French Intifada looks at long wars between France and Islam

Gus Perkowski

   France has had a long unusual pattern of relationships and control over North African countries and the constant fighting and bickering to the modern day is brought up in a new book. Basically France and European settlers tried crating their own Israel generations in Aleria and other costal communities of North Africa in their modern day crusades to expand French culture and influence. Andrew Hussey starts the book looking at the  turmoil in recent years of Arabs rioting in French cities often decrying. Tense hatred for their host country. These actually are not the great cities of France but the scummy surrounding areas called the banlieues which is predominated by Arabs and other foreigners with little interest of integrate g in Feench society. Hey have their common inner city drug and gang problems that rivals any Latin American barrio and is a place for flash points between French Authorities and Arab youth. Hussey gives the reader a full account of French misadventures into North Africa through the yeas that offends a major part of the reason for this hate of all things French. The complete disaster of French forced relations with heir neighbors on the other side of the Mediterranean is illustrated and cycles of violence marked during colonial times. He does an excellent job showing how the French feeling of superiority justifies their invasions and land grabs as settlers from Europe hoped to achieve a Canada and America out of the Maghreb. The resentment of this day of  newer generations of Muslims born into France itself often lead to massive riots that were on the verge of a rebellion if not open anarchy. All is not hopeless though as the author does point out there were individuals on both sides through history who had a passion for both cultures and hoped a blend would improve and influence both cultures towards a new future of unity and world power.

Religion though was the one constant barrier of any achievement of unifying Algeria into France itself and eventually all these French colonies gained their independence with extreme poverty in the populations. It also didn't help that the upper crest of French society would use the best beaches and lands in North Africa as a cheap tourist destination often to the disdain of the Natives. The French Intifida was really no different than what the modern day Palestinians  face and is often used as an inspiration for them for one day achieving the same independence that French Arabs had to brutally attain in a few decades of open rebellion. Whether the Palestinians become an inspiration  for French born Arabs into open rebellion and fighting in France itself is something yet to be seen but likely predictable.