There is a context
to London's riots
that can't be ignored
Those condemning the events in north London and elsewhere would do well to take a step back and consider the bigger picture
- guardian.co.uk, Monday 8 August 2011
Police in riot gear in Enfield, north London, on Sunday night. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/ReutersSince the coalition came to power just over a year ago, the country has seen multiple student protests, occupations of dozens of universities, several strikes, a half-a-million-strong trade union march and now unrest on the streets of the capital (preceded by clashes with Bristol police in Stokes Croft earlier in the year). Each of these events was sparked by a different cause, yet all take place against a backdrop of brutal cuts and enforced austerity measures. The government knows very well that it is taking a gamble, and that its policies run the risk of sparking mass unrest on a scale we haven't seen since the early 1980s. With people taking to the streets of Tottenham, Edmonton, Brixton and elsewhere over the past few nights, we could be about to see the government enter a sustained and serious losing streak.
The policies of the past year may have clarified the division between the entitled and the dispossessed in extreme terms, but the context for social unrest cuts much deeper. The fatal shooting of Mark Duggan last Thursday, where it appears, contrary to initial accounts, that only police bullets were fired, is another tragic event in a longer history of the Metropolitan police's treatment of ordinary Londoners, especially those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, and the singling out of specific areas and individuals for monitoring, stop and search and daily harassment.
One journalist wrote that he was surprised how many people in Tottenham knew of and were critical of the IPCC, but there should be nothing surprising about this. When you look at the figures for deaths in police custody (at least 333 since 1998 and not a single conviction of any police officer for any of them), then the IPCC and the courts are seen by many, quite reasonably, to be protecting the police rather than the people.
Combine understandable suspicion of and resentment towards the police based on experience and memory with high poverty and large unemployment and the reasons why people are taking to the streets become clear. (Haringey, the borough that includes Tottenham, has the fourth highest level of child poverty in London and an unemployment rate of 8.8%, double the national average, with one vacancy for every 54 seeking work in the borough.)
Those condemning the events of the past couple of nights in north London and elsewhere would do well to take a step back and consider the bigger picture: a country in which the richest 10% are now 100 times better off than the poorest, where consumerism predicated on personal debt has been pushed for years as the solution to a faltering economy, and where, according to the OECD, social mobility is worse than any other developed country.
As Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett point out in The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, phenomena usually described as "social problems" (crime, ill-health, imprisonment rates, mental illness) are far more common in unequal societies than ones with better economic distribution and less gap between the richest and the poorest. Decades of individualism, competition and state-encouraged selfishness – combined with a systematic crushing of unions and the ever-increasing criminalisation of dissent – have made Britain one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.
Images of burning buildings, cars aflame and stripped-out shops may provide spectacular fodder for a restless media, ever hungry for new stories and fresh groups to demonise, but we will understand nothing of these events if we ignore the history and the context in which they occur.
__________________________
Writer/Activist Darcus Howe
Schools The BBC
__________________________
They Were Warned
Nick Clegg "warns" of riots if Tories are elected (11 Apr 2010)
__________________________
Monday, 8 August 2011
Diane Abbott:
A tinder box waiting to explode
So it was a heart-stopping moment on Saturday night to realise that, 26 years later, Tottenham was in flames again. But in 2011, a lot is different. For one thing, the first I heard about the riots was on Twitter; complete with photographs of burning police cars. And, if I was alerted in that way, I suspect that thousands of others were. For most of us it was just a piece of shocking news. But for some, it was a cue to get down there.
The other thing that may be different is the underlying relationship between the police and the community. My friend David Lammy, who has been the Member of Parliament for Tottenham since 2000, was correct to point out that, while the original Broadwater Farm riots were a straight fight between the police and the youth, the latest disturbances were an attack on Tottenham itself. It was not just cars and buildings that went up in smoke on Saturday night. It was 25 years of investment, of painstaking attempts to transform Tottenham's reputation and (above all) of trying to build better police-community relations.
As the MP for the neighbouring borough of Hackney, I am aware that the current leadership of the Metropolitan Police is light years ahead in sophistication and sensitivity from the Metropolitan Police that I used to march and demonstrate against in the Eighties. But I know that things are not uniformly so rosy on the ground and that the old "canteen culture" still prevails in too many quarters. However, it is precisely because I thought that the Metropolitan Police knew better, that I am shocked by the police disregard for the family of the dead man Mark Duggan. Why did it take until Saturday (36 hours after the shooting) for the Independent Police Complaints Commission to take the family to see the body and pay their last respects?
And it is the death of Mark Duggan that leads to the similarities between the original Broadwater Farm disturbances and this weekend's event. Just as was the case 26 years ago, it was police-community relationships that provided the spark for the riots. Last week, Duggan was shot and killed in the back of a minicab by members of the Metropolitan Police's Operation Trident squad, who specialise in black gun crime. (A gun was later recovered from the cab.) The black community is largely wholeheartedly behind the activities of Trident. Black gangs and gun crime are as much a scourge of the black community as anyone else. But rumours were swirling around Tottenham that Mark Duggan had been executed by the police in cold blood. An unhappy family and the pulsating rumours resulted in a vigil outside Tottenham police station on Saturday night. It is alleged that a young women taking part in the vigil was hit by a baton-wielding policeman. And (whatever the trigger) the vigil erupted into a riot.
