Thanks Dj that good to know

I feel very sad about what is going on the suburbs of Paris, but I am also very thankful that it hasn't spread the central core of the city. I wish all of you well who live in Paris and I hope that the authorities get things under control.

I don't doubt that central Paris is safe. I think the riots DO reveal a very dark underlying racial hatred in France. We have it in the US. Other countries are not at all immune. These people are disadvantaged and will eventually "simmer" to the top. It is not at all surprising.

I think visitors to Paris should make an effort to stay in the neighborhoods with the high unemployment and alienated youth. Think what a positive impact tourism euros spent in these neighborhoods would have. Instead of staying in a hotel in the usual tourist areas, why not spend your money where it is really needed? I imagine they have wonderful ethnic food, so why not eat in these neighborhoods instead a place filled with other tourists? Can anyone make recommendations on some of the neediest areas?

>stay in the neighborhoods with the high unemployment and alienated youth

What a nice holiday. Do you have an idea, what you're suggesting here. You go ahead and have a marvelous time.

It's called being a responsible tourist. That means not only avoidance of a negative impact, but having a positive impact. Plus, I think it is necessary to see different aspects of a country, not just follow some well worn path between tourist attractions.

Z12Go, I'm envious of your imaginative idea. Applause is definitely in order.

Morgan, you don't need to convince me, you need to convince the owners of the cars that were burned -- all 5000 of them so far -- that there is no problem. I think it will be a tougher sell to them than to me.

There are thousands of people in Louisiana who could be saying "what hurricane" as it didn't affect them, but try to tell the ones who were affected that there is no problem. Same idea.

I'm glad for you that you are safe in your protected and unaffected neighborhood, but that isn't so true of those in the 274 towns who were bothered -- even if it was only a handful of people in each town.

<i>On Sunday, a gaping hole exposed a charred wooden staircase of a smoke-blackened building in the historic Marais district of Paris, where a car was set ablaze the previous night. Florent Besnard, 24, said he and a friend had just turned into the quiet Rue Dupuis when they were passed by two running youths. Within seconds, a car farther up the street was engulfed in flames, its windows popping and tires exploding as the fire spread to the building and surrounding vehicles.</i>

I always considered the Marais a part of Paris , maybe not right smack in the middle, but enough a part that it would affect visitors if there were fire bombs being thrown.
Mark,
You might have to include BBC, the Guardian and Reuters in your &quot;sensationalizing&quot; news reports.
After a while, how can you say that it is safe?
And we do have a friend that lives IN Paris and friends who live in a suburb. Both are safe now, but they are not particularly at ease about this, they do not consider it perfectly safe anywhere in France right now.

A question as I haven't seen this particular subject addressed. Again a question as I have never been to Paris or France.

I am assuming, but possibly incorrectly, that the thousands of cars that have been torched along with schools, buildings etc. in the suburbs are the cars owned by immigrants, nursery school used by immigrants (or children of immigrants) etc.

I assume, but again maybe incorrectly, that these &quot;people&quot; (do want to be PC) are destroying the properties of the immigrants and or/ their children.

If that is the case how are they helping their neighbors, their countrymen.

It's not the job of tourists to &ldquo;have a positive impact&rdquo; on run-down suburbs. Tourists are on vacation and expect to enjoy themselves; and they certainly would not enjoy themselves in some dump suburb&mdash;they can get poverty and vandalism at home, so why pay thousands of dollars to find it abroad?

The fact that something is very prominent in the news doesn't make it important. That's not how the news media work. The media choose stories based on the amount of fear, uncertainty, and dread that they can generate. They do this because people look for reassurance when they are frightened, and often they turn to the media in that search. So if people are frightened by media reports, they'll watch and read the reports more and more, until they find something reassuring. By making sure that almost nothing is ever reassuring, the media can thus maintain readerships and viewerships over long periods. This is why almost all news reported is bad news.

You can be sure that the media will be quick to report anything bad about the &ldquo;riots,&rdquo;, and you can be equally sure that the media will fall silent once they stop&mdash;you won't hear or see any stories about how calm or safe Paris is, because that's not scary.

When I first moved to Paris, I quickly discovered just how huge the gulf is between what the media reports and what actually happens in real life. They are expert at making mountains out of molehills. I've occasionally come home in the past to discover that I supposedly walked right through a &ldquo;riot&rdquo; on the way home, or at least that's what the media claim.

Robespierre, I'm a political science major at a major university in Florida ... The political landscapes in France and the US are very much different. France allows for a much more diverse political forum, based on their all-inclusive form of electoral politics and government.

