AFP
Could the migrant riots that erupted in France spread across the continent?
Just a few days ago, the riots in France that engulfed the entire country after the death of a 17-year-old Arab teenager, Nael, in Nanterre, shot by a policeman, came to an end. Of course, it is a pity for the boy, but for the sake of objectivity, it should be noted that the name of the murdered migrant was mentioned 15 times in the French police's criminal records, and in two years he was charged five times with insubordination.
By the way, the story is very similar to the situation that took place a few years ago in the States, when police officers killed an African-American man, Floyd, who was also in trouble with the law. And clashes broke out all over America. And then white liberals and the black population created the movement "Black Lives Matter", which showed that both American and prosperous European societies are in fact extremely unstable. And just a push is enough to upset the equilibrium, moving into the stage of civil war.
But let's go back to France, where thousands of cars, banks, police stations, town halls, schools, buses and streetcars were burned during three nights of mass rioting. It is difficult to even count how many stores and shopping centers were looted. Cases of lynching have been recorded. Even the prison in the town of Fresnes was attacked.
Meanwhile, more and more citizens, and not only in France, saw this as the beginning of a real civil war, judging by the scale of the disaster. After all, starting with clashes with the police in a few towns in the Hauts-de-Seine department, the riots spread to all the cities of France. The bacchanalia of violence that lasted for three days showed that the country was powerless. More precisely, the power was simply seized by migrants. The police could not stop the riots, and there was even talk of imposing martial law in the country.
Why, in June 2023, did the riots become so widespread that it was already possible to speak of an uprising? If in 2005, after the deaths of two migrants in France, it was mainly suburbs that went up in flames, in 2023 the riots were spreading throughout the country.
Simply, over these 18 years, the number of migrants has increased sharply: there has been a new influx of migrants and their birth rate, which is higher than that of the native French. Plus, the authorities pursued a policy of distributing migrants throughout the country, in order not to concentrate them in certain areas. And so the whole country went up in flames.
Now, as usual, the left-wing government, the inactive Macron, the lack of a clear migration policy, the need for greater adaptation of migrants and so on are traditionally blamed for everything that has happened. Yes, we must admit that riots in France, which prides on its multiculturalism, are not uncommon. What has shaken the Western world this time?
First of all, there had never been such a mass scale that the whole country had gone up in flames. Secondly, the riots spread to Belgium and even Switzerland. The embers from the French fire fell on the fertile migrant "dry" soil of other countries. The composition of those detained during the clash with the police in Switzerland is quite typical: they are citizens of Portugal, Somalia, Bosnia, Switzerland, Georgia and Serbia.
The reaction to these events of the extreme right-wing French politician Eric Zemmour, who was running for the French presidency, is interesting: "This is an ethnic, racial war, we see who is involved in it. I think what is needed is someone with a decisive and firm position. If I were in power, I would first stop the flow of migrants, I would eliminate birthright citizenship on French soil, I would stop family reunification. I would clamp down on rioting students, I would expel offenders, and at the same time foreign criminals with expiring sentences – let them finish their time in their own countries. I would deal with the unemployed who have not had a job for more than six months. I proposed all this during the presidential elections," he said.
Consider it a ready-made program of the far-right forces. And it must be admitted that such ideas are finding more and more supporters not only in France, but also in other EU countries. The British public wondered whether we could expect the same events in our country. And gave the answer: yes, of course! The increasing number of migrants is causing democratic Europe, where left-liberal sentiments were strong, to drift towards the right. In France, Germany and Italy, they are gaining ground. It became clear which side the public sympathies are on when it was published how much money had been mobilized in France for the fund to help the policeman who shot the Arab teenager – more than one million euros, against 250,000 euros raised to support the family of the murdered migrant.
I apologize for such a harsh comparison, but if Germany's defeat in World War I led to the growth of revanchism in that country, then the uncontrolled settlement of Europe by migrants who do not want to integrate into their adopted society and their war against the law and order of the "new homelands" may lead to liberal-democratic Europe turning into an alliance of totalitarian states.
There is nothing to talk about if the European Union is already divided on the issue of migrants. For example, Poland and Hungary are not at all eager to become multicultural countries. Rather the opposite. They wish not to become multicultural countries, having organized a real "anti-migration rebellion" in the EU. Recently, they simply tried to block an agreement that implied assistance to Italy and Greece as the countries most affected by the influx of migrants.