As was the case 26 years ago, nothing excuses violence. There is no doubt that all types of mindless thugs latched on to the disturbances. There were also hours of looting at Wood Green and Tottenham Hale, both shopping centres I know well. But just as with the original riots, parts of the community seem to have been a tinder box waiting to explode. Haringey Council has lost £41m from its budget and has cut youth services by 75 per cent. The abolition of the education maintenance allowance hit Haringey hard, and thousands of young people at college depended on it. Again none of these things are reasons for rioting and looting. But with these and other cuts in jobs and services, it is difficult to see how areas like Tottenham can become less flammable soon.
Diane Abbott is the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington
>via: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/diane-abbott-a-tinder-box-w...
__________________________
Tories edit remarks
by Diane Abbott to accuse her
of excusing criminality
Tory HQ releases partial quote from shadow public health minister omitting declaration that 'nothing excuses violence'
Smoke is still billowing from properties across London and already the political recriminations are under way.
Angie Bray, the Tory MP for Ealing and Acton Central, condemnedLabour politicians for claiming that the government's spending cuts are to blame for the riots.
In a statement issued this morning by the Conservative party, Bray said:
For senior Labour politicians to use cuts as an excuse for the kind of criminality we have seen over the last few days is unacceptable, irresponsible, and completely wrong. Londoners who have seen their homes and businesses destroyed expect more from local leaders.
Bray seized on a series of statements by Ken Livingstone, who will challenge Boris Johnson in next year's London mayoral contest. Researchers at Tory HQ have been busy transcribing the thoughts of Livingstone since the Tottenham riots on Saturday.
Here is the first of eight quotes from the former London mayor distributed by the Tory press office:
It is the fault of the government because basically, you go all over London, I was up in Tottenham. Tottenham has had a 9 per cent cut nearly in its government grant. The youth centres are closing, people are seeing all the sort of things they used to rely on going.
The remarks by Livingstone on Newsnight on Monday night are pretty clear cut and back up Bray's claim that he is blaming the government for the riots.
But is Bray right to lump Diane Abbott, the shadow public health minister, in with Livingstone? Bray highlighted the (second half of the) final paragraph of a piece by Abbott in Monday's Independent:
...just as with the original riots, parts of the community seem to have been a tinder box waiting to explode. Haringey Council has lost £41m from its budget and has cut youth services by 75 per cent. The abolition of the education maintenance allowance hit Haringey hard, and thousands of young people at college depended on it. Again none of these things are reasons for rioting and looting. But with these and other cuts in jobs and services, it is difficult to see how areas like Tottenham can become less flammable soon.
Bray's decision to criticise Abbott raised eyebrows in Labour circles because the shadow public health minister has gone out of her way to condemn the violence. It is interesting that Bray chose not to quote the first half of the final paragraph of Abbott's piece. This is what Abbott wrote:
As was the case 26 years ago, nothing excuses violence. There is no doubt that all types of mindless thugs latched on to the disturbances. There were also hours of looting at Wood Green and Tottenham Hale, both shopping centres I know well.
So Abbott could not have been clearer: nothing excuses the violence of the last few days. The Daily Mail, which published a piece about left wing politicians who have "cynically sought to make political capital out of the riots", made clear that Abbott should not be criticised. Tim Shipman, the Daily Mail's deputy political editor, wrote:
Black London Labour MPs including Mr Lammy, Diane Abbott and Chuka Umunna distanced themselves from attempts to blame the cuts.
Miss Abbott said: 'Cuts don't turn you into a thief. What we saw was people thieving for hours. Mr Umunna said the violence in London was 'totally opportunistic and utterly unacceptable'.
He added: 'I think we have got to be very careful about seeking to draw general conclusions from a series of events around London to make some kind of historical judgment about what is going on.
The response of Abbott shows that Labour will take a cautious approach as the party deals with the most serious urban rioting since Tony Blair's spoke in 1993 of the need to be "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime". The party has moved on from the days of the Broadwater Farm riots in Tottenham when the late Bernie Grant famously said:
What the police got was a bloody good hiding.
Within two years Grant was elected as the Labour MP for Tottenham.
Ed Miliband, who visited Peckham this morning after cutting short his holiday in Devon, is making clear that his focus is to condemn the criminal behaviour and to offer the police support as they seek to avoid more violence. In the future Labour will no doubt turn its attention to the impact of spending cuts on police numbers and the abolition of the Educational Maintenance Allowance. But no mainstream Labour politician will want to provide any excuse for the violence.
