A short piece from November 2005 by Slovenian professor Slavoj Zizek on urban violences and social decomposition in France (extendible to western societies and to certain degree US). Included in the special issue
Les
émeutes urbaines de Novembre 2005 put together by Multitudes (revue politique, artistique et philosophique) with contributions from Angela Davis and Tariq Ramadan (with a piece on UK perceptions). No editing. Added some pictures, hyperlinks and related materials.
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| Looking for a political voice, somewhere near Paris at dawn in November 2005 Picture from La Banlieue en replay |
Two parallels
are often evoked apropos the recent violent outbursts in France : the New
Orleans looting after Katrina hurricane and May 68. In spite of significant
differences, lessons can be drawn from both parallels. With regard to New
Orleans, the Paris fires had a sobering effect on those European intellectuals
who used New Orleans to emphasize the advantage of the European welfare state
model over the US wild capitalism - now we know it can happen here also.
