France has been rocked by intense unrest in recent weeks, with riots in several cities after a police officer fatally shot Nahel Merzouk, a French teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent, in a suburb of Paris.
It’s part of a long-standing pattern, my Times colleagues Catherine Porter and Constant Mehut report. “Calls to overhaul the police go back at least four decades, when thousands of young people of color marched for months from Marseille to Paris, 400 miles away, in 1983 after an officer shot an Algerian-born youth community leader,” he wrote.
Since then, there have been many cycles of police violence and riots. And while many politicians have promised change, many French people have found meaningful change elusive.
As always, Times coverage is the best way to understand the news. Here’s an account of the recent unrest and a story that examines why so many people in France identified with the young man who got shot.
Looking back a bit, George Packer’s 2015 New Yorker story, “The Other France,” offers a useful window into the long history of marginalization of poor minority areas, with a cascade of social consequences that go beyond crime and violence.
But it is useful to take a more global approach to understanding why some mass protest movements struggle to achieve their goals.
My favorite academic book on police reform is Yanilda González’s “The Official Police in Democracy,” which analyzes why some Latin American countries overhauled their police forces in the wake of major scandals, while others did not.
Because the police are politically powerful, they find that scandals of police violence are not enough to spur change on their own. It requires widespread public demand and strong opposition politicians to encourage it. Although his book focuses on Latin America, I always found it a useful reminder that protests are only one form of political pressure and need to be coordinated with others to make a difference.
And successful movements often bring sustained economic and political pressure along with public protests. In “Shaping Democracy from Below: Insurgent Transitions in South Africa and El Salvador,” Elizabeth Wood looks at how the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa used strikes and labor organizing to exert economic pressure on African economic elites, who then demanded change from those who held political power.
This is similar to what happened with the civil rights movement in the United States. In “Racial Realignment,” Eric Schickler shows how he built political power over decades, first by winning influence in labor unions seeking the support of black workers and then by working with those unions to pressure the Democratic Party to accept civil rights. Public marches and protests were the most visible part of that process, but they were not the most influential.
Readers’ Comments: Books You Recommend
Kim Fader, a reader in Rockland County, NY, recommends “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez:
This is my third reading (English version, translated by Gregory Rabassa). I had to focus on getting my bearings on the first reading (or two); Now I am once again immersed in this gorgeous prose and can luxuriate in a slow read. I liked Colonel Aureliano Buendia’s realization that after years of fighting in a long civil war, the Liberals (so called) were no different from the Conservatives. Liberals will ask him to sign a waiver on many of the government’s goals he fought to protect. He realizes that “what we are fighting for is power” – it has come. hmm Familiar voices.
Laura Myers, a reader in Athens, Ohio, recommends “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho:
“The Alchemist” tells the story of a young shepherd who dreams of a life beyond the world he knows so well. He sells his sheep and embarks on a quest to find his “treasure” but encounters revelations and harsh truths on his journey. He encounters people who are different from him who help him learn about his own strengths and challenges. I read and listened to this book during the vacation – audiobook for drive and hard copy, so I linger over the prose. This story came at the right time: a year into a career change I was reflecting on my choices, the pros and cons of a new position. My takeaway was to look for lessons in all situations and embrace the uncertainty of the unknown, as this can lead to a deeper understanding of what it means to fulfill one’s dreams.
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