2.30pm UPDATE
After a critical response on Twitter, the Tories have been in touch to say they stand by their press release. A source accused Abbott of trying to "have it both ways" by saying that nothing excuses violence while suggesting that government spending cuts had contributed to the violence in Tottenham.
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If the rioting was a surprise,
people weren't looking
Yes, indefensible – but not unexpected. Clear signs of deep problems in our youth were ignored as being a black problem
-
- guardian.co.uk, Monday 8 August 2011 22.00 BST
- Article history
It's usual practice when someone is killed that their personal details are not made public until the next of kin has been informed. Mark Duggan's family saw in headlines that he had been killed as a result of a "terrifying shoot-out". Why such a difference in treatment? I was one of those who went to Tottenham police station on Saturday, with members of his family, to get an official acknowledgement that Mark had been killed. No official confirmation had been given to the family. As a community we were outraged they were being treated with such disregard by both the Met and the IPCC.
Why, 10 years after the Macpherson inquiry reported on institutional racism in the Met, should it still occur? We are from Tottenham: we have seen Cynthia Jarrett, Joy Gardner and Roger Sylvester killed by the police and do not expect finite answers from an investigation that has barely begun. All we really wanted was an explanation of what was going on. We needed to hear directly from the police. We waited for hours outside the station for a senior officer to speak with the family, in a demonstration led by young women. A woman-only delegation went into the station, as we wanted to ensure that this did not become confrontational. It was when the young women, many with children, decided to call it a day that the atmosphere changed, and guys in the crowd started to voice and then act out their frustrations.
I am appalled, dismayed and horrified by the level of destruction that took place. I wouldn't defend the indefensible; however I would like to provide an insight into the mindset of someone willing to burn down their own neighbourhood as I believe that on this point, little has changed since the disturbances on Broadwater Farm 26 years ago.
To behave in this manner young people have to believe they have no stake in the neighbourhood, and consequently no stake in wider society. This belief is compounded when it becomes a reality over generations, as it has done for some. If the riots at the weekend and the disturbances around London today have come as a surprise to the police and that wider society, the warning signs have long been there for those of us who engage with black youths.
First, looting comes from the belief that if you cannot get equality and cannot expect justice, then you better make sure that you "get paid". "It's all about the money!" is the motto of too many young black men, who have given up all hope of attainment in a white man's world. This is an absolute belief for those looting at the weekend – born not only out of their experiences but their parents', too. They want to follow the rappers and athletes who live ghetto-fabulous lifestyles based on natural talents, as opposed to learned skills. They can't see that coming through education: those who live on estates generally survive from one wage packet to the next. Sadly this mindset also makes it easier to legitimise the selling of drugs, as that too "brings in the money".
Another sign was when they allowed themselves to be referred to by the n-word. They weren't simply seeking to reclaim a word. They were telling the world that they were the offspring of the "field negro", not the trained "house negro" from slavery days. The field negro's sole intent was to escape, and maybe even to cause a little damage to the master and his property.
A third obvious sign of major discontent was the creation of gangs and the start of the postcode wars. Yet all of these signs were largely unheeded by wider society: all perceived to be a black problem. It's black kids killing black kids, so it's our problem to address.
On Saturday, instead of imploding and turning inward and violent among themselves, as they have been doing for the past decade, the youths exploded. The trigger may well have been the killing of Mark Duggan and the insensitive treatment of his family, but this has been brewing for some time. The government cuts – especially the withdrawal of EMA; the new barrier of tuition fees; and rising youth unemployment have all added to their sense of isolation and lack of a stake in society.
Beyond all this, the Met also has to explain to the people of Tottenham just how it allowed this to happen. Since the 1990s I have engaged with the Met and gained a working knowledge of some of its operational processes, and I know of none that can be described as "let's just leave them to it". The police seemed intent on protecting the police station, leaving everything north of it free for the rioters to loot or destroy.
More cynical community members suggest the Met might have been playing politics. The more the police stood off, the bolder the youths became. Some question whether disturbances mean police can turn to government, and dare it to cut their numbers in a time of civil unrest. But I believe that just as they bungled the operation to arrest Mark Duggan, and bungled the way they broke the news, they bungled it again.
__________________________
blog by Penny Red
TUESDAY, 9 AUGUST 2011
Panic on the streets of London.
I’m huddled in the front room with some shell-shocked friends, watching my city burn. The BBC is interchanging footage of blazing cars and running street battles in Hackney, of police horses lining up in Lewisham, of roiling infernos that were once shops and houses in Croydon and in Peckham. Last night, Enfield, Walthamstow, Brixton and Wood Green were looted; there have been hundreds of arrests and dozens of serious injuries, and it will be a miracle if nobody dies tonight. This is the third consecutive night of rioting in London, and the disorder has now spread to Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol and Birmingham. Politicians and police officers who only hours ago were making stony-faced statements about criminality are now simply begging the young people of Britain’s inner cities to go home. Britain is a tinderbox, and on Friday, somebody lit a match. How the hell did this happen? And what are we going to do now?
