ZUS at Chambéry outlined in red.
According to Daniel Pipes, they are "places in France that the French state does not control. They range from two zones in the medieval town of Carcassone to twelve in the heavily Muslim town of Marseilles, with hardly a town in France lacking in its ZUS. The ZUS came into existence in late 1996 and according to a 2004 estimate, nearly 5 million people live in them."
This information was published late last year, but in case you missed it (as I did), it's worth taking a look. I had no idea how extensive these enclaves are.
These ZUS aren't just a journalistic or popular name. They're officially recognized by the French government. Here is a link to an interactive list. They are ordered by départements, jurisdictions more or less equivalent to English counties or Canadian provinces. To see any of the maps, click on carte to the right of the location name. You can then zoom in to a fairly detailed resolution. The red-bordered area in each map is the ZUS.
I looked at the map for Arles, famous for Van Gogh. I was surprised during my visit to see so many North Africans there, but that was before I knew much about France's demographics. They were in the greatest numbers, so far as I could tell, in the run-down area by the port that was bombed heavily in World War II and never recovered economically. According to the map, Arles's ZUS isn't in that section, though, but just across the railroad tracks from Les Alyscamps, the atmospheric ancient Roman cemetery where Van Gogh liked to sketch and which he painted.
All these ZUS represent sociological land mines throughout France. Their residents are almost completely alienated from traditional France — because of French prejudice, or because they are incapable of assimilating, or both. We saw several of the zones in the suburbs of Paris explode a couple of years ago, and I have no doubt that under not-unimaginable circumstances, they could all blow up.
The French government is pursuing various schemes to win the allegiance of those who live in these outlaw areas. Theodore Dalrymple seems to believe they are beyond the reach of government, however well intentioned (although the intentions probably stem from fear as much as benevolence).
French officialdom is trying to fix the problem with the usual social amelioration programs, job creation, affirmative action, and so on. It's probably useless to expect anything else from a European government — it's the only language they know. But North and West African Muslims are unlikely to integrate into the French system, other than in the most superficial ways. Maybe even that will be enough to keep a damper on violence, and the country will be reconciled to having two permanently separate cultures. But if the standard liberal remedies don't work out, France needs an alternate plan, and had best be prepared to carry it out.
5 comments:
Rick, great post. This reminds me of much of the recent talk about pockets of anarchy in Third World cities, except here they've been brought to France. (I suppose not only in cities; Osama bin Laden hiding out in Pakistan would be an example too.) The government has willfully surrendered sovereignty over a part of its territory.
Some say we are returning to the "pre-Westphalian" system. These are usually the folks who call such a development "inevitable". Which, as you might guess, are the same folks who call mass Third World immigration into the West "inevitable". Wonder why they say that?
John,
Some say those things because they believe them to be true, but for others, it's part of a cynical propaganda campaign to condition the population to accept that these changes are already in the bank.
Remember the scene in Lawrence of Arabia where one of the British officers is left alone in the desert, and the Arabs tell Lawrence that the officer is finished — "It is written"? And Lawrence rides his camel out into the Empty Quarter, returning days later, worn out but bringing the officer back alive. He tells the Arabs: "Nothing is written."
Yes, Rick, I was asking a rhetorical question. Very true, though.
Well said Rick.
"All these ZUS represent sociological land mines throughout France."
This made me think: we have more to fear from the sociological than the radiological. Nuclear weapons have devastating but relatively contained areas of effect. Islam, on the other hand, spreads its misery everywhere like a virus.
There is hope. Auster's separationism would be one cure. We just have to find the courage to use it.
Tanstaafl,
Yes. Separating ourselves from Islam until it learns better manners has a distasteful aspect that I can't deny. But it still seems like the most promising and humane alternative to dhimmitude on the one hand or a hideously violent conflict on the other.
But between us and separationism falls the shadow. It is hard to doubt that there are more than a few people in every Western country -- by no means limited to Muslims -- who would sooner see separationists dead than permit such a violation of PC Holy Writ.
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