Moreover, the struggle of Poles and Hungarians was performed in the best theatrical traditions. At the July meeting of the European Union, they traditionally discussed how to help Ukraine even more and once again discussed how to get their hands on frozen Russian assets. Everything was traditional until the prime ministers of Poland and Hungary, comrades Mateusz Morawiecki and Viktor Orban, came on stage and announced their desire to speak out on the point concerning migrants. And they spoke out so unexpectedly that the summit ended with nothing, as the European Council was unable to adopt a final communiqué.
And how can one adopt it, when Orban and Morawiecki, having opposed many provisions in the draft final communiqué, where migration was discussed, tried to block it. The fact is that during a meeting in Luxembourg on June 10, the EU interior ministers agreed to considerably toughen migration legislation: migrants will be placed in strictly guarded facilities in the future. There, they will be checked within twelve weeks to see if they have a chance of being granted asylum. If not, they will be sent back immediately.
The agreement still had to be approved by the European Parliament. Everything seemed to be satisfactory to everyone. But there was one more provision, which Poland and Hungary opposed. According to it, EU countries that do not want to accept migrants will have to pay the countries that do accept them.
The "Young EU members", as we know, like to receive subsidies from the European Union, but they do not like to pay at all. That is why Poland and Hungary voted against it in Luxembourg, but the decision was made by majority vote.
However, the Hungarians and Poles did not retreat, but decided to give battle at a summit in Brussels. At the summit, Morawiecki said that such decisions should only be taken unanimously, so the Luxembourg agreement was null and void. Then came the casuistry of whether it was null or not, whether unanimous approval was necessary or whether a majority was enough. And it is clear that the Poles and Hungarians will be persuaded. But the important factor is that Europe has practically split over the issue of migration. The prime ministers of Poland and Hungary have declared that their countries will not take part in the planned distribution of refugees within the EU, as well as pay compensation, which is, by the way, 20 thousand euros, for each migrant in case of refusal to accept them.
Everyone is surprised that this time the "migrant uprising" took place in Switzerland, but personally I am surprised that Sweden was not the battleground – and I will explain why. As a percentage of the population, Sweden has taken in more refugees than any other European country, and is now struggling to deal with the consequences. There were 63 fatal shootings here last year, compared to just four in Norway. Police estimate that more than 50 gangs are now operating there, many of them made up of migrants, and about 31,000 people in the country are linked to gangs. And the vast majority of them are not respectable Swedes.
Journalists of the English Spectator cite an amazing example: a teenage migrant who applied for asylum in Sweden became a killer, but killed the wrong person and went on the run. While he was hiding from the authorities, his application for citizenship was approved, so when he was caught, his sentence was only 4 years! And that's not even the most surprising part. Under Sweden's liberal laws, he had the opportunity to make an appointment with a dentist outside of prison. So he made an appointment, but on the way out he simply escaped.
But, as usual, everyone is preparing for past wars and solving already appeared problems, not for future ones. No one knows what the million-strong flow of Ukrainian migrants will lead to. Of course, these are not Africans, but people who are closer to European values and Christian culture. But along with Ukrainian refugees will come a flood of modern weapons that Europe supplies to Ukraine. In addition to women and children, there will be criminal elements and people who have been through the war, who will be convinced that Europeans are indebted to them, and who know nothing but how to kill. After the riots in Paris, the French imagined what will happen when the weapons supplied to Ukraine fall into the hands of migrants, and when if will fall, they will be horrified. It is obvious that the police will suffer a brutal defeat in the fight against them.
No one knows what to do about it and how to solve the migrant problem. However, everyone predicts the growing popularity of right-wing parties and the possible rise of their leaders to power. But it seems that even if they come to the leadership of their countries, they do not know what to do about this problem either. After all, it is not only newly arrived migrants who are dissatisfied. Often children and even grandchildren of migrants, who were born and raised in Europe but never became Europeans, take part in criminal activities, clashes with the police, and the creation of ethnic gangs. And how to solve the issue? To expel 5-6 or even more million migrants? And where to send them? This is a totally unrealistic thing that could lead to a real war in the whole of Europe. Spend even more money on the adaptation of migrants? But it is obvious that Europe's active opposition to Russia has created a serious economic crisis. By declaring an economic boycott of Russia, Europeans, having broken ties, have shot their production in the temple – for example, like Germany, they have lost their cheap gas. They have less and less money and more and more migrants.
Well, of course, these are all internal EU problems.
Russia, having carefully studied the sad migration experience of Europe, should prevent the same problem from appearing in its own country.