After a police officer murdered 17-year Nahel, France exploded into riots. It has uncovered a deep racism.
€1 million was collected for the police officer who was charged with the murder. The police union has called for a crackdown on the ‘savage hordes’. And Macron has been backing the police in their thuggish attacks and arrests of young people.
Ever since its colonial war in Algeria, official French society has been encouraged to look with suspicion on those of Muslim or Arab origin. The rise of the fascist National Front has exacerbated this sentiment. The bloody result has been a police force that is out of control in its impunity.
And the attacks are not just focused on those in the poor suburbs. After the recent pension protests, the police were let off the hook to terrorise and crack down on protesters. The same happened with the yellow vests a few years before.
Today Macron is trying to turn France into a banker’s paradise. He has cut taxes on the big corporations, he has made it easier to sack workers, and has raised the pension age.
And his government adapts continually to the hard racism of the National Front.
Just as there were riots after the British Army invoke a shoot-to-kill police in the North, so too are French youth going to stand up against police violence.
As the old saying goes, No Justice, No Peace.
