French Riot Aftermath: Cluelessness Reigns!

This BBC article on the aftermath of the French riots is a study in irrelevance. The most obvious explanation of the riots is that there is a large community of third world immigrants living in a modern European welfare-state. People from Africa (north or south) simply lack...Read more (on the whole - not everyone of them, of course) the necessary "human capital" (i.e., brains) to function successfully in a technological society. If being successful in France required subsistence farming or hand-to-hand combat, undoubtedly the immigrants would stand a decent chance. But it doesn't - instead, one must be capable of fairly demanding cognitive skills. Now unlike in the U.S., where welfare is given out rather grudgingly and low wage jobs are plentiful, France has generous welfare and strong unions which keep wages high. Thus, there isn't a lot for third-world immigrants to do. And what do young men with little to work to do tend to do instead? Raise hell, that's what.

Enough with the obvious. What does the BBC analysis tell us?

[O]ver the past three decades, French governments of all colours have implemented an array of initiatives aimed at tackling widely documented problems.

Huh - government programs haven't worked?

The problem, it seems, is not one of neglect - but one of ineffectual action.

Uh-huh. We just need the right programs.

...one reason for the failure is that urban policies have focused too much on "urban regeneration".

...the underlying causes of the crisis, such as bad schools, have not seriously been dealt with.

...[funding] has been spread too thinly and used for patronage purposes.

...the current centre-right government has made problems worse by putting a halt to the neighbourhood policing launched by the previous administration.

So you've got everything under control, then? Great. Here in the U.S., many claim that local control and funding of school districts puts poor communities at a disadvantage, but apparently French poor neighborhoods have uniquely deep pockets:

[sociologist Sebastian] Roche points out that to improve education, you must allow local schools to choose their teachers and set higher wages. But this is unthinkable in the country's heavily centralised education system.

Oh I'm sure those rioting neighborhoods are just salivating at the thought of being able to raise teacher salaries.

Finally, at the end of the article, some semblance of realism begins to creep in:

France is also characterised by a high degree of social protection and many labour-market rigidities. This helps those already in work but prevents the creation of low-skill, entry-level jobs. The result is 25% unemployment among the young - and zero job prospects for the poorly-educated youths of the ghettos.

But they don't dare procede to the next logical step in the argument: that low-wage work is the only likely prospect for these residents for generations to come. France must stop immigration from third-world countries immediately, and begin serious deportation for any law breakers if it hopes to stem this tide.