The French sociologist Michel Wieviorka explains in an interview with Alex Rühle that the rioting in France's suburbs a year ago was "the physical expression of the dramatic failure of our integration policy, which has virtually gone unchanged." However, he notes that the youths have not created their own 'official' version of the events "because they didn't experience them as a group. They communicated over mobile phones, came together for brief moments and then split up again. Added to that, these youths have no culture of remembrance. Their lives are not shaped by discourse, they zap from event to event. In the meantime there's been the Star-Academy and the Football World Cup on TV. They haven't had the time to develop a romantic narrative." (26/10/2006)

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According to Stefan Brändles, French politicians lack the will to improve the situation in the French suburbs: "Following the November 2005 riots, which triggered a wave of panic throughout France, the French parliament passed an anti-discrimination bill aimed at curbing discrimination against the residents of the French suburbs, most of whom are immigrants from Africa's Maghreb region. However, those who were supposed to benefit from the law say it hasn't helped them at all in their efforts to find employment. Millions of banlieue residents feel increasingly marginalised and lack perspectives for the future. This feeling is at the root of the violence, but the political will to integrate the French townships is completely absent. And worse still: the banlieue residents feel the politicians in Paris are just using them as an instrument in their election campaigns. The question is no longer whether there will be more riots, but when." (25/10/2006)

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"French suburbs are going to be set on fire again. That is what the strategists working for the presidential campaigns say anyway", summarizes Alain Jeannet, Chief Editor of the weekly. "One year on, the papers and magazines are releasing their special editions and the time has come to evaluate the situation. ... So, what has changed? The toll is mixed: numerous initiatives have been launched. The government has promised to invest billions. But those who recommended a sort of Marshall plan have reason to be disappointed. In the estates, opinion is more clear-cut, the image of youths can be summed up in a sentence: still living in the same old no-man's-land. Indifference, contempt, clichés and empty promises ... So what's new? The suburbs have found a new form of expression. They have been given a mouth piece. Thanks to the internet." (26/10/2006)

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For Christophe Barbier, the publication's Chief Editor, the idea that too much media coverage may run the risk of provoking more violence in the suburbs should be put into perspective. "The accusation needs to be qualified. Just as fever will not be soothed by breaking a thermometer, urban tension will not cease if we eliminate cameras. The reality of chain reactions to media coverage and violence should not tone down the social climate. ... When politicians ask the media to be discreet, it is also to conceal the unseemly heedlessness. For one fact is evident in this violence: that of the recurring failure of urban policies and integration. ... This does not absolve the media of any responsibility and obliges them to gage the impact of what they show, to run images around the editing bench several times before broadcasting them." (26/10/2006)

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All available articles from » Christophe Barbier

The journalist Albel Coelho de Morais relates the historian Robert Kagan's feelings about relations between Europe and the US as a conference is being held in Lisbon about the values of the 21st century. "Fundamental differences are going to subsist: Europe favouring peace, national order and negotiation, while the United States continues to give precedence to recourse to force - a fundamental tendency in Washington's conception of international politics. The number of American military interventions between 1989 and 2003 is a perfect illustration of this. From Panama to Haiti, from Somalia to Bosnia and on to Iraq. No fewer than nine cases of resorting to force, an average of one every eighteen months ... The next president of the United States, McCain, Hilary, or someone else, will not hesitate to use war as a political tool." (26/10/2006)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » U.S.

The writer Claudio Magris evaluates the Church's return to tradition and notes that this turnabout has brought about a multitude of religious attitudes opposing one another. Between the traditionalists, the progressives, the hard-line secular, the 'devout atheists' descending from the cynical libertines of the '70s, and the American-style 'theocons', there is total confusion. "Traditionalists are opposed to progressives, always referring to the Second Vatican Council, hated by the former, because of its innovations and dear to the latter ... . Secularism is opposed to neither religion nor hate church, but there does exist today an intolerant secular tendency that is opposed to intolerant clericalism. Finally the 'theocons' are adapting their religious commitment to their political commitment." For Magris, however, "nobody has the right to pull God over to their side". (26/10/2006)

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Christian Bommarius links the scandal involving the alleged desecration of dead bodies by German soldiers in Afghanistan with Germany's lack of coherent security policy. He points out that Germany's Bild newspaper published the photos of German soldiers posing with skulls in Afghanistan on the very same day the German government unveiled a white paper outlining Germany's new security policy. "The abuse and desecration of corpses is unacceptable, but it is not part of this war, which we also reject and which we are fighting for this reason. It must be made clear to the perpetrators that they have no place in the German forces. However, at the same time the German armed forces need to be given a clear idea of what and where their place is in the world – and why." (26/10/2006)

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German correspondent Peter Wivel says the scandalous photos of German soldiers desecrating dead bodies in Afghanistan will have unforeseeable consequences for Germany's foreign policy: "Germany's military operations in Afghanistan are at great risk. This isn't a German version of the Abu Ghraib affair and no one was tortured, but a dead body was desecrated... These pictures will spark protests and great indignation in the Muslim world. The battlefield of Afghanistan is a very sensitive area." (26/10/2006)

