called for calm and
collective thinking and acting by citizens and police alike, to
start containing the furious rage that has cut a scorching path
through many of Paris' suburban immigrant neighborhoods.
To be continued...