How does he know that? The relevant question is interracial marriage and there are no stats based on race in France. FWIW interracial marriage rates are relatively low (though rising) among African Americans -IIRC on the order of 10%-15% of new marriages among Blacks are with whites and another good sized bunch are black-Latino. The rates are very high among US born Latinos and Asians.
BTW. gotta love the idea that the riots are a sign of integration rather than the reverse. That approach would certainly make for an interesting take on the Rodney King riots or the 1960's ones.
In general I find Todd to be interesting on how America interacts with the rest of the world and rather clueless on domestic matters, regardless of whether I happen to agree or disagree with his specific arguments.
Now for a different take try an interesting WaPo article on the situation in Toulouse. Here are some quotes from the assistant mayor for the local 'banlieue' People at city hall reject discrimination as a cause of the problems, instead blaming recently arrived immigrants. "They come here, know nothing of Toulouse, make demands and create problems," Lloret said.
Lloret said the recent events were only a fever that would pass. "This is not the first time there," he said, referring to a week of riots in 1998 in Mirail after police killed a 17-year-old suspected of car theft. "If there is another pretext, some mistake, it will happen all over again," Lloret said.
"If there is another pretext, some mistake, it will happen all over again," Lloret said.
Municipal police do not patrol Reynerie, even during the day, when markets and stores are open. "It is not their duty to restore order," Lloret explained. "Our police handle traffic and thefts, you know, things like that." The national gendarmerie and riot police are the only forces of order, and they come only at night. City employees are refusing to work at their offices in the district because of the danger. Bus drivers have begged off routes in Mirail, and the subway closes before sundown.
The national gendarmerie and riot police are the only forces of order, and they come only at night. City employees are refusing to work at their offices in the district because of the danger. Bus drivers have begged off routes in Mirail, and the subway closes before sundown.
Lloret said sorting things out with the community is the role of nongovernmental social welfare associations. But scenes in Reynerie this past week showed that such groups have a fight on their hands. On Wednesday, groups of social workers called for an outdoor meeting to appeal for peace. A couple of young men began to harangue the workers. "Go home. You're white. You don't belong here. You have nice jobs. Go back to France," one said. The young men cheered as a stolen car buzzed by, its passengers on their way to torch the kindergarten. "This confrontation was a shock," said Silviane Becker, a member of the Mirail Social Education Association. "They insult us because the ones they really want to insult are absent."
On Wednesday, groups of social workers called for an outdoor meeting to appeal for peace. A couple of young men began to harangue the workers. "Go home. You're white. You don't belong here. You have nice jobs. Go back to France," one said. The young men cheered as a stolen car buzzed by, its passengers on their way to torch the kindergarten.
"This confrontation was a shock," said Silviane Becker, a member of the Mirail Social Education Association. "They insult us because the ones they really want to insult are absent."
A French City and Its Underclass Drift Apart Riots in Toulouse Reveal Gulf Between Officials, Minorities
And maybe a somewhat older article from Le Monde dealing with the racially charged violence that accompanied the spring student demonstrations. Nouveau lumpenprolétariat et jeunes casseurs
Todd probaly refers to bi-national marriages, whose data can be easily found at the local town halls. "The USA appears destined by fate to plague America with misery in the name of liberty." Simon Bolivar, Caracas, 1819
Marseille, a large city with at least 1 million inhabitants, is the first exception: because it has a large (non-white) immigrant population present at various levels of society (there has only been one night -7 Nov- on which Marseille saw more cars burnt than it's daily all-year round regular day average, but even then it was only 30 cars ... yes, cars actually burn every regular day in France, and Strasbourg and Marseille have made it a sport, competing with each other for top spot on a daily basis.). Basically no riots in Marseille ...
And Toulouse is the second exception: because its "banlieues" are actually districts of Toulouse, they touch the town center, are accessible after a couple of subway stops, and the Mirail even has a large and reputable university opposite appartment blocks. (an interesting residential website, but in French, can be found here: http://www.tomirail.net/)
Why has Toulouse known more permanent and persisting violence than other cities? I believe it's indeed, paradoxically, like Todd says, because Toulouse's banlieues are actually quite integrated to the urban tissue and life (anyone in Mirail or Bellefontaine can hop into the subway and be in town in a couple of minutes, unlike youths in Parisian suburbs who have to go through an exodus-like operation, passing police controls etc on their way to Paris), which means that banlieue youths in Toulouse are more aware of what they're missing out on, not only because they can see the university in their district, but also because they are aware that this town is one of the youngest in France (110,000 students for 300,000 inhabitants in the center, which makes it the largest student town in France after Paris) -other youths being generally youths who do not miss out on everything as much, i.e. because they are generally students (but students can still be quite poor!). As proof ot the potency of Todd's argument, the Toulouse "banlieue" is the only one that has seen an "anti-discrimination" demonstration, that started in the banlieue and ended in the center of Toulouse ... shops etc in the center stayed open, no one was worried ... while other banlieues in France only had "anti-violence" demonstrations, confined to the banlieues that they were representing.
Hopefully, the "Grand projet de Ville" planned for Toulouse's future will be successful in breaking down the "banlieue" tag on these districts. It seems like an interesting project, that will see 25 building blocks destroyed, and smaller lodgings (2-3 storeys high) built instead, but more importantly direct avenues will be built straight from the center of Toulouse to these districts. These districts will thus no longer be isolated. At least virtually (i.e. when on one avenue, you'll know that a pair of kilometers down the same avenue, it'll be that district). This will help, I'm sure (for example some people in the center don't even know how to get to the Mirail, probably because they've never even tried, which strengthens the construct of isolation and difference, in people's minds). It's the most costly current urban project in France, and will cost 6 342 euros per Toulouse inhabitant (http://www.mairie-toulouse.fr/Grands_Projets/gpv/GPV_2.htm , or seen by the eyes of the residents whose website I quoted earlier: http://www.tomirail.net/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=3)
But as long as our mayor is a right-wing prick who tries to close down kebab shops and to get rid of homeless "squatters", Toulouse will suffer. How can it be that Toulouse always has right-wing mayors? Because it is a major student town, and students only being around for 1 year, 2-3 years, rarely longer, often don't bother to enlist to vote ... and thus often don't vote. Which is a pity because even without their vote Toulouse still managed to be, at the last elections (Regional, 2004), the ONLY large major French town in which Le Pen's FN party got less votes than the Green party (other large towns often chose to combine socialists and greens, so this statistic in itself may be manipulative, but looking at other elections this is the general trend in Toulouse. The only other large town in which the FN is traditionnaly under-represented, is Paris). There is thus a great potential for left-wing renewal here, and partly because of all the descendants of Spanish republicans ...
A pic of the type of building planned for destruction:
