Opposing Exclusion: The Political Significance of the Riots in French Suburbs (2005–2007)

Abstract

In 2005, following the deaths of two teenagers in the Parisian suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, France witnessed three weeks of widespread rioting. These events were mirrored, albeit on a smaller scale, in the nearby suburb of Villiers-le-Bel in 2007 when two local youths died in a collision involving police officers. Both during and after these respective events, many social and political commentators denounced the riots as a purely nihilistic expression of violence, a rejection of the Republic and of French society at large. However, this interpretation fails to fully consider the complexity of the situation. This essay will attempt to deconstruct the security-oriented interpretation of the violence and instead offer an analysis that views the riots of both 2005 and 2007 as a plea for access to French society on the part of those involved. Drawing on empirical fieldwork carried out in Villiers-le-Bel, the article will examine the case of Villiers-le-Bel in relation to the arguments put forward by a number of French sociologists, most notably Lapeyronnie and Kokoreff, which attributed political significance to the riots. The argument will explore the idea of the riots as a protopolitical event, that is, a primitive attempt by a socially excluded population to gain visibility in the public and political spheres.

En 2005, suite à la mort de deux adolescents dans la banlieue parisienne de Clichy-sous-Bois, la France a vécu trois semaines d'émeutes d'une ampleur sans précédant. Ces événements se sont reproduits dans une certaine mesure en 2007 dans la banlieue voisine de Villiers-le-Bel quand deux jeunes ont trouvé la mort en percutant un véhicule de police. Pendant et après ces événements respectifs plusieurs commentateurs sociaux et politiques ont dénoncé les émeutes comme l'expression d'une violence nihiliste, un rejet de la République et de la société française. Cependant, cette interprétation ne prend pas en compte la complexité de la situation. Cet article cherche à dénouer l'interprétation sécuritaire et proposera une analyse qui considère les émeutes de 2005 et 2007 comme une demande d'accès à la société française de la part de ceux qui ont pris parti. En exploitant les résultats d'une étude empirique réalisée à Villiers-le-Bel, l'article examine le cas de cette banlieue par rapport aux analyses proposées par certains sociologues français, notamment Lapeyronnie et Kokoreff, qui attribuent une signification politique aux émeutes. L'analyse envisage les émeutes comme des événements protopolitiques, c'est-à-dire une tentative primitive de la part d'une population socialement exclue de devenir plus visible dans les domaines publics et politiques.

Notes

 [1] Other examples include Les Minguettes in 1981, Vaulx-en-Velin in 1990, Nanterre in 1995, and Les Yvelines in 2002.

 [2] A decree was approved at a special cabinet meeting on 8 November 2005, declaring a state of emergency in certain defined areas. Emergency powers were invoked under a 1955 law dating from the Algerian war of independence. The law bestowed wide-ranging emergency powers on the authorities including: the right to impose curfews in designated areas, the right to prohibit public gatherings, and the right to assume control of the media. This was the first time the law had been applied on mainland France and was seen by many as a drastic measure on the part of the government. See Le Monde, 8 November 2005.

 [3] Of course, there were other interpretations. In 2005, for example, Alain Finkielkraut was one of the main supporters of an interpretation that viewed the riots in the banlieues as a ‘revolt with an ethno-religious character’ (Haaretz, 18 Nov. 2005). However, with different and often conflicting interpretations fighting for credibility and to be heard, these viewpoints were overshadowed by the state-sponsored interpretation.

 [4] The young people interviewed were understandably suspicious of any attempts to obtain information and, inevitably, this proved to be a significant obstacle in terms of establishing trust between the researcher and the interviewees. Participant observation and access facilitated by local contacts allowed the researcher to overcome this obstacle in most cases. However, certain interviewees were unwilling to speak of their personal role in the riots.

 [5] It should be noted that the majority of the interviewees were male. In any case, none of the females interviewed claimed to have participated in the riots. These young women simply offered their own unique insight into daily life in the suburbs and their experience of the relationship between the police and members of the public. Of course, this is not to say that women played no part in the riots. Indeed the role of women in the riots, whether symbolic or physical, is a subject which has been neglected in the literature relating to the riots of 2005 and 2007. For one of the few articles to broach this question see Guénif-Souilamas (2006). Also, while the age range chosen for the sample of young people reflected, to a large extent, the demographic of the peer groups to which the researcher had access, it should be noted that a number of interviewees (young people and social workers) made reference to the wide age range of those involved in the riots—from early teens to late thirties.

 [6] The review of newspaper articles mentioned here comprised of a study of more than 300 articles from three major French newspapers—Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération—spanning the period 1987–2007.

 [7] On the subject of the security-oriented interpretation of the riots and its dominance, it is worth drawing on the concept of framing, a concept stemming from Erving Goffman's seminal work, Frame Analysis (Goffman 1974). Framing has been defined as ‘interpretative, signifying work that renders events and occurrences subjectively meaningful’ (Snow et al. 2007, p. 387). In other words, the process of framing attributes meaning to an event, giving subjective priority to what is significant and relevant in a particular context. In this way, framing processes ‘function as articulation mechanisms by linking together the highlighted elements of the event or setting such that one set of meanings rather than another is conveyed’ (p. 387). With regard to the 2005 riots in France, Snow et al. highlight the importance of this question of the relative power of institutional actors within the discursive field.

 [8] ‘Violences: Sarkozy annonce une prime pour les forces de l'ordre’, Alliance Police Nationale (17 Nov. 2005). Available at: http://www.alliance-police-nationale.fr (accessed 12 June 2006).

 [9] Action Police are no longer affiliated with the Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens. On 24 February 2007, Libération reported the decision made by the CFTC to withdraw their mandate from Action Police. The decision was made on the grounds that the behaviour of Action Police ‘was not acceptable in terms of union independence’. The decision was believed to reflect disapproval at the links between Action Police and the political party of Philippe de Villiers, Mouvement pour la France. See Libération, 24 February 2007.

[10] Délégation Interministérielle à la Ville, Système d'Information Géographique, ‘Commune Villiers-le-Bel’ (2009), http://sig.ville.gouv.fr/Synthese/95680 (accessed 12 Jan. 2009); Mairie de Villiers-le-Bel, ‘Ville de Villiers-le-Bel’ (internal memo 2007), p. 5.

[11] Methodological note: The term ‘integration’ was introduced to the discussion by the interviewee on a number of occasions. Having thus established that the term forms part of the repertoire of vocabulary used by the interviewees, the author then referred directly to the term in subsequent interviews.

[12] Interview with Nassim, 20-year-old French citizen of North African origins, unemployed (23 June 2009).