The article excerpted below, written by Theodore Dalrymple in 2002, deserves a dusting off. It is a mix of anecdotes and facts and offers a foregleaming of today's Parisian riots. [Hat tip: Gail Cooper]

THE BARBARIANS AT THE GATES OF PARIS

Surrounding the City of Light are threatening Cities of Darkness

Where does the increase in [French] crime come from? The geographical answer: from the public housing projects that encircle and increasingly besiege every French city or town of any size, Paris especially. ...

Architecturally, the housing projects sprang from the ideas of Le Corbusier, the Swiss totalitarian architect—and still the untouchable hero of architectural education in France—who believed that a house was a machine for living in, that areas of cities should be entirely separated from one another by their function, and that the straight line and the right angle held the key to wisdom, virtue, beauty, and efficiency. ... The inhuman, unadorned, hard-edged geometry of these vast housing projects in their unearthly plazas brings to mind Le Corbusier’s chilling and tyrannical words:

“The despot is not a man. It is the . . . correct, realistic, exact plan . . . that will provide your solution once the problem has been posed clearly. . . . This plan has been drawn up well away from . . . the cries of the electorate or the laments of society’s victims. It has been drawn up by serene and lucid minds.”

A kind of anti-society has grown up in them—a population that derives the meaning of its life from the hatred it bears for the other, "official," society in France. ... Unless [France] assimilates these millions successfully, its future will be grim. But it has separated and isolated immigrants and their descendants geographically into dehumanizing ghettos; it has pursued economic policies to promote unemployment and create dependence among them, with all the inevitable psychological consequences; it has flattered the repellent and worthless culture that they have developed; and it has withdrawn the protection of the law from them, allowing them to create their own lawless order. ... Most likely, the state will solve the dilemma by attempts to buy off the disaffected with more benefits and rights, at the cost of higher taxes that will further stifle the job creation that would most help the cité dwellers. If that fails, as in the long run it will, harsh repression will follow.

Worth the full read.

Jack has signaled extortion first, then "in the evolution of things", something harsher: huff-and-puffery.

PFFT (What is this?): On the money 5

Ah, now it's Corbu's fault...

still the untouchable hero of architectural education in France

Complete horseshit. By the way, ask any serious American architectural graduate student to name 5 of the most influential modern architects. There is much more to Le Corbusier than his failed vision of the City Of The Future.

Perharps you're right Damian, French urban planners should adopt the US model of inner-city design - free of crime, decay, race polarization and the evils of the French Modernist movement.

I'd say non-white middle eastern and Pakistani muslim immigrants to the US tend to make more more money and engage in less crime than white americans. And I know there is data to support the same for non-white immigrants to the US from China, S. Korea, Vietnam and Japan.

France's snobbery and ingrained racism works against these immigrants. This is no way excuses their criminal behavior which deserves a forceful response, but it is interesting to note the differences in assimilation between France and the US.

M. Zmx,

We realize our recommended full read is more than you can manage as you bearly skimmed the post. But you have never been a careful reader. Nor much of a debater (vid. infra).

As Paris burns down around your ears, here you are sneering about "dark America". Amazing. Though we are glad to see that you realize France in flames has outpaced your smug LA riot tu quoque. Also absent are your Katrina bons mots.

Your brave if preposterous defenses of la France, encore de la France, toujours de la France are the nearest thing in words we have ever seen to the Il Duce chin-thrust.

Were you a more careful reader, a more thoughtful thinker, a less swaggering bigot, you might have picked up a clue that it is France that is in danger.

Stay safe.

DGB

M. Zmx,

Now let's consider your defense of Corbusier. Just what does your list of 5 most influential architects argue?

Ask any student of history for the five most influential leaders of the twentieth century and Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Zedong are sure to put in an appearance. But these are not exemplars of leadership. So to Corbusier and his failed theories and ugly buildings.

What is the exemplary "more" of Corbusier that sweeps away "his failed vision of the City Of The Future"? We are curious for your full argument.

Do you find debating Corbusier to be more a congenial recreation than explaining away France in flames?

DGB

I can't believe that Zoomer is back... Wow! Dense as ever. He isn't a fictional poster conjured by the authors of this site for the simple reason that "if he didn't exist, we'd have to invent him", is he?

Zoomer,
Supporting Saddam didn't buy you guys peace. Giving away money didn't buy you guys peace. Use of force will not buy you guys peace. What you need is a "political settlement", and it is going to cost some of your precious Frenchness, the white part anyway.

Chickens come home to roost, and since the chicken is your national symbol, your nation, above all others, should know this.

PS, let's review, the chicken is their national symbol, and the "Lemon" is their car. Hmmm....

As Paris burns down around your ears, here you are sneering about "dark America". Amazing. Though we are glad to see that you realize France in flames has outpaced your smug LA riot tu quoque.

Paris is not burning down, Damian, and if you can't even see your own blog as a gigantic sneer at the expense others, you must be completely dellusional.

You're nothing but closet-racist, Damian, hiding behind your laptop with fake airs of high morality and dumb indignation when your own flaws are put into question. But you're quite amusing.

Also absent are your Katrina bons mots.

I love New Orleans, and I will soon pay to see native Jazz performers who will tour France at the recent invitation of the evil French Government (20 millions dollars cash were also contributed by French private companies, but there's no need to mention that on PAVE).

I don't need your pompous sermons to tell me how I feel about the recent disaster.

and the "Lemon" is their car.

Still stuck in the 70's, Trout? By the way, Renault won the Formula One world title while Citroen won the World Rallye championship this year. Not bad for lemon makers ;-)

So to Corbusier and his failed theories and ugly buildings.

Nobody's perfect, Damian (except you, of course). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Many great innovators made mistakes and sometimes contradicted themselves, wouldn't you agree?

You may hate some of Le Corbusier's whacky theories if you want, but I can assure you that it takes a unqualified moron to dismiss breakthrough designs such as the Villa Savoye and Notre Dame Des Champs as "ugly".

Something tells me you would not be so harsh on Corbu if he hadn't been French (Swiss-born, actually) ;-)

Sacré Damian...