The underlying conflict seems to be, as much as leaders The situation exists, to one degree or another, in It is an old story. 2,000 years ago it was rich, powerful We can only hope that as an immigrant culture itself, Meanwhile, Paris is burning. And today,<\/p>\n Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met with more Yeah, like that’s going to help.<\/p>\n from the New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What’s happening in France these days is important. It is the kind of unpredictable, spontaneous event which can change history and upset the most carefully laid plans of mice and men. It is tempting to make jokes about the obdurate … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/parisburn3.jpg\")
What’s
\n happening in France these days is important. It
\n is the kind of unpredictable, spontaneous event which can change history
\n and upset the most carefully laid plans of mice and men. It is tempting
\n to make jokes about the obdurate and effete French, but it would be a
\n mistake.The current violence is potentially more significant<\/a> than
\n the French student riots of May 1968.<\/p>\n
\n on both sides try to deny it, a clash of cultures. More specifically,
\n it pertains to the tendency of advanced post-industrial economies, to
\n import large numbers of low level service employees and their dependents,
\n and embedding them in pockets of poverty amidst a culture of conspicuous
\n consumption.<\/p>\n
\n all of the industrial countries. From Germany to Canada to Spain to the
\n US, all of the Gang of Eight have these embedded cultural time bombs,
\n except for Japan which, whether from prescient understanding of the inherant
\n danger or from deeply ingrained xenophobia, has long resisted using foreign
\n workers.<\/p>\n
\n Rome, slowly filling up with Greek doctors and German muscle and Nubian
\n slaves and Egyptian fortunetellers. Aggressive and powerful cultures
\n have regularly, historically, devoured less dynamic neighbors, but like
\n the
\n python
\n that ate the alligator<\/a>, even normally passive ancient cultures can
\n be hard to digest.<\/p>\n
\n accustomed to assimilating and melding new arrivals into a solid composite,
\n the United States will be relatively less troubled by the coming Clash
\n of Cultures. <\/p>\n\n
\n than a dozen youths from troubled neighborhoods at his palatial offices
\n in
\n central Paris Friday afternoon, hoping to find a solution to the unrest.
\n He has vowed to put in place an "action plan" before the
\n end of the month to improve conditions in the country’s poor neighborhoods.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n