[HAL-9000]

I really don't think their current problems regarding these riots are economic. I think it has more to do with being culturally isolated from the mainstream of the country.

The French Quebecois culture in Canada has kind of done the same thing, but in reverse because there they are the minority. They are not economically isolated or deprived from Canada's success whatsoever from what I can tell; Montreal is about as far from third world as you can get. However, they insist on maintaining their own language, customs, etc. to the detriment of the rest of the country. No one hardly at all speaks French in Vancouver for instance, you hear Chinese more than French. But all the signs are in French and English, because that's the law.

When you are in Montreal, you get the impression that their cultural worldview is that their beautiful Quebec and it's culture is this castle under siege from swarthy unbathed English barbarians. I remember when I was there a lot of people wouldn't talk to you in anything but French, even if they know English, because frankly they do not respect English as a language and look down on you for not knowing French. The street signs are in two languages everywhere in Canada except Quebec, they are only French. They do more than preserve their culture, they want to shove it down your throat, and let you know that theirs is better than yours.

I good analogy for Americans would be if the Amish got a lobby in D.C. to pass a law that made Amish horse buggies street legal on Interstates. The Amish have a cultural "right" to do so, even if it's a pain in the ass for the other 99% of the country.

Make a culture like that the majority of a country, and throw in a minority that not only is isolated, but ethnically and culturally is more than different, but almost alien in comparison, with an equal internal cultural chauvinism, and voila!...rioting.