Dada

Charles Johnson makes a rare astute comment on the happenings in the banlieux: they're the product of disaffection and nihilism in the face of crushing (post?)modernity - not the work of organised Islamic militants, as some commentators have been trying to make us believe.

We had lost confidence in our culture. Everything had to be demolished. We would begin again after the "tabula rasa". At the Cabaret Voltaire we began by shocking common sense, public opinion, education, institutions, museums, good taste, in short, the whole prevailing order. (From Wikipedia's entry on Dadaism)