In the scramble to comprehend the riots, every single commentator has opened with a ritual condemnation of the violence, as if it were in any doubt that arson, muggings and lootings are ugly occurrences. That much should be obvious to anyone who is watching Croydon burn down on the BBC right now. David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, called the disorder 'mindless, mindless'. Nick Clegg denounced it as 'needless, opportunistic theft and violence'. Speaking from his Tuscan holiday villa, Prime Minister David Cameron – who has finally decided to return home to take charge - declared simply that the social unrest searing through the poorest boroughs in the country was "utterly unacceptable." The violence on the streets is being dismissed as ‘pure criminality,’ as the work of a ‘violent minority’, as ‘opportunism.’ This is madly insufficient. It is no way to talk about viral civil unrest. Angry young people with nothing to do and little to lose are turning on their own communities, and they cannot be stopped, and they know it. Tonight, in one of the greatest cities in the world, society is ripping itself apart. Violence is rarely mindless. The politics of a burning building, a smashed-in shop or a young man shot by police may be obscured even to those who lit the rags or fired the gun, but the politics are there. Unquestionably there is far, far more to these riots than the death of Mark Duggan, whose shooting sparked off the unrest on Saturday, when two police cars were set alight after a five-hour vigil at Tottenham police station. A peaceful protest over the death of a man at police hands, in a community where locals have been given every reason to mistrust the forces of law and order, is one sort of political statement. Raiding shops for technology and trainers that cost ten times as much as the benefits you’re no longer entitled to is another. A co-ordinated, viral wave of civil unrest across the poorest boroughs of Britain, with young people coming from across the capital and the country to battle the police, is another.
Months of conjecture will follow these riots. Already, the internet is teeming with racist vitriol and wild speculation. The truth is that very few people know why this is happening. They don’t know, because they were not watching these communities. Nobody has been watching Tottenham since the television cameras drifted away after the Broadwater Farm riots of 1985. Most of the people who will be writing, speaking and pontificating about the disorder this weekend have absolutely no idea what it is like to grow up in a community where there are no jobs, no space to live or move, and the police are on the streets stopping-and-searching you as you come home from school. The people who do will be waking up this week in the sure and certain knowledge that after decades of being ignored and marginalised and harassed by the police, after months of seeing any conceivable hope of a better future confiscated, they are finally on the news. In one NBC report, a young man in Tottenham was asked if rioting really achieved anything:
"Yes," said the young man. "You wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot, would you?"
"Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you."
Eavesdropping from among the onlookers, I looked around. A dozen TV crews and newspaper reporters interviewing the young men everywhere ‘’’
There are communities all over the country that nobody paid attention to unless there had recently been a riot or a murdered child. Well, they’re paying attention now.
Tonight in London, social order and the rule of law have broken down entirely. The city has been brought to a standstill; it is not safe to go out onto the streets, and where I am in Holloway, the violence is coming closer. As I write, the looting and arson attacks have spread to at least fifty different areas across the UK, including dozens in London, and communities are now turning on each other, with the Guardian reporting on rival gangs forming battle lines. It has become clear to the disenfranchised young people of Britain, who feel that they have no stake in society and nothing to lose, that they can do what they like tonight, and the police are utterly unable to stop them. That is what riots are all about.
Riots are about power, and they are about catharsis. They are not about poor parenting, or youth services being cut, or any of the other snap explanations that media pundits have been trotting out: structural inequalities, as a friend of mine remarked today, are not solved by a few pool tables. People riot because it makes them feel powerful, even if only for a night. People riot because they have spent their whole lives being told that they are good for nothing, and they realise that together they can do anything – literally, anything at all. People to whom respect has never been shown riot because they feel they have little reason to show respect themselves, and it spreads like fire on a warm summer night. And now people have lost their homes, and the country is tearing itself apart.
Noone expected this. The so-called leaders who have taken three solid days to return from their foreign holidays to a country in flames did not anticipate this. The people running Britain had absolutely no clue how desperate things had become. They thought that after thirty years of soaring inequality, in the middle of a recession, they could take away the last little things that gave people hope, the benefits, the jobs, the possibility of higher education, the support structures, and nothing would happen. They were wrong. And now my city is burning, and it will continue to burn until we stop the blanket condemnations and blind conjecture and try to understand just what has brought viral civil unrest to Britain. Let me give you a hint: it ain’t Twitter.
I’m stuck in the house, now, with rioting going on just down the road in Chalk Farm. Ealing and Clapham and Dalston are being trashed. Journalists are being mugged and beaten in the streets, and the riot cops are in retreat where they have appeared at all. Police stations are being set alight all over the country. This morning, as the smoke begins to clear, those of us who can sleep will wake up to a country in chaos. We will wake up to fear, and to racism, and to condemnation on left and right, none of which will stop this happening again, as the prospect of a second stock market clash teeters terrifyingly at the bottom of the news reports. Now is the time when we make our choices. Now is the time when we decide whether to descend into hate, or to put prejudice aside and work together. Now is the time when we decide what sort of country it is that we want to live in. Follow the #riotcleanup hashtag on Twitter. And take care of one another.