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Maglena Kuneva, the chief negotiator for Bulgaria's accession to the EU and future European commissioner for her country, expresses her disappointment that most of the old EU countries plan to restrict Bulgarian workers' access to their labour markets. In an interview with Stefan Hudec she says: "Freedom of movement is one of the EU's basic principles. On the one hand we want to boost our competitiveness and on the other we're closing the doors on each other. The generosity of the British, Irish and Swedish in opening their markets to the 10 states that joined in 2004 was one of the main arguments I used to promote EU membership in Bulgaria. I expected Bulgaria to receive the same treatment. Bulgaria doesn't pose a threat to anyone." (26/10/2006)

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Christina Irimie, a Romanian who moved to Britain seven years ago at the ageof sixteen to continue her studies is now editor of the newspaper Roman inUK. She reacts to Britain's half-open door policy recently adopted towardsBulgaria and Romania on the eve of their EU accession. "In 2004 we werehopeful that Europe and Britain would be happy when we joined the EU in2007; hopeful that we would be treated with respect and given the samerights as other members of the EU. Now we feel that we are being treatedlike second-class citizens. We are made aware of the obligations we willhave, but it is very hard to see where our rights lie. Mr Reid's proposalsdebar almost all kinds of workers. The few work permits that he announcedwould be available in January for highly skilled migrants do not help.Statistics show clearly that the jobs sought by Romanians are in otherfields, particularly in agriculture." (26/10/2006)

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The newspaper points out that not all European member states are in crisis. It argues that although Hungary's democratic government has been plunged into a crisis and the populists are gaining power in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland "there are some exceptions. There are also a few model pupils among the countries that joined in 2004 as far as democracy and the economy are concerned, for example Slovenia and the Baltic States. And despite frequent changes of government in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, these countries are on the right path. They're starting to shoot ahead of the other new members." (26/10/2006)

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"The Dutch Minister for Integration, Rita Verdonk, is in favour of banning the burqa [traditional Afghan garment covering the body from head to toe] in public places. This is what has emerged from a debate at the National Assembly. Verdonk considers that the burqa is not desirable in a context of integration and emancipation", relates the Dutch weekly. "But what exactly does Verdonk mean when referring to public places? A ban only in the street or in public buildings too? Her spokesperson, Dorothy van Kempen, was not able to answer the question. She is leaving it to the commission that is looking into the banning of the burqa. Neither do we know if the minister is opposed only to wearing of the burqa or to all forms of clothing that mask the face. 'The commission will examine the banning of the burqa in depth' is the only information given by Dorothy van Kempen" (20/10/2006)

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Latvia's recent elections have prompted discussion about whether and to what extent the "Russian party" Saskanas centrs (Harmony Centre) should be involved in Latvian politics. Bens Latkovskis points out that the "Russian factor" has never before played such an important role. "Political relations between Latvia and Russia have yet to return to normal, but at least they can no longer be described as 'icy'. Still, there are a number of problems that must be resolved, ranging from the long queues of vehicles at border crossing points to transit problems and restrictions on imports... We should at least make an attempt to counter the radicalisation of the Russian community in Latvia and win their loyalty by not rejecting their party as long as it behaves reasonably. The Saskanas centrs doesn't necessarily have to be directly involved in governing the country. There are alternative forms of cooperation for improving relations with Russia." (26/10/2006)

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The daily considers that the Spanish government obtained a pyrrhic victory on Wednesday, October 25th, before the European Parliament, a narrow majority of deputies present having expressed in a resolution their support for negotiations engaged between Madrid and the Basque separatist group ETA. "There was only a difference of ten votes: 321 against 311, 24 abstentions. ... The executive was seeking an oxygen tank in negotiations with terrorists in the current context, given the fact that the opposition is against it and public opinion is divided. But Zapatero [The government leader] can no longer guarantee that he has the support of Europe since half of it refused to give him their vote. And yesterday's results should even lead him to pause and reconsider his strategy." (26/10/2006)

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Amalia van Gent, the newspaper's correspondent in Greece, reports on the current crisis affecting Greece's entire education system – with demonstrations, strikes and the occupation of school buildings. "University professors protesting against the government's higher education reform programme have now joined the school teachers' protest. Meanwhile, the student protests involving the occupation of school buildings, appear to have spiralled completely out of control." Van Gent points out that education is very expensive in Greece. "The chronic crisis in the public education sector has created a 'shadow education system' that is worsening the situation. School teachers supplement their low salaries by giving private lessons. As a result the quality of education in state schools has suffered. Parents who can afford it send their children to private classes in foreign languages, music, maths, history and physics to compensate for the shortcomings of the state schools." (26/10/2006)

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Henri-François Debailleux and Gérard Lefort paid a visit to the 33rd International Contemporary Arts Fair (FIAC), that opens this Thursday, October 26th. The event moved this year to the Grand Palais and the Cour Carrée in the Louvre, after having been organised on the outskirts of Paris for ten years. "Because of limited space in the Grand Palais, the event was forced to split into two and thus to install a marquee in the Louvre courtyard. The spectator-visitor is thus obliged to follow an itinerary that goes from one to the other. ... The idea is to present modern art and contemporary art in the first and emerging contemporary art in the second. ... This is indeed the 'emerging' problem of this 2006 FIAC: a very distinct scission and a lack of mixing which prevents real confrontation between the very 'classical' modern and the very 'contemporary' modern." (26/10/2006)

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