The French Riots echo the past

In May of 1940, the German war machine was brought to bear at the western end of the Maginot Line, near a town called Sedan. This is where the last hope for containing the Nazis was lost. The French had sat silent while they awaited Germany's next move after the fall of Poland in 1939 (a time period known by many as the "Phony War"). The breakout at Sedan was significant because it allowed the Germans to drive an armored fist into the heart of the allied defense allowing them to flank the fortress meant to protect France. For many military theorists at the time, France had mistakenly built its defense on a strategy that was passee. The Germans had embraced the modern view of mobile armour.

The fortifications of the Maginot Line remain with its signs of defeat, the shell marks, on the rear side, not the front. The fortresses and casements sit fallow, staring across a pastoral Belgian countryside.

Nearby are the graves of the French Soldiers who died defending it. If you go there today, you'll be shocked to see that almost half of those soldiers lie not beneath the Christian cross but the Muslim cresent. To protect this important crossroads, the French had left their auxillary or "B" soldiers comprised mostly of non-French Francophones of North African origin. If one didn't know better, you'd think the French army knew their plan was doomed from the start.

In view of the recent events, it seems to me that the French system hasn't changed much, except instead of stagnant defense strategy, we're talking about a stagnant economic model. For those French who have family origins in France, that is, French, you have family assets on which you can rest. A home in the countryside, a rent-controlled apartment in Paris, a family business protected by French law. This is what the French social model is about. It attempts to freeze in place the economic status of individuals. If you have a farm, the government will make sure you have that farm tomorrow and that your family will continue to have that farm. If you are educated at the Sarbonne, it is likely that you'll send your children there. In this social model, you cannot aspire to more, but you will not fear for less. Socialism is not about providing oppotunity for all but protecting a priviledged few from competition from the outside masses.

To protect this "social" Maginot Line, the French need people who are willing to sacrifice themselves, perhaps unwittingly, to the great cause. Across Europe and especially in France, this duty falls on the immigrants. They come to Europe with nothing and after decades in the social model of France, they still have nothing, because that is what the "system" promises: no more, but no less. You will not fear sickness but you will have to get used to stagnation. The recent riots in France are simply another rear attack on the French idea of the Maginot Line. The real fear for the French government should not be that such a breech will lead to their defeat but that it will reveal the serious weakness of an already defeated French way of thinking.