"I like her and her savage red pen of justice" - Warren Ellis
"I like her and her savage red pen of justice" - Warren Ellis
>via: http://pennyred.blogspot.com/2011/08/panic-on-streets-of-london.html
387 comments:
1 – 200 of 387 Newer› Newest»Hi Laurie,
Much like you I'm currently sat in my living room in Croydon watching the violence unfold. I have just seen images on Sky News of my local shops and local flats being burned to a cinder and my first reaction was "What gives them the right?" What gives these people the right to hijack a peaceful protest and use it as an excuse for mindless violence destroying the livelihoods and homes of people who already live on the breadline? Those aren't chain superstores burning in front of me. Those are local businesses which are a valuable part of the fabric of the community here.The only problem with that is that the community here is Broad Green is one that is, as you quite rightly pointed out above, forgotten. It is inherently Labour and has been for many years in Croydon North due to its large proportion of immigrant families I would imagine.
It is forgotten because all of the money in Croydon never sees the light of day in Broad Green or West Croydon. These see none of the public money which is spent on regenerating the town centre when it is merely ten minutes from the town centre that properties are in desperate need of renovation and rejuvenation, where green spaces are scarce, where libraries are shut and replaced with car dealerships, where more and more pressure is put on the area as more and more flats are built but with no rise in job opportunities.
Instead all that happens is that more and more people occupy the same space and it becomes a matter of time until the segregated community (which was last given media attention after the 7/7 bombings, cf. "Croydon Mosque" which received a lot of unwarranted negative press because of a tenuous link to one of the bombers in the right-wing press) explodes. Of course the young people are disenfranchised - a lot of the schools in the West Croydon area, while many are very successful, do not enjoy nearly enough of the privilege and kudos granted to schools in other parts of the borough. All this does is breed resentment.
All night the question from BBC and Sky reporters has been "Why has this happened?" when really it should be "How did this not happen sooner?"
I read this as a privileged American, but one who knows the cry of the oppressed, it's familiar ring. Thank you for sharing your insight and clarity on what is a emotional time for many, and I hope that you and other Londoner's remain safe. As you have stated in this piece, this is not the work of people who are heard, this is the work of people who are unheard, a last cry, a chance to be heard, to air their grievances. This is a situation of gross disparity between have and have not, rich and poor, White and Brown. We don't know where this story will end, but we do know that it has begun, and we must all take notice.
The disorder has spread to Bristol [...] and Leeds.
It has? Whereabouts in Bristol and Leeds?Thanks for this. Trying to filter through the talking heads and the photos... nothing making sense from the states...
Apparently in Bristol town centre.
I actually saw something like this coming. I knew we were going back to a 70s/early 80s situation. I can tell you the other aspects of that situation will also come in eg. stagflation. These riots are not the last we'll see, and the economic situationis thoroughly connected -- was then, is now.
As far as this being the time to decide what kind of country we live in, it is in many ways too late. The country as we know it is in strong decline now and unfortunately owing to peak oil that decline is irreversible. A very important lesson tonight has been the behaviour of the Turkish community in for example Dalston -- the men turned out en masse to protect their areas. This is something more areas will need to learn to do.Thank you for writing this. Your observations are spot-on and much needed. www.sistersofresistance.org
wonderful piece of writing. i live in chicago and came across your blog when Naomi Klein shared it on facebook. may cool heads prevail
Thank you so much for your words and insight. I'm a Canadian, sitting in a very quiet west coast town, so far from you that it's already almost morning in London. It's like watching the future from the past. Keep blogging, please!
~JeninCanada
www.fatandnotafraid.jigsy.com
Goldman Sachs CEO walks free: the real looters are the wizards of finance capital, on Wall Street and in the City. A flat screen TV or a pensioner's nest egg? "Opportunity" cannot replace justice as a public and social good.
Your writing deserves much more exposure, for you've nailed the zeitgeist of these events better than anyone else I've read.
Good luck and stay safe!A very well-thought and considered analysis, particularly considering the fear of the situation you're in. One can only hope that community after community in the wake of this will say that this is not acceptable in any way, and seriously tackle the causes of the situation.
This should never happen again. But then it shouldn't have happened this time, or any time in the past when people have rioted because they had no other way to react. Somehow this time feels different, though, as if the looting is the prime motivation rather than the politics. Maybe I'm wrong on that - hopefully the next few days will see serious debate on how we got here.the police don't seem motivated, i wonder why not ?
When young people (and the not so young) see a criminal conspiracy between the police and the media and another between politicians and bankers and see the rich getting richer and everyone else getting poorer is it surprising they engage in some bottom up criminality.
My immediate securityy may be threatened by the young people on the streets but it's not them who have destroyed the economic and social security of the country.Thanks for the insight.
Jesus. I cycled about 20 miles tonight around various places between Clapham and Camden. On the way back I was anxious to get in front of the keyboard. But then this, this was just perfect. Full marks.
