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of these kids' actions, but i condone them, understand their pain, and probably would do the same in their shoes.

it's so very sad that they are hurting themselves, and their own peoples' property, but it must be almost irresistible, given their sense of alienation and the apparent futility of trying to be heard any other way.

treat people fairly, and this wouldn't happen.

young men need their energy channeled into productive pursuits, or they will act out.

it's always been that way. some tribes knock a tooth out at puberty, some chop off another piece of anatomy, to try and knock a wedge of humility into their omnipotence.

france expects them to go to school, and aim for respectability with a 9 to 5.

i heard that in communist east germany the kids had plenty of organised activities, and when the wall fell, a lot went wild, missing some positive structure to help them through the hardest years, with respect to identity and character formation.

what do we offer kids? the mall-crawl? projections on football teams?

these kids need to feel self-esteem. their families try to do this with religion, but that doesn't cut any mustard in a secular, racist society.

lining them up to be branded 'french' is absurd, unless they choose to be.

i hate the sublimated war in sport, but maybe it might work to integrate immigrants better.

all part of the difficult transition from homo economicus to homo ludens...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Tue Nov 8th, 2005 at 08:33:46 PM EST
I have the same feeling. Figth now the violence expression is quite smart. No killing, no face to face with local people.

It is a little bit weird. Sad for the situation, happy for the way it is awakening people. And worried that they will not be smart enough to focus the violence.

Civil rights movement in the US is a clear example. Violent acts were really smart, localized but brutal. Combined with pacifism and mass movement, it worked. I do not if they would be that smart now, so I do not know if they will get the big chance we are all rooting for in the poor ans poor working ares of Europe.

Weird being happy but not knowing if I could stay happy a lot longer. Happy but not cheering. Understanding but not supporting. I guess I am a coward all in all.

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Wed Nov 9th, 2005 at 06:30:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
that kids everywhere subscribe to: they relate internationally by it and though i find it generally sucks, being fruit of a nike-gap type corporate wet dream, it may be good in one sense - it is global. ignore the attitude and try to educate them to use their hearts, hands and brains while still young, and to avoid futile violence.

can you imagine if they all were laying in the road and blocking traffic, or something ghandian like that?

maybe it's my projection, and they know better, as the 'soft' way would certainly get a lot of them arrested, and this way doesn't.

it's that the violence turns off many who would listen.

another interesting thing: the leaders are very much in the background, and therefore unavailable for mediation, and thus banalisation.

besides, the 'movement' doesn't need spokesmen really, the media is already crawling with an overabundance, and the issues are as obvious as their collective rage.

this way its like p2p, many fragments, difficult to target.

open source networks show their fleet strength again!

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Nov 9th, 2005 at 10:06:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
excellent points.

I belong to the school that deeply thinks that the so called "masses" are generally very smart and along history have accomplished their main purposes. They have done through different kinds of fights and won  from radical and disgusting violence to pacific means.

In Paris, it is too recent to see if it will work, if it was smart or if it was not. But in front of any kind of social revolt which does not include killing people I am always willing to see if it would work.

Your thoughts are a very good point describing why they could be very intelligent indeed. A p2p low-intense violence that becomes strong by the basic loose network structure.

In any case, it will be very interesting how it goes from here.

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Wed Nov 9th, 2005 at 02:08:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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