Blah, blah, blah

I stumbled upon the site of a conservative blogger (via Jezebel).

One of her more recent entries is about yesterday’s shooting of French police. While the struggle against police harassment is nothing new in France, the interesting thing about her post was the term she used to describe the people resisting the police; she called them “Punk Jihad.”

My first thought was: Punk music. Resistance. Struggle. France. Those kids are way too cool for me.

The French situation isn’t related to an Islamic Jihad Organization. It is a popular uprising against social and racial discrimination; although, for many people, it may be considered jihad–a struggle for a better society.

The police have long been terrorizing France’s North African immigrant and Muslim communities; e.g., by randomly retaining youths and forcing them to show id papers (much like how the US harasses its immigrant community), and by arresting innocent bystanders of drug transactions (much like how the US harasses people of color). And the youth have long resisted and attacked symbols of the oppressive State.

You probably heard about the November 2005 riots that broke out across France after police harassment resulted in the deaths of two youths. Now communities seem to be forming their own police squads–to police the police.

Police violence is one of the most visible manifestations of the social and racial discrimination that permeates French society–from employers and housing complexes rejecting applicants with Arab or African last names to schools teaching the “positives of colonialism” while preventing freedom of expression for Muslim youth to wear religious attire.

Any way, the punk jihad. That would be an awesome band name.