Very good. Everything we do is political, including criminality. Whether it be by a government, a corporation or an individual. In any case, the scale of the unrest has made it political.
This is the best blog I have ever read. I ended up leaving South London and moving to New Zealand as opposed to put up with the endless spiral of no jobs and a Government that takes bureaucracy to extremes. New Zealand is not that much better, especially with the rich idiots we have in power now, but at least I can be me here, and not just another number.
Thank you for such a great insight.First of all, I'm going to point out a blatant inaccuracy in your "report".
"Police stations are being set alight all over the country." No, they're not! One unmanned police outpost has been set ablaze. Hardly the novel-exciting story you'd have your readers believe. Now to what I consider a more important issue... Where did you grow up? Was your family poor? Was everyone around you a feckless thug, smoking, drinking, having sex under-age because they consider it "cool"? Well, I grew up in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in England. My family was not only poor, it was only one step removed from a cardboard box beneath a bridge.I went to the same schools as these looting, mugging thugs. I was presented with the same lack of opportunity as them, I was just as disenfranchised with this floundering country.
I have been searched (many times) without justification by police, I've been charged with an offence which never even took place. Am I out there smashing windows, mugging old ladies, torching builds and cars? No... I'm not! You can blame society as much as you like, but you're demonstrating a noxious delusion an unfortunate number of ill-informed and ill-experienced people. More depressingly, it is predominately people such as yourself who dictate policy as short-sighted as your rhetoric. What makes me different to these morons? Simple: I CHOSE not to be a moron. I elected to LEARN when I went to school (and ever-after), I wanted to make something of my life.
Inversely, these morons have no desire to WORK. They've no drive to learn, or to achieve anything for themselves. They're content to live on "the dole", sponging from taxpayers such as myself who work bloody hard to make a distressingly poor wage. You can try to justify their behaviour as much as you like, but not only does it fail to excuse it, you're doing nothing more than deluding yourself. As for "racism", well... I've been watching the news for god-knows how many hours... and every single image of rioters and looters I'm seeing has a disproportionately large number of black people (particularly young black women with bags full of ill-gotten loot).
I'm not at all racist... but let me tell you, I DO believe what I see with my own eyes. If 60+% of rioters happen to be black, then that 60+% are proliferating a stereotype, and have only themselves to blame for any racist sentiment aimed in their direction. These people are wilfully unintelligent! They CHOSE not to pay attention in school. Not because they're poor, not because they're "downtrodden", but because they are plain stupid.... by CHOICE.
They are simply too lazy to do their own thinking, and so are easily cajoled into "gangs", empowering them to be a complete moron... thus, you end up with mobs rioting and looting. You cannot change the way these people behave, because they LIKE the way they are. They lack any moral compass, any social responsibility, any willingness to be productive. In the place of those purposefully belayed virtues, they have weaknesses: desire to steal, to "make fast money" at the expense of those of us who work hard, to cause others pain, to seek "popularity" within their gang, to watch the world burn. There's NO justification for their actions, no excuse. They made their bed, and I for one would be sincerely happy to see copper-jacketed projectiles put them to rest in it.
Thank you, brilliant. Following #londonriot tweets as much as I can without going insane, I'm surprised and disappointed how smug are so many Londoners' reactions to this, how lacking in any perspective. Such as blog might help change that.
I fear London burning is merely a harbinger of what is coming for all of us as night descends. Best wishes on the cleanup. We're all going to be cleaning up, I fear, for a very long time.I'm in tears reading this. I've been searching for even the faintest hint of answers to the things you raise here - where is all of this violence coming from? I think you've put your finger on it quite well, and to hear it from the perspective of someone in the midst of it is always refreshing. Thank you for your words.
This is a brilliant and powerful piece of writing, piercingly true. It should run in every paper in the country tomorrow--instead of the flailing drivel that no doubt will be published instead. All the best from Canada, and I hope that tomorrow begins the cleanup and the reconsideration of what has led to this and what will lead to a better future.
Cry of the oppressed also means attacking gay men in the gay village in Birmingham apparently. It means mugging kids who have been knocked over. It means torching people's homes.
Please don't romanticise this; I can see the oppressed aspect, but a lot of nasty 'phobic and evil mob mentality and criminality. I don't cry for a wrecked bank, but seeing people jump for their lives in Croydon brings me up sharp. This is no revolution. This is no poll tax riot or even the student protests I supported, it's drawn on those for ideas I think but far darker and far more yes - mindless. Fighting back has become fighting for mine in Thatcher's Grandchildren. For to quote the Boomtown Rats 'you see there are no reasons'...I think Tottenham might've had a point. The others far less...I eagerly await people's analysis how looting and torching a Sony factory is somehow a cry of failed yoot and a strike for freedom from oppression...but I think the kids would laugh at your rhetoric, they just want a free Wii.The most rational analysis I've read.
