MACRON VS SARKOZY
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy is infamous for inflaming tensions during the 2005 riots by referring to the people involved as “scum” who needed to be pressure washed from the suburbs.
Macron, too, has been repeatedly criticised for striking an arrogant tone during his political career, making numerous gaffes including suggesting an unemployed worker only needed to “cross the street” to find work.
However, his conciliatory response to the death of Nahel could not be further removed from Sarkozy’s stance. He has called the killing “inexcusable” and held a crisis meeting to seek a solution to the crisis.
A trip to see Elton John perform while the riots occurred was perhaps not advisable and comments about young people being “intoxicated” by video games were somewhat misguided, but Macron has at least tried to calm tensions and not inflame them.
A key problem for him, however, is the diffuse, decentralised nature of the protestors. There is no leadership to meet and negotiate with, and there are no specific demands that need to be met to defuse the tension. As in 2005, the riots are occurring spontaneously, sometimes estate by estate.
That makes escalation very difficult for the government to stop. And it underscores the need for a far more wide-reaching, thoughtful response to tackle the entrenched, decades-old problems of poor social prospects and police brutality in the suburbs of French cities.
Joseph Downing is Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Politics, Aston University. This commentary first appeared in The Conversation.
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