Peripheral Lives and Riots in Modern Europe: 3 Case Studies- Paris 2005, London 2011, Bucharest 2012

This article is meant to emphasize that modern societies allow discrepancies between social and professional categories that result into a peripheral way of living even if the categories involved are not physically located at the peripheries of the cities. Economic inequalities and poverty, lack of equal opportunities, malfunctioning systems and political abuses resulted into social discontent that brought people in the streets in many countries in Europe during the first decade of the 21st century. Protests were interpreted and reflected by the media in a twofold way: while in some countries they were interpreted as expression of democratic rights, in other countries they were seen as an unacceptable, violent way to ask for social rights. In Western and Eastern European countries such protests caused concern. Armed forces confronted and annihilated the actions of the masses in the streets.