@Simon, yeah as a NZer we arent much better, but I feel the fabric of society is a a bit thicker, maybe it comes with being a bit smaller. All I know is that im kinda glad to be living in a small insignificant part of the world right now.
Hello from the USA, where the same unrest is imminent. Thanks for your well-written, open-hearted observations.
Thanks for perspective and watch your six – we're gonna need you.
@fingertrouble - at least someone here has some common sense and can see this for what it really is!
Fed up with these naive people dismissing wanton destruction and thuggery as some "expression of civil disobedience". WAKE UP, PEOPLE... THEY'RE LUNATICS, NOT REVOLUTIONARIES!@SJS: I realise that it is a difficult and complex truth but people can be both products of their environment AND make choices about their lives. To say that we who have emerged from these backgrounds unscathed prove the fecklessness and depravity of those left behind is naive.
There are so many shocking aspects to this, but nothing is more startling than reading those who blame it on everyone except the people actually doing it. There is nothing political about this. It is greed, and ignorance. And ignorance, these days, is by choice. These are bullies, and thugs, and thieves.
this bought me to tears - in part because it's so much what i feel myself (see my blog from last night - highly incoherent, but, hopefully, arguing a similar thing in terms of a need to look at context and background). that response by the young man ('you wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot') is the sad truth.
glad to know you're safe.
"They thought that after thirty years of soaring inequality, in the middle of a recession, they could take away the last little things that gave people hope, the benefits, the jobs, the possibility of higher education, the support structures, and nothing would happen. They were wrong."
Particularly haunting. Those of us that have an ounce of compassion have said all along that our governments complete lack of it, would end in trouble. People asking 'if it's a protest, why don't they go for police stations, or government buildings or protest peacefully' ...Anger is anger, and to them a target is a target. How many protests have there been in recent years? Anti-war, G20, students? 2000+ marching to scotland yard.. what use did it do?They have no voices. Nobody listens.
The lack of jobs, education, facilities, and the poorest in society getting ever-poorer, it's always somebody elses problem as long as Cameron gets his holidays, and osbourne looks like he's got a plan.
And now it's all of our problem, because these people believe, through example, that actions speak louder than words ever will. Now we have to look seriously at our country, into every nook and cranny that was previously glossed over and ignored. And LISTEN to these people. Or regardless of c.o.b.r.a. meetings, and 'calls for calm' and promises of 'justice against this pure criminality' This will happen again.. and again... and again.
Excellent blog penny red.
Stay safe everyone x
"structural inequalities", "People riot because they have spent their whole lives being told that they are good for nothing, and they realise that together they can do anything – literally, anything at all. People to whom respect has never been shown riot because they feel they have little reason to show respect themselves"
excellent analysis of the situation. the inequalities of this country have led to this situation.People comment on how these youth are simply using this as an excuse to commit crime; Images in the media of sexy lifestyles and no means to achieve them, have frustrated the youth and they have now had enough.
No one on this blog or comments section can say what its like to be an youth living in a deprived area going through an inadequate schooling system, being faced by racism daily and being treated as a 2nd class citizen.
So whilst you easily disregard their pain and frustration, you actually have no idea of the situation.
@mryashin: There's nothing complex about it! Many of the people looting, mugging, and causing destruction in London right now are people I will have grown up with in some regard or another. Many of them will have gone to the same schools as I did, been my neighbours, been the bullies who made everyone's lives hell for their own sick enjoyment.
These are the same people who torture small animals because it gives them a thrill... it'd be absolutely no loss to the world for these lunatics to simply be shot dead. Naive is the idea that those that would jump at any opportunity to steal, mug, maim and assault others could be motivated by any rational political or social environment. They are a product of THEIR OWN stupidity, not society's oppressive constraints. If these fools were motivated by politics or social circumstance as you seem to believe, then they would be targeting institutions responsible for this circumstance... not high-street electronics stores, people's homes and cars. They're interested in stealing items of monetary worth... because they're too lazy to do an honest day's work to actually EARN their way through life.What they can't steal, they smash and burn. If you feel society is to blame, then you're part of the problem, not the solution!
Stringing a narrative to justify these kinds of actions is really not helpful either. You mention that 'this is not about poor parenting'. But clearly it is about a certain culture within the poor areas of London. I agree that acts of criminality are about power, about taking back with force what you feel denied. It is people such as yourself which are feeding these feelings of class distinction and isolation. This is not an inevitable result of class warfare, but a opportunist expression of thug idealism. It is a time to be principled and not 'political'. Violence is horrible, lock the fuckers up.
Watching the riots from Canada, I was ever more confused... you have given me a perspective that appeals not only to your community but gives voices to all of those who cannot materialize their expressions through words.
I feel the pain your community must have gone through, for that struggle is everywhere in the world. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end of a system that systematically silences so many voices, so many struggles... Hang in there & stay safe. In solidarity Thank you.I apologise for providing a link for SJS to follow.
He's one of those people that think stupid people are not really people.@SJS Oh yes, your rags to riches story. How inspiring and original.
