Posted by artsybrute [ 68.196.185.14 ] on February 20, 2004 at 16:52:10:
In Reply to: Ummmm...... posted by wunhuanglo on February 20, 2004 at 00:47:59:
Well, I won't go searching for all the old news articles where the police were quoted as saying these incidents were just the act of youths and were not worth investigating.
It may even be in this quick google search. From a quick scan, most links seem to refer to the French government's promises to pursue these matters, something they have not yet done.
It's not a simple issue. IIRC, there is a huge population of Palestinian immigrants in France, most of whom are poor. The French government is afraid of igniting any spark there.
These people are also becoming a large political force in France. Just these two pressures alone prevent the French from pursuing such matters. But this is spreading to Belgium and even England.
I don't know how politically knowledgeable you are, but the Europeans generally view government differently from the way Americans do. The USA is big on civil liberties and self-direction, which is how we define democracy. Europe, on the other hand, views government as being charged with providing order. For example, they say the Axis powers as the outgrowth of free elections, which showed the futility of the masses trying to govern their own affairs. The US saw the war as being won because of the industriousness of free people.
This is a whole subject in itself, and has implications regarding the US not joining the world court (a democracy of *governments*) and how our president deals with the United Nations, sometimes ignoring them and acting unilaterally.
Anyway, I'm glad you now seem interested in the repercussions of Mad Max's actions.
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