"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, Chapter 1, first line
I am struck at how the elite in France and the U.S. more closely resemble each other each year (politically, socially, culturally). This is quite a change for *both* groups.
But the "unhappy families" of the oppressed in each country have some contrasts. Two examples relevant to the rioting:
France was "ahead" of the US in denying "citizen rights" to the poorer segment of its working class. This created a segmentation and a bitterness that surpasses even the U.S. ...and the extra expenses of advanced social programmes and better income distribution have not been able to compensate. [I think U.S. East Coast visitors to the West Coast (particularly SoCal) are startled by the gap with the immigrant community, particularly in social relations. But the East Coast is moving that way. So all this is in our future.]
France is "behind" the U.S. in breaking the spirit of its "white" working class - although they have been catching up. So the reactions to the riots is somewhere between the U.S. in the '60s and the U.S. today. Into this stepped Interior Minister (and Presidential wannnabee and radical in his Gaullist party) Sarkozy -- a figure who's stated political program is to imitate U.S. neo-liberalism. Probably copying what he has seen Guliani, etc do (he monitors U.S. politicians closely and hires U.S. political consultants), Sarkozy arranged a photo-op in the slum where he would talk tough (well behind police lines).
But when he promised to 'get even with this rabble', Sarkozy used a word ("racaille") that has had historical collective and class connotations (not just individual ones). So this touched a nerve in both communities and Sarkozy is now on the defensive, being blamed for inflaming the situation. His opponents (inside the Gaullist movement and outside it) are taking the high road, emphasizing that one must not stigmatize a whole community (although they themselves have indulged in this in the past).
Paul