Spare us the pep talk. There are structural problems that mean that the growth required for this amazing story to happen for everyone, can't happen. We live on a finite planet. Growth is to be exponential at 2-3% a year or we're in a "recession" which must be avoided at all costs. So we have "austerity" measures to try to put this global Ponzi scheme - the world economy - back on track. Just how will that growth keep going? Efficiency? Nope, that's only 1-2% a year, not fast enough. Increase in non-material growth compared to material growth? Not fast enough, either. Economists have a mantra that with economic growth comes prosperity for all. But the potential for growth has been reached. Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, all wrote about this but the jobsworth bankers and gambling-addict traders of the world were too busy giving themselves bonuses to notice that it has come. We have reached it, the end of growth, and now we need to look at what our priorities are instead of economic growth. We need to grow civilization.The sheer power of your words... just wow!
sending prayers your way, sweets. may the lord protect you.
@SJS: you are spot-on.
Life is about choices. These rioters have had years to take actions to better themselves and make decisions that define the direction of their lives for the better. They have instead chosen to join gangs, or generally become worthless members of society, and on this night they have chosen to take advantage of an opportunity to terrorise innocent civilians, wreck livelihoods, and instil fear in their communities. The sooner the army is deployed and these cowards, muggers, arsonists, common thieves, and general human-trash are removed from the streets the better.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh5ogOH82Aw this song represents whats going on in London to a tee.
Laurie,
As an older person from the States watching this horror show unfold on the BBC streaming video, I'm reminded of the inner city riots and burning in the 1960s. That resulted in a commission being established by President Johnson to determine the causes of the riots and what policies should be implemented to prevent it from re-occurring. It was called the Kerner Commission. Subsequent riots have often noted that the problems identified in the Kerner Commission report were never seriously addressed. Perhaps it might be helpful in sorting out things in the UK today. Stay safe! Kerner Commission - Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerner_Commission
excellent blog, thanks for the insight
This is amazing writing though sadly I wish you didn't have this subject to write about. I hope the issues you discussed here is finally heard, and addressed even if it happens over some time. Praying for your cities and people's safety and well being, soon.
@SJS, an experiment for you
"...There's nothing complex about it! Many of the people looting, mugging, and causing destruction in Falluja right now are people I will have grown up with in some regard or another. Many of them will have gone to the same schools as I did, been my neighbours, been the bullies who made everyone's lives hell for their own sick enjoyment. These are the same people who torture small animals because it gives them a thrill... it'd be absolutely no loss to the world for these lunatics to simply be shot dead. Naive is the idea that those that would jump at any opportunity to steal, mug, maim and assault others could be motivated by any rational political or social environment." (some upsetting images)http://tinyurl.com/3m38746 Our Boys. Funded by you. But I suppose it's OK with you because you're benefiting from the looting ? Or maybe just that your victims are brown ? Even if very few of the rioters see this as a political act it's not hard to see where they got their inspiration from.
Thank you so much, Laurie, this is great. Many times in political topics the tone of an article is much more important than the content... You usually choose very good tones for your articles, but this one is perfect.
No, the looters don't have the right to loot and set things on fire, but they have, and since we cannot turn back time, we should just try to learn why this happened.great reading. The contrasting comments of SJS and Penny Red are really provoking.great reading. The contrasting comments of SJS and Penny Red are really provoking.
A very nice post; I appreciate being able to read some on the ground perspectives from across the pond. One question, although I still have many: if the attention, and the need to be heard, are so important, why is it, do you think, that journalists are being attacked?
Bigged you up on the main US liberal blog Daily Kos in a hasty late night diary. But hey, you ought to think of blogging there
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/08/1004737/-London-Burning:-Police-Now-... PS. I think you once said you loved me on Labourlist. I was AntiTory Troll back in the day.Thank You for the courage of your pen and voice. I spent a year in London between 2007-08. I came away with a picture which horrified me. On the one hand there is this opulence - unattainable for most. Nothing shocking there. It was the deprivation in the inner cities that most caught my attention. The poverty and quality of life in many of these areas was heartrenching. I made it my business to go into parts of Peckham, Croydon, Brixton, Dalston, Hackney -- to see how indeed people in these communities lived. Why? I am West Indian. I had heard rumours about ongoing racism, the kind which is not overt but felt in marginalisation, fewer opportunities, etc. I am not surprised by the riots. People in these communities live extremely challenged lives, that is fairly brutal for a first world country. I do not know how confined these lifestyles are within particular areas/communities of the country or even how "black" communities are. I only know that this should never be. A recession would definitely ignite the flames of dissent. The riots in France clearly did not serve as a warning to England. It is time the UK wakes up to what many of us visitors see. While your parliament is lined with gold, the poor suffer. No, never as in Dickens' England. Racism and classism combined is too rich a brew to easily overcome. But as Robert F Kennedy said there is a kind of violence that does not come from the barrel of a gun, it's the violence of institutions, the violence of not being able to live as a man amongst men, the violence of inaction, the violence of decay...