"And then there is France. In the realms of cultural,
diplomatic, linguistic or economic policies, the French
have long and eloquently insisted on their nation's
"exceptionalism." Yet a new form of exceptionalism,
no less eloquent, though far more brutal, now burdens
them: since 2011, France has seen at least a dozen men
and women who have either set, or tried to set,
themselves aflame.
The cradle of the Enlightenment, France now glimpses
a very different light, one that makes visible the
darkness of its economic and social malaise.
The series of self-immolations has ranged across the
country, from Flanders in the north through the suburbs
of Paris to the Pyrenees in the south. No less varied
are the workplaces to each of these suicides: a lycée
teacher, a carpenter, a company manager. Moreover,
there is a mix of class and ethnic backgrounds: among
the victims are so-called "français de souche" (white
and native born French) as well as foreign nationals
who had lived for years in France.
Beyond the static of differences, though, one can see
common and disconcerting themes. In all of these cases,
the victim was either unemployed or employed in a
position whose pressures ultimately grew intolerable.
In the town of Beziers, a mathematics teacher slightly
more than a year ago set herself on fire in the
school's courtyard--an "act of desperation" that
investigators attributed to "professional reasons."
Last summer in the Parisian suburb of Mantes-la-Jolie,
an unemployed man, learning his welfare benefits had
come to an end, immolated himself outside the local
unemployment office. In 2011, a France-Telecom employee
in the southern city of Orange set a match to his
gasoline-drench clothing in a parking lot near his
office building--one among several suicides at the
company since it began to lay off employees in its
effort to restructure."
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/print/2013/03/self-...