Of the many graffiti to be found in the Paris banlieues just now - and creeping into the city itself - the most apt has surely been the simple injunction: 'Riot!' In French, this newish addition to the lexicon is reflexive: 'Emeute-toi!' in canister white; the imperative singular of s'émeuter. Thirty years ago, it would have been faire une émeute or something like it. Cassell's dictionary gives a transitive verb émeuter, 'to stir up', and though none of the public commentary on the upheaval in France in the first two weeks of November used this word, the view of what's been happening is pretty clear: the trouble was whipped up by the attitude and language of the minister of the interior. Even so, with the worst of the breaking and burning done and an inkling of confidence among the political class that the 'crisis' is surmountable, Nicolas Sarkozy - who'd begun to look isolated in the government - has seen his position steadily improve.

LRB 1 December 2005 | PDF Download