Newswise — As violence in urban areas throughout France enters a third week, one expert on French society and culture says the unrest is a result of long-festering social issues involving that country's immigrant population.
"These problems are rooted in deep-seated social inequalities, problems of discrimination and, it should be said, political neglect," commented Alec Hargreaves, a professor of French at Florida State University and director of FSU's Winthrop-King Institute for Contemporary French and Francophone studies in Tallahassee, Fla.
The riots began two weeks ago after the accidental deaths of two immigrant youths apparently fleeing police, but grew into protests by poor white youths and youngsters of North African and African origin against police treatment, racism and poor job prospects.
Hargreaves, author of the book "Immigration, Race and Ethnicity in Contemporary France," is available to speak to the news media on France's social unrest and the conditions that have contributed to it.
RSS