Fire, Rain, Thunder, Sunshine

And the riots continue...the media tells us that the violence is "subsiding". Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. How do you measure subsiding violence? By the number of cars/buses/businesses that were burnt last night? (215 cars were set alight on Monday night, the police said, 69 fewer than the previous night.) By the number of immigrant youth that were arrested last night? (down to 42 from 112 the night before.) By the number of stones thrown at police or Molotov cocktails thrown into mosques? (A police officer was wounded and three firebombs were flung at a mosque near the city of Lyon.)

The state of emergency will continue for the next 3 months. 3 months! That's not until February! These emergency laws allow local authorities to impose curfews, conduct house-to-house searches and ban public gatherings. These laws haven't been used since the Algerian war of independence in the 1950s. Which should give you some idea of how messed up the country is now.

President Chirac (finally!) addressed the nation last night. He's calling all the citizens of France to band together, to work towards peace and harmony, for the Republic. Ah, that's all well and good, but the problem is that most of those that are rioting don't feel like they're a part of the Republic, like they've been pushed to the outskirts and forgotten. Chirac did make it clear that EVERYONE was a citizen of the Republic, despite race, religion, etc. My first reaction...a little too late now.

The governent is promising reforms and social programs for 2007. But at the same time they're promising to cut off social benefits to families that have a son/daughter that have been involved in the rioting. They're also promising to deport anyone involved that doesn't have citizenship papers. Funny how they can enforce these measures of cutting people off and kicking people out so quickly and yet it will take years for social reforms to take effect. Ironic, no? Especially considering that IF some of these social programs had been in effect, MAYBE some of this trouble could have been avoided in the first place.

Well, enough ranting. I'm just thankful that Marseille has been so quiet and that these riots haven't really affected my life much, except when watching the news. I think the thing that most Marseille people are worrying about is the public transport strike that continues into the 40th something day. Traffic was insane today because it had rained the night before. I literally was able to walk to work faster than the traffic. One of my coworkers spent 1/2 hour in his car, literally not moving. Total gridlock!

I hope they settle things soon because I'd really like to get out and enjoy some of the city, especially around Christmas, the markets, the lights, the shopping. This strike has really affected a lot of people. Some high school students have to walk over an hour one-way to get to school. Some elderly and poor people have had to cancel medical appointments. Some university and language school classes have been cancelled or put on hold. Wow, that makes my wish to go Christmas shopping sound really inane. I'm sure road rage is on the rise, too. I just about got knocked over by a SUV today as he tried to sneak into traffic. But when the traffic is grid locked, it makes crossing the street a whole lot easier! And safer!

We had a wild rainstorm last night. Thunder and lightning woke me up first. Then just after I got back to sleep, the sound of pouring rain woke me up, it was raining so hard I thought the streets would flood. But all was calm in the morning, except for one last HUGE bang of thunder.

One thing I learnt last night cheered me up a bit. Marseille has the most hours of sunshine per year in France. Ah, bask in the sun. Even in winter...sorry to all those folks out there on the Canadian prairies.