Since the topic of rhizomes has appeared here recently, I thought it might be interesting to think about the current riots in France and compare them to riots that have happened in the US.
One thing that occurs to me- correct me if you think that I am wrong- is that when riots have occured in recent times in the US, they have not spread in a significant way the way they did in France. I remember after the LA riots there were some actions in San Francisco (maybe in other places,too...I dont recall) but certainly no where near the intensity of Los Angeles and they certainly did not persist for as long as they have in France.
I dont think this phenomenon can be attributed to the fact that there is a stronger Left in France. In fact, the organized Left (even the far-Left) seems to have had little or no influence on the recent rioting. The actors in the French rioters are fresh on the political scene.
Is it that the level of frustration is higher? Is it that the US system has been dealing with this longer and is more sophisticated in co-opting, funneling such anger?
You know there was the saying during the period of bourgeois revolutions in Europe that "when Paris sneezes, Europe catches cold". It would appear that this continues to be true in some respects, but why is it no longer the case in the US? Struggles here, despite the existence of time and distance erasing technologies, seem to remain so localized.
-Thomas
<<We are at such a point in mankind's evolution where changed conditions invalidate all our policies that have been so successful even in the recent past, and that presumably have constituted the ideal response to a presumably unchanging and unchangeable human condition. No wonder we are stupefied and confused-but our mistake is the same which many cultures have made before us, namely to force a rigid model upon a fluid reality.
Erich Jantsch - "Design for Evolution: Self-Organization and Planning in the Life of Human Systems"
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