The French, Cyberspace, and the Riots
In fact, the rapid spread of these unplanned riots (unplanned, that is, before October 27 when the riots began) has a lot of new technology going for it.
There appeared to be no coordination between separate groups in different areas, Hamon told AP. But within gangs, youths were communicating by cell phones or e-mails."They organize themselves, arrange meetings, some prepare the Molotov cocktails."
For those who like to say that poverty has nothing to do with riots, this is not exhibit A. Poverty combined with hopelessness and discrimination have made the suburbs a literal tinderbox. On the 27th it was sparked off by two boys who were electrocuted.
A strange beginning for riots? Not really. Both individually and collectively, the incident that sends people over the edge is often trivial compared with the causes of the deeper churning rage that is let loose. As one writer, whose name I do not remember, said. Madness is not always let loose by something obviously horrible. It is when “a shoelace snaps, and there is no time left.”
Intriguingly, there seems little that is ideological about these riots at first glance. However, I am sure that there are people already trying to fill that gap, either by recruiting the disaffected, or by interpreting them in ways that confirms the interpreter’s world view. Some might even take my comment about poverty as my imposition, though I hope it is a pretty straightforward bit of reporting.