In regards to the war, you mention that 60% of Americans are against the war. It's important to note those stats before the war began, which were the opposite. Obviously, the current sentiment is irrelevant in the big picture. The French and the rest of Western Civilization, besides Tony Blair, were very much aware of the truth and facts, and the imperialism showcased by the US fooled no one, except most blind and apathetic Americans.

I posted this to the thread started by Powell, but maybe it's better to post here:

--

Haven't really followed these threads, so I'll just post this at random here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/tr...92&amp;ei=5070

&quot;For Tourists, A Calmer Paris&quot;

For a city under siege, Paris, in its center, is oddly pleasant these days. The big department stores throb with shoppers. Strollers throng the Champs-Elys&eacute;es. Outdoor cafes buzz with people taking advantage of the unseasonably seductive mid-autumn sun.

etc.

Sorry if this isn't appropriate, but maybe someone else can post this on the various Paris riot threads that've been going on. I need to read the rest.

--

I did finish reading the article and it's worth a read.

I am an ordinary French citizen, living in Paris and commuting every day, by public transport, and without problem, to my office in the near suburbs (and I have no interest in any tourism-dependent business!). I can move around freely. No temporary dictatorship has been imposed on the country so far.

There are no riots in the city of Paris, and certainly not in the very gentrified areas where tourists usually stay. Unless you are a minor living in some outlying housing estates, the curfews are unlikely to affect you.

There are reports nearly every night on French TV on precisely how these events are reported by foreign media, and it is very instructive : Europeans generally fear contagion (the Spanish and Italians say it could happen one day in our suburbs, the Bristish say it can't happen in our country, Israeli TV talks about a &quot;French intifada&quot;, US TV apparently is by far the more alarmist). Concerning the latter, there might be a certain degree of jubilation, as exposing the existence of a French underclass may be an antidote to Katrina. Talking about the impact of &quot;religious radicalism&quot; also fits nicely in certain political agendas.

Trudaine, I haven't heard any British media claim it coudn't happen here. Far from it - we had rioting in a poor neighbourhood of Birmingham just a few weeks ago. This sounds a bit like the French media trying to whip the French up about the British again.

Patrick, did I say there was no problem? I said there was media spin. Of course property damage is painful. In the poor suburbs someone that looses their vehicule could be put in a very difficult situation as they may have needed that vehicule to go about their daily life. In fact I consider the situation in the suburbs to be very serious indeed and would discourage all tourist from visiting those areas.

I do think that people in a town where one or two cars were burned are safe however. I do think that I am safe here in the city of Paris. France is not burning to the ground as the foreign media has portrayed. This is the result of a deep seeded cultural problem not unlike the situation that occured in New Orleans.

Scarlett. Two kids running down a street causing a random act of violence in an area near Republique that has been conviently spun into the marais by the media is far from a situtation of danger for tourists. Glad those poor people that were walking down the street survived the grave danger to let us know that the windows popped and the tires exploded! It all sounds very horrifying!

If the French media are reporting that the British media are saying it couldn't happen here (things must have moved on if the story is what stories other people are telling about the story) - &lt;breath&gt; - then they are indeed wrong. It has happened here: the difference is that there were some serious attempts to learn from it how to manage public services (and particularly the police) better, rather than to just bunker down in the old familiar conventionalities, which had been the response to local trouble up until then, and seems to be the case in France now.

For those who would like to dig a little more deeply than a CNN report into the issue (and can read enough French to navigate a website), go to:

www.histoire-immigration.fr

This is the website for a &quot;City of Immigration&quot;, which is in the process of being established in Paris. Although it doesn't have a permanent site yet, the museum staff are collecting materials (lots of stuff available on the website), organizing events and promoting others.

And for those of you who are considering cancelling your trip to Paris (and those who have realized you don't need to), how about checking the list of current events on the museum's website and visiting something that interests you? (There are listings for exhibitions and events outside Paris, in other cities in France, too.)

Morgan, I think you're still misinterpreting. No one is saying that EVERY house or car is being burned, or that entire neighborhoods in Paris are being wiped out. THAT would be putting a spin on the situation. But some of us believe that a few random acts of violence in a large town or neighborhood is still a risk to innocent bystanders. You obviously are more carefree and feel that it is UNLIKELY to affect you. That's the difference between you and some of the rest of us.

I personally haven't even thought of cancelling my trip to France in the early summer -- but I sure don't blame people for having a concern for their safety. It is a VERY unusual and dangerous situation. What percent of danger do you consider enough to make people think? 5% risk? 30%risk? 95% risk. Some have a lower threshold for tolerance of civil unrest and rioting than others. What some call &quot;hype&quot;, others would simply call justified concern.

FYI - Spent the last few of days in Paris (7 - 9 Nov.) on business...stayed at the Hilton CDG and took the RER B to and from central Paris...experienced no disruptions and saw no trouble.