France: After the Riots

Another insightfull piece on ZNET by Doug Ireland on the 'post rebellion' period in France. Interesting specifically is the complete paralysis of the so called leftist 'socialist' parties who for the past few weeks have been focusing on who of their personal candidates will run for office in the year 2007 (obviously something much more important). Ireland's analysis has been some of the best online and i really dont have much insight to add. Having lived in Amsterdam for several years growing up i can say that these same tensions are at extremely high levels specifically in Hollands urban centers (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag). Basically the Western European powers have had a hard time confronting the fact that the cheap immigrant labor that they 'imported' to do 'the dirty rebuilding work' during the decades following world war II are not happy with their role on the bottom of the socio-economic food chain and daily racism they are confronted with in all of these cities. For more background on the situation specifically in France read this blog's second entry on November 7th.