The French Fry. More Riots in France

Meanwhile, in Paris...

"France? What about France?" asks Macron, forced out of his reverie by a group of  jittery, visibly shaken snoots, the men's bespoke Euro-chic—the slimming, pec-emphasizing cut no longer fitting the image we see—now sported singed lapels, armpits stains, tears, perhaps a bit of vomit, some dijon, too, or a combination of some or all.

Looking fresh, the baby powder padded on and under various body parts not even giving a hint of having turned into a paste yet, the two women present stood in stark contrast with the frazzled, humid rest; every stich and hair, garment and accessory, lipstick and silk scarf, all rested, lay, hugged or hung where they should while the matching earrings, purses, and shoes conveyed the properly pricey witlessness of feminism expressed as a conservative tradition in thanks to the paternal shamelessness of yesteryear that now funds the conventionally applied independence that befits the missed years of teen rebellion that their therapists tell them they've sublimated. And because such women can afford the years-long journey of self discovery twice a week, their various therapists have dared to tell them these truths:

1. The real question all women should ask themselves isn't whether their daddy loved them, it's: do you wanna be a woman, or do you wanna fit in society?
2. Technically, "no" is an abstract social construct. 
3. Adding butter and ice-cream to your cream cheese bagel only helps for a little while.

Sensing that Macron, still not having received an answer, is growing impatient with my descriptive dallying, a governmental nepotist's son—the brown-nosing, annoying one that takes forever to say anything— stepped up and addressed the President.

"The... the... the... Faris... uh, fire!" he stammered. "The... I mean, burning... Caris Pity... I mean..."

"Oh, mon dieu!" snarls an ex-Legionnaire as he sweeps the legacy hire back with the croquet mallet that acts as the needed cane he claims it isn't because he doesn't need one, OK—he was halfway through a game when he'd realised he was due at the office, yes, again.

"Quel imbécile. Faris Pissy is Nurbing. No, mais quel con!" bullied the former Legionnaire. This was his way of keeping his ego intact, the damage done by years of living under the, surely, oppressively racist appellation of "Pieds-Noirs" until he'd had enough and left the Maghreb, rejoining his superior kind in France...

"L'étoilebuque!" shouted the Health Minister, his eyes locked on his smart phone. "Oh, la-la-la-la! Ça y est! Torréfaction finale et croustillante! Désormais, que vais-je faire pour me procurer un café, moi? Voila! En ce qui me concerne, ceci marque la fin de mon temps parmis ceux qui sont éveillés... 'No woke for me,' comme dissent les Yanks."

Paris, Marseille, Lyon, and Strasbourg were hit the hardest, though the rioting was far from being limited to just those cities. And far from being similar to what most qualify as "protesting".

Over 2,000 arrests were made; 12 shopping malls and over 700 shops, including banks and grocery stores, have been destroyed, "some turned to rubble", per on-the-scene reports.

"Hmmmmm. Alwayz ze same ting, non?" Macron yawns, then perks up, asking to all and no one, "Vous m'avez vu danser avec ma femme à ce concert d'Elton John. Quel beau moment. J'ai salué Elton et je crois qu'il m'a vu." Macron drifts back into reverie, faintly murmurs "goodbye yellow brick road" as the senior staff wonder what to do.  

Sure, handling violence-prone protests is now accepted as a regular, bi-monthly duty of France's ministère, which has perfected a one-page proper-handling checklist that's now included in the "Governing France for Dummies" national instruction manual. All countries have one, I hear. However, this series of riots, although the cause not entirely alien to France, was in no way in line with what fit the usual pattern that was based on class-focused woes.

The 26-Jun-2023 unlawful police shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk can be singled out as the event that sparked the latest string of riots—activities eased on 3-Jul—although one can easily assume that the event was merely a trigger for simmering tensions in need of a justification for a release.

"But... wasn't that... didn't they... just have a period of... nationwide release?" you may ask, thinking that the French may be confusing "relaxation" and "rioting".

The incident may seem out of place, one expecting a US backdrop rather than the obviously European one if "cop shoots teen" is all they knew prior to seeing the security camera clippings of the moment. However, if one is aware of the racial tensions present in France, which mostly centre around North African immigrants—France having had a brutal colonial presence in the Maghreb, as well as Congo and other areas—then one should be aware that police abuses against subsets of these minorities are frequent, though one should not discount the veritable problems that some groups have introduced and that have turned France into a hub for heroin and terrorists. Though one should also take into consideration that the country did it's best, it seems, to create many of its 'immigration-related problems', having perfected the one model that the entire world needs to take note not to reproduce: Les cités. Cardboard and cement highrises with as many crappy-but-tiny apartments packed into a bleak and grey area fenced-off from the rest of France but not the highly stigmatized attitude its developed toward those who 'choose to live' in criminal wastelands.    

So, it's far more accurate, I feel, to say that it isn't the police having shot the teen, per se, that triggered the violence, it's the fact that the police lied, which the footage established without a doubt. The teen simply disregarded the police and decided to drive away, that's it. Infuriated by the brazzen act, the police killed him. Not quite the life-threatening, public-saving act it was made out to be...

What it stoked was a pushback against the 'supremacy' imposed on them, which has been the case for decades in their own country, and expectedly so within France as well, the country's government and corporations—among that of its allies also— being greatly responsible for their having to leave their roots in the first place. Those most indignant and the loudest were those in their twenties and below, the double whammy of youth and arab adding a layer of frustration and despair that wasn't present in the last series of protests that were linked to changes in the retirement age.

However, unlike the previous protests, this one almost seemed to target shops and certain types of service outlets. That's because, a portion of rioters were doing just that, it appears, authorities having linked a criminal organization to that facet, having speculated that, per their usual activities, they're 'grabbing' all that can be turned into cash through blackmarket fences to finance terrorist activities.

Those present during previous protests seemed to want to avoid meddling in these events, violence sure to be a part of these at both ends of the divide. This aspect also made more clear the three—potentially four—separate layers involved, all of them represented by immigrants, but only one of them was truly protesting, voicing their anger for the loss of Merzouk.

Within one group, American military weapons were seized. Many questions there.         

Unfortunately, the lack of swift action, compensated by with a violent reaction, offers another instance wherein we see that France has had enough of Macron, and he, he is bored with France, seeing himself being the ruler of Europe, instead. Then Eurasia...

The anti-immigration rightwinger, Marine Le Pen, is taking advantage of the situation, and quickly gaining the popularity that may see Macron being pushed out for a Le Pen government. 

"What's dat?" asks Macron. "Le pen? Oui, I gave le pen to Elton so he could sign my chest. Look," he says, as he begins to undress...