REPORTER: David Brill

This is the Paris the French Government wants the world to see. Historic, beautiful, well-off. A city where French values of liberty, equality and fraternity are meant to prevail. But there's another Paris a mere 10km from the city centre. This is the 93rd Department, a ghetto filled with poor black immigrants and ethnic French. Unemployment here runs as high as 40%. It's a breeding ground for resentment.

FATIMA HANI, POLITICAL ACTIVIST: If you don't have any money because you don't have any job, you don't have a hope to get a job, what can you say, you go in here like this and you are waiting to die? We can't wait to die, we have to fight to make a living and fight for our children. It's not as simple, they say if my daughter is hungry I have to get her something to eat, if I don't have any job and no-one can help me, I'll do what I have to do to take care of my daughter. That's it.

In 2005 these suburbs were in flames. Riots began after two boys were electrocuted when they climbed into an electricity substation to escape police. The rioting spread across France and lasted for 21 nights.

FATIMA HANI: They came up, sent in a lot of police, a helicopter, like we were in a war, but we are not in a war here. We are in France, we have rights, and we want our rights. I am French and I want to have my rights like the other one.

The nation was shocked. And the cabinet met in an emergency session. The interior minister, now President, Nicholas Sarkozy, said he would throw the troublemakers out of the country.

PRESIDENT NICHOLAS SARKOZY (Translation): In order to live in France, to benefit from a residency permit, people must respect the law. We have had 15 days of riots, the law regarding foreigners allows these expulsions. And as Interior Minister I will apply the law.

The tough-talking Sarkozy also called the rioters "scum", saying he wanted to hose them from the streets. Then last year, the suburbs burned again after two youths were killed in a collision with a police car. It's quiet now, but after the intense national scrutiny that followed the riots, the media is no longer welcome here. Several camera crews have had their equipment smashed. But this man, Nadir Dendoune, has agreed to take David Brill into the ghetto.
Nadir grew up in a poor suburb. He's a journalist and has written this book to President Sarkozy, whose father was born in Hungary. It's called 'An Open Letter to a Son of Immigrants'.

REPORTER: Nadir, so that is you there?

NADIR DENDOUNE: Yes.

REPORTER: And that is the President?

NADIR DENDOUNE: Yes.

REPORTER: And what is the book about?

NADIR DENDOUNE: It's about the life of someone who is raised in the ghetto. He's not starting his life with the same chances of a rich white man.

It's a short journey from postcard Paris to here, but it's a world apart. The first stop on the journey is this memorial for the two boys who died in 2005.

NADIR DENDOUNE: It's been held not to forget who they were and how they died.

REPORTER: This is what started the riots, because of their deaths?

NADIR DENDOUNE: Yeah. It says, "Two kids have left earth, but two angels have entered paradise." This is the side some of the French don't want to see. It's a physical prison, a mental prison too, because when you born here you think your life is gonna be crap, is gonna be shit. There is no bus that comes here, no train. There is one bus. If you want to go from here to the centre of Paris, it will take you 1.5 hours. It's shocking, you know.

REPORTER: Why is that?

NADIR DENDOUNE: Maybe they don't want them to go to the centre of Paris.

Soon the road is surrounded by the grim apartment blocks. They were built in the '60s to solve a housing crisis. They look like they've had no maintenance since then. A meeting has been set up with Samir Bensaid. He's a friend of Nadir's. But the locals aren't happy to see a camera. Samir has lived here all his life.

NADIR DENDOUNE (Translation): How long has it been this way?

SAMIR BENSAID (Translation): I'm 22 and it's been like this for 22 years.

NADIR DENDOUNE: (Translation): What is the government doing to improve things here?

SAMIR BENSAID (Translation): Nothing because we see nothing. They tell us they'll do something but they give priority to the rich, as you saw in the centre of town. The mayor has done many things for the city, but only in the city centre. He should represent all of us, not just the top end of town. At the smallest disturbance they send in 50 busloads of riot police, blockade the whole neighbourhood and harass everyone. I can't imagine my girls growing up here. I grew up here, but it's different for a boy. A boy can fend for himself in this environment. But for girls it's different.

It's obvious that President Sarkozy is deeply disliked here.

SAMIR BENSAID (Translation): Every time there is a presidential campaign, they promise to improve things to come and visit on the ground. I find it very depressing. They're all talk and no action.

His apartment is neat and tidy, and despite a lifetime in the ghetto, Samir considers himself fortunate.

SAMIR BENSAID (Translation): I work, I have two kids. I'm 22. Many parents here let their kids go out after school instead of doing their homework. But my father really pushed me. I was lucky. Yes, I'm one of the lucky ones.

Close to the apartments is this busy market. It's a good place to hear about life in the slums. But again, people are suspicious, and Nadir wants to stop filming.

REPORTER: They don't like being filmed? Why not?

NADIR DENDOUNE: Because they don't trust the press.

REPORTER: Why is that?

NADIR DENDOUNE: Because most of the press that have been working here are not doing their job properly.

REPORTER: Sensationalising things, or..?

NADIR DENDOUNE: They don't have respect for the people who live there.

SAMIR BENSAID (Translation): Journalists tell us one thing when they come, but it turns out quite different. That's why people refuse to be filmed. It's only natural.

The next day on the tour of the ghetto, Nadir meets Amor Benna. He's the father of Zyed, one of the boys whose death sparked the 2005 riots. He's carrying this photo of his son.

NADIR DENDOUNE: (Translation): Are you still in mourning?

AMOR BENNA (Translation): We can never forget, it is always on our minds. But what can we do? That is fate. It’s fate.

NADIR DENDOUNE: (Translation): Do you think that someone who looks like we look, do you think he can feel French or not?

AMOR BENNA (Translation): I am French but look at my skin. It means I can never feel French.

NADIR DENDOUNE: (Translation): Why can't they feel French?

AMOR BENNA (Translation): Why? Because when they go looking for jobs they don't often get them because they are black or an Arab. You know how it is when you open the paper. You see such and such a job is advertised. But when Ali or whatever his name is applies for it, the job is taken. And it's the same with housing.

NADIR DENDOUNE: It's like cancer, you know. If you don't fix the disease, nothing will change. Nothing will change. And I'm thinking, will the politics want things to change? I am not sure about that. I'm NOT sure about that. I am just saying that, you know, we are living in the fifth-richest country in the planet. Can you accept to live in these ghettos? No-one will accept that. No-one will accept it. We wanna be treated as equal. And we are not getting treated the same because of the colour of my skin and because the place where I was raised. We are sick of it.

Driving around, Nadir has the radio tuned to an FM station, Generation 88. He says it's the voice of the ghetto, and heads for the station. It's a typical morning shift at Generation 88. Plenty of fun, satire and music. And the Immigration Minister has just announced an 'integration prize' for refugees who've made good.

RADIO ANNOUNCER (Translation): And I've saved the best for last. He will hand out integration awards next May in three categories.

Each morning they open the phone lines.

RADIO ANNOUNCER (Translation): What's your name?

PATRIQUE (Translation): Patrique. I'm not an immigrant, just your typical Frenchman. I'm a bit ashamed of my country. I love it, but I don't love the government. Speaking of immigration, one guy I'd like to nominate for an award is Sarkozy.

They have fun here, but there's also a serious edge. Generation 88 received a controversial videotape showing a police car after it collided with a motorcycle. Two kids were killed in the crash. This news footage shows the scene. The videotape, filmed moments after the collision, revealed far more and contradicted the police account of what happened. The deaths sparked more riots and the video forced the government to announce an inquiry. Yassine Bellatar has seen the tape.

YASSINE BELLATAR (Translation): They say the police car was damaged during the riot. That's not true, it was damaged in the accident, which proves it was perhaps going a bit too fast. On the video we see two kids mutilated next to the car, getting emergency aid, and the car is badly damaged. Here we have concrete evidence which we can use as a weapon to challenge the official version fed to the media. But France is going through a racist phase and has a hard time accepting that blacks and Arabs can tell the truth. That's why our kind of alternative journalism has to hit back hard.

In this small office they're also committed to "hitting back hard". This is AC Le Feu, a grassroots political organisation based in the ghetto. A journalist has just done an interview with one of the group and now debate is raging about the role of the media.

FATIMA HANI (Translation): We need a new power balance that takes people into account. And people must be able to trust and rely on the media to create a solidarity movement with popular support. If you say, "OK, we'll give you air time, I'll be there..."

Fatima Hani is the general secretary of AC Le Feu. She lives in the ghetto, is well educated, but can't find a job. As the journalists beat a retreat, Fatima turns her fire on President Sarkozy.

FATIMA HANI: It is scandalous, it's very scandalous. When you see him and you hear him you can see that he don't want to see us, he don't want to hear us. For me he is French and he is the first generation of French, Mr Sarkozy, me, Fatima, I am French, but it's not the first generation. I'm the fourth generation, then I am French more than he is because my grandfather fight for France to have France get free last war and after my father came here to help France build this country. OK, we came here to help this country with our blood and our work. And today they say we are not French like the other one. I am French more than him.

REPORTER: And you are living in ghettos?

FATIMA HANI: Yes, we are living in ghettos yes.

If what Fatima says is true, then what's happened to the core values of the republic, liberty, equality and fraternity? It seems there's an ongoing debate about identity, including at this school in the poor suburbs.

TEACHER (Translation): So what motivated this young soldier to change? What was he asking for? What did he want?

Today's lesson is about a Jewish soldier fighting to prove his patriotism. He doesn't feel French and he's written a letter to his general.

TEACHER (Translation): And what does he want? Where does he want to go?

GIRL (Translation): To the front, because he has several duties to perform.

TEACHER (Translation): And what are they?

GIRL (Translation): His duty as a new Frenchman and his duty as a Frenchman.

TEACHER (Translation): He thinks, "If I go to the front, if I join those fighting for France, no-one will be able to call my family second-rate French."

It's an issue these kids can relate to. In Paris they're regarded as foreigners, but visiting their relatives in another country they're accused of having lost their roots.

STUDENT (Translation): "You're too French," stuff like that. So they see you as French. And then you feel French? Yes, and I feel great.

BOY (Translation): I'm pure French. Yes French! You, pointing that camera at me. I am French! Hey, I'm French. I'm French!

The kids seem bright and articulate. But their teacher says their skin colour and where they come from will narrow their opportunities in life.

TEACHER (Translation): Yes, they have to make twice as much effort because their conditions are not the same as those in a high school in Paris where the mix is not so great. I don't mean the ethnic mix, but also the social mix. A kid whose father is a labourer and mother is a cleaner - and statistics prove it - has more chance of becoming a labourer or cleaner than a kid who comes from a more privileged background. It is a social difference.

Nadir is the son of poor parents, one of the few people David met who'd worked their way out of the ghetto. So how did he succeed when many others remain trapped in the slums?

NADIR DENDOUNE: I met someone who was a social worker, he helped me a lot. He told me life could be good. He made me read books, he made me go to theatres, he made me go and meet other people. He told me I could have a decent life, but I had to fight more than normal white French, you know, because when you got my face and live in the slums you got to be a warrior. If you are not a warrior you can't succeed, you know.

YANNIS (Translation): I wrote this text for the homeless, who die of exposure. They need my help. Drink and suffering kill them. Shut up and hear the pain of the homeless who shiver on the cold pavement. They seek solace in booze.

Rap has given 18-year-old Yannis an identity and a way to communicate.

YANNIS (Translation): Things I can't express in conversation I can express here, I can say in rap.

He and his crew hang out in this basement studio on the edge of the ghetto. It's a project which aims to keep youth off the streets. Yannis describes himself as a "compassionate rapper", but says he doesn't find much compassion from the police.

YANNIS (Translation): They're aggressive and abuse you. If you talk back they say you're a troublemaker if you're black. They have a job to do, but they don't have to bust our balls. They pick on us and make you feel you're black and if you answer back there's trouble.

Sascha Dado runs the project. He's a government-funded social worker, one of very few working in the ghettos.

SASCHA DADO (Translation): Without it they'd be hanging out in the street. It's not a solution to everything but it allows them to broaden their thinking. Do a bit of writing, get together. To improve things we must be proactive, we must encourage action in this area.

Sascha spends a lot of time talking with his young friends, urging them to better themselves. And it seems his positive attitude really rubs off on these politically aware rappers.

MAN (Translation): Look for work, don't despair. Even if it's hard, even if people try to put obstacles in our way. It's the only way to get our voice heard by the people in power, like Sarkozy, for instance.

Everyone here remembers Nicholas Sarkozy when he was interior minister and called people "scum". They also think his tough stance on law and order only made a bad situation worse, as did his policy of withdrawing local police from the ghetto in 2005.

MAN (Translation): I think Sarkozy is very clever. All his actions are well thought-out. His so-called blunders are well controlled. I think his policy is to be deliberately provocative, to present himself as France's saviour. He did that to become President and he succeeded.

In February, President Sarkozy announced he would spend US$700 million to regenerate the slums, including training and jobs for young people and new transport links.
Perhaps these boys will end up with meaningful work. But fixing 40 years of neglect won't be easy. Eliminating racism and intolerance may be even harder.

FATIMA HANI: We want to have the same treatment that the other French people, because we are citizens of this country, like for Mariee, for Janine, for Mamadou or for anyone - we are all human beings!


Credits

Reporter/Camera
DAVID BRILL

Editor
ROWAN TUCKER-EVANS

Producers
KIM CAMBERG
GEOFF PARISH

Fixer
NADIR DENDOUNE

Researcher
VICTORIA STROBL

Subtitles
GEORGE BURCHETT

Original Music composed by
VICKI HANSEN