Banlieue
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Banlieue /bɑ̃ˈljø/ is the French word for outskirts. A banlieue can be rich or poor: as an example, Versailles, Le Vésinet, Orsay and Neuilly-sur-Seine are affluent banlieues of Paris, and Clichy-sous-Bois is a poor one. The literal meaning of the word is ban-mile (ban-league), originally a zone surrounding a city where no unauthorized trade was permitted.
Some dictionaries translate banlieue as suburb, but this can be slightly misleading. Although both the French word banlieue and the English word suburb can mean residential areas on the outer edge of a city, in America the word suburb implies low density middle class commuter areas of detached or semi-detached housing, whereas the word banlieue is more frequently used to describe areas of low-income apartments and social housing.
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[edit] Euphemism
Since the 1970s and 1980s, the word banlieue has been increasingly used as a euphemism to describe low-income housing projects in which mainly French of foreign decent or foreign immigrants reside, especially around Paris, but also some other large French cities.
Since the 1980s petty crime has increased in France, much of it blamed on juvenile delinquency. As a result the banlieues are perceived to have become rather unsafe places to live, and youths from the banlieues are perceived to be one important source of increased petty crimes and uncivic behaviour. As a result of this criminality, the National Front, a far right political party led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, rose to prominence during the early 1990s on a platform of tougher law enforcement and immigration control.
Note that this connotation of the word is mostly restricted to European French. In Quebec and Africa, the word retains its neutral meaning. Recently coined terms used in politics, sociology, and the French media to describe banlieues with high levels of poverty, violence and drug trafficking include zones urbaines sensibles ("sensitive urban areas") and quartiers dits sensibles ("neighbourhoods deemed sensitive").
Violent clashes between hundreds of youths and the French Police in the Paris banlieue of Clichy-sous-Bois began on October 27, 2005 and continued for more than seventeen consecutive nights. The 2005 Paris suburb riots were triggered by the electrocution deaths of two teenagers who were, allegedly, attempting to hide from police in an electricity substation.
[edit] Social situation
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[edit] Banlieues rouges
The banlieues rouges ("red outskirts districts") are the outskirt districts of Paris where, traditionally, the French Communist Party held mayorships and other elected positions (Ivry-sur-Seine, Châtillon...). As an example, such suburbs would have some streets named after Soviet personalities, such as rue Youri Gagarine.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- (French) Audio book (mp3) of the introduction and first chapter of Éric Maurin's book : Le ghetto français, enquête sur le séparatisme social
- So long, Marianne on burning girls and burning cars in France by Alice Schwarzer at signandsight.com]
- The price of disdain French author Francois Bon has spent years giving writing workshops to youths in the suburbs that are now being set ablaze. He looks critically at where the violence originated and with despair at where it's headed, at signandsight.com
- French Riots Special A dossier with four related feature articles as well as a comprehensive collection of international voices from In Today's Feuilletons and the Magazine Roundup of sighandsight.com
- From Paris to Cairo: Resistance of the Unacculturated
