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DataLoungers, tell me all about France's banlieue

These are apparently working class suburbs that ring France's larger cities. Are they full of hot blue collar guys who will fix your rear tire? Do they all get a free baguette every day? Could we expect to see a hot guy sporting a jaunty beret and singing a Maurice Chevalier tune to a French twink?

by Anonymousreply 29February 22, 2021 10:44 PM

They're full of Muslims and people from the former colonies (mostly African). I know because my parents live in a a town south of Paris accessible by the RER (train).

by Anonymousreply 1February 22, 2021 11:11 AM

Hunger Games vibe

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by Anonymousreply 2February 22, 2021 11:25 AM

The "blue collar" (actually unemployed) guys you meet there are less likely to fix your tire than torch your car.

They're also more likely to be wearing a turban than a beret, and more likely to stab you than sing to you.

But otherwise, your assumptions are totally correct, OP.

by Anonymousreply 3February 22, 2021 12:05 PM

I had to drive through Paris to get to Normandy, and I took a wrong turn and ended up in a banlieue. It was scary, but probably no different than a rough neighborhood in a large American city. It kind of reminded me of a dirtier, more rundown version of a high-crime neighborhood in Washington, DC.

by Anonymousreply 4February 22, 2021 12:25 PM

Those complexes at R2's link look like a Parisian Pruitt-Igoe and just as "charming."

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by Anonymousreply 5February 22, 2021 12:41 PM

Maybe 30 years ago, OP. Now it is what R1 said.

by Anonymousreply 6February 22, 2021 1:03 PM

DISTRICT 13 is a great action movie set there.

by Anonymousreply 7February 22, 2021 1:07 PM

Far fewer stink sleeves than the usual French towns.

by Anonymousreply 8February 22, 2021 1:08 PM

Shocking revelation of the racial divide in France. Middle Eastern and African families and their angry, hopeless kids. Has seemed like a powder keg for decades now. Far from the glamorous cite or the quaint ville of advertising.

by Anonymousreply 9February 22, 2021 1:39 PM

They're full of people who will happily behead you in the middle of street.

by Anonymousreply 10February 22, 2021 1:40 PM

Isn't it terrible that the impact of colonialism still affects dear France?

Much as slavery's curse still haunts America.

by Anonymousreply 11February 22, 2021 1:43 PM

Lots of clothes drying on balconies and unsightly dish antennas.

by Anonymousreply 12February 22, 2021 1:45 PM

Colonialism R11? Uh no. Decades of empty-headed immigrant policies and culture clash.

by Anonymousreply 13February 22, 2021 1:49 PM

After the terror attacks of 2015, France resolved to do better by its foreign immigrants so they didn’t feel so disillusioned.

Judging by a 2018 taxi ride in Paris, where a France-born driver of Algerian descent went on about how much he hates French people, I’d say they have a ways to go. (I thought he would go off when I said I was American, but he went on about how much he wishes he could move to America).

by Anonymousreply 14February 22, 2021 1:57 PM

France still reaps billions from former African colonies as payment for their "independence" (got a bad habit from extorting Haiti) maybe if it had not destabilized these African countries and let them govern themselves in peace perhaps they wouldn't have many African refugees.

by Anonymousreply 15February 22, 2021 1:57 PM

R15 France's former African colonies are tribal and Islamic. Governance and peace are both unknown factors.

by Anonymousreply 16February 22, 2021 2:02 PM

I honestly don’t think there is a solution to resolve the entrenched bitterness of non-white French. The great grandchildren of former colonialists rage who anger at “the French”. It’s a very different history than African Americans. But at least in US, there is some acknowledgement by a large minority that a debt is owed and affirmative action needs to be taken. I honestly don’t see a French resolution.

Recently read “Submisssion” - which was an insightful look at the French view of non-French cultures and people. Further entrenched my view that there is no happy coexistence possible.

by Anonymousreply 17February 22, 2021 2:22 PM

Never heard of her.

by Anonymousreply 18February 22, 2021 2:31 PM

[Quote]maybe if it had not destabilized these African countries and let them govern themselves in peace perhaps they wouldn't have many African refugees.

This is hilarious.

by Anonymousreply 19February 22, 2021 2:44 PM

I lived in St-Denis, which is in the notorious 93rd Département. It was always working class, but these days is now predominantly working class North African immigrants and their French born children. If a city has “Villeneuve” in its name, (trans., New Town) you can expect to find the dispossessed warehoused in charmless tower blocks.

While the French welfare state affords a certain quality of life that many of the poor in the US would envy, in the banlieues there remains a pervasive sense of malaise and despair that comes with living literally and figuratively on the margins of mainstream society.

by Anonymousreply 20February 22, 2021 2:48 PM

Watch "Engrenages" ("The Spiral" in English) to get a better sense of what Paris looks like outside the central picture postcard sites with charming cafes and pain au chocolat.

by Anonymousreply 21February 22, 2021 2:52 PM

OP is a shit stirrer. Typical queen.

by Anonymousreply 22February 22, 2021 2:52 PM

If it's anything like this film, it's terrifying.

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by Anonymousreply 23February 22, 2021 2:54 PM

They have a certain je ne sais quoi!

by Anonymousreply 24February 22, 2021 3:01 PM

"Could we expect to see a hot guy sporting a jaunty beret and singing a Maurice Chevalier tune to a French twink?"

No, not since the Allies liberated Paris in 1944.

And I doubt Chevalier would have surfaced by then anyway: he was a collaborationist during the Nazi occupation.

by Anonymousreply 25February 22, 2021 3:09 PM

The shitty Europeans get what they deserve for raping the world and subjugating three quarters of the world. Payback is hell, deal with it.

by Anonymousreply 26February 22, 2021 3:26 PM

They are absolute shot holes and the average Muslim male in those neighborhoods is extremely likely to be a homophobe who would gladly behead gay men.

by Anonymousreply 27February 22, 2021 3:32 PM

*shit holes, not shot holes. Damn autocorrect.

by Anonymousreply 28February 22, 2021 3:33 PM

So true r11 so true.

by Anonymousreply 29February 22, 2021 10:44 PM
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