Chris Hedges - We have engineered the rage of the dispossessed (warning - may scare some)

[PotatoChip]

86. They were not "middle class" or "fairly well off".

The group of Parisian friends were all in their early 20s; many had met at a local middle school, most had poor school records and chaotic family lives. They came from deprived corners of the surrounding 19th arrondissement in north-eastern Paris, a mix of gentrified apartment buildings, working-class streets and a patchwork of high-rises troubled by gang turf-wars.

*snip*

The dozen or so friends, mainly unemployed or in small jobs, were involved in petty crime, theft, drugs, trafficking. But then they met a young charismatic guru figure at a local mosque.

*snip*

Chérif Kouachi was born in 1980 in Paris’s diverse 10th arrondissement, which stretches from the Place de la République to the Gare du Nord. He was one of five children of Algerian immigrant parents. A source who knew Chérif Kouachi at the time of his first arrest on his way to catch the flight to Damascus in 2005 told the Guardian: “He was abandoned very young; it’s not clear if his parents couldn’t look after the children or if his parents died. But he was put in care homes early – before the age of 10.” The care homes were far from Paris and his childhood was described as chaotic. When he reached 18 he returned to the north-east of Paris with his elder brother. He had a sports education qualification, but a poor school record and no other family support. When he became involved in the Buttes-Chaumont group of friends he was back in Paris but living precariously.

“He was living almost like a homeless person, staying with someone but it was more of a mattress on the floor than a real home. He was very clearly marginalised.[

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/12/-sp-charlie-hebdo-attackers-kids-france-radicalised-pari