France on Fire

All eyes locked on France point to the fact that the nation of Sartre, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and many others is not well, and that Emmanuel Macron's project is not solid or does not offer stability, or they simply don’t identify with it, and that’s why society burns from its most humble pillars.

Almost a week ago, riots have made the headlines and exposed a vulnerable country that seems fed up and takes to the streets every time its back is brushed to take advantage and make all unresolved claims that are stockpile.

What triggered all was not a minor case, and it’s totally reprehensible, as well as recurring in the world. A police officer and a 17-year-old teenager who was shot to death after evading traffic control are implicated. His name was Nahel and he was of Algerian origin. For all these reasons, France demands that racial discrimination cease, that there be greater control over the use of force by law enforcement officers, and better treatment for migrants.

However, violence in the streets has gotten out of control. According to reports, the French are practically experiencing a crossfire. Many are detained, injured, properties and businesses looted, and vehicles torched. The wave of protesters has spread throughout a large part of the country, and they are taking their demands to the very door of their leaders in search of actions that offer guarantees.

Chaos means nothing more than accumulated discontent, however, the weight that it drags is very worrying, and even the United Nations Organization called to pay due attention to the events. Influential figures have also talked loud, who in the midst of an environment of strong criticism and polarization, ask for calm and the resolution of the conflict.

Meanwhile, thousands of police forces, with the aide of riot units, are deployed in the rioting areas, images of social collapse reach us and show us the true climate of popular rebellion that prevails. Whatever the reasons that triggered them, it also shows the distance existing between the State and the people, and of how much is left for the Macron government so the French people feel included in the same project.

Despite the fact that death is the worst thing that can happen, the response seems to me excessive, unbalanced; in some cases, opportunistic. If the story is right as it’s told, it’s correct to demand justice, to demand that an act of such magnitude do not go unpunished; it’s valid to organize rallies so that so damaging events that end up in homicide are not repeated; it’s also necessary to ask for attention to existing difficulties because many times it’s the only way to eradicate them, but in that equation there’s no room for destroying social property or looting businesses.

Vandalism makes purposes lose strength. However, let’s hope that the government speeds up its management capacity this time and that it manages to discern between the looting that is exploited and the citizen who really asks to be heard; and that, of course, it also does its job of controlling and ensuring that the rights of all are guaranteed; that people who today feel excluded win a voice; that they make up strategies to mitigate that hatred, that rage and that resentment that flourishes from time to time due to selective abandonment, inaction